Autumn breeding season

One of my gouldian pairs are successfully rearing a clutch of six chicks and to my surprise one of them looks like a silver to me. It's the white one in the center of the nest. The two dark ones on the back are blue, the two on the left are yellows and one green. I hope I'm right!

Well, the chicks have fledged and separated but I was partially correct......the white one is indeed a silver and I'm very happy about it. There are no blues though in this nest but split to blue. Anyway they are all doing well and their parents are sitting on eggs again.

Breeding card

Since I'm not an expert on gouldian genetics I prepared this card. I got the idea from another website with something similar but I gave it my touch.
Basically what I did is to draw on paper a couple of birds to be used and the breeding pair and another bird that I put six of them on a row representing the babies. I fixed them on photoshop and I added a table to mark all the details needed.
The parents are colored right away and the fledgings as they hatch. Since I ring my birds I mark on each single bird the ring number and when they youngsters coloured up I catch them and based on their ring nymber I paint its color on the respecting card.
The use of this fun exercise is to have for future refernce the color pool of each pair and it's a good exercise to study and learn the color inheritance of this colorful bird.

HELP TO FIND MADALEINE

IF YOU HAVE SEEN THIS LITTLE GIRL PLEASE HELP TO LOCATE HER BY NOTIFYING THE AUTHORITIES IMMEDIATELY. YOU CAN VISIT THE WEBPAGE CREATED AFTER SHE HAS BEEN MISSING. SHE DISSAPEARED ON MAY 3rd, 2007. TODAY SHE IS 6 YEARS OLD AND AT THE LINK BELOW YOU CAN SEE SKETCHES OF SUSPECTS AND HOW MADALEINE WOULD LOOK TODAY

***** PLEASE FORWARD *****

http://www.findmadeleine.com

Breeding room construction

The various stages of my breeding room construction. It is raised up from the ground for many reasons. On the room it has two pieces of clear plastic sheets so I can take advantage of as much natural light as possible in the winter months. During the summer these are covered with greenhouse net for shading. All electrical wiring was done before the inner wall was raised.
I will try to explain each photo with a short description underneath it.

The backyard spot under some trees is the palce chosen to built the birdroom

The floor of the birdroom is raised off the ground to avoid moisture, pests and lower building cost. A part of the wall had to be removed for easier access to the room, otherwise I would have to walk around the whole house to get there

The floor is covered with thick plywood and a coating for applied underneath for water protection

A side view of the room. On the 2 long sides the cages will be placed. On the other two, one has the door which is already erected and the other one will have a large window

Another one with the outside side walls erected

All walls up and giving a clear shape of the structure





A view from inside the room. Notice the branches that coming in. Minor trimming was needed unfortunately





Another one from the opposite side

With the roof on

Another photo from the inside. All cables are loose since the are all run inside the walls and after it was finish and painted the electrician install all devices and lights

You can also see one of the two pieces of clear plastic sheets that are used instead of solid ones to shade more light in the room

My breeding room

In the following photographs you will see the various fittings inside my breeding room. Also you can see some of my cages which are made by myself as well as all other metal work such as the metal door and window steel cover for theft protection. All canary cage blocks can be converted to either flight or breeding cages by just removing or putting back the dividers.
I will try to explain each photo with a short description underneath it.

Main switchboard of electrical instalaltion, with the fan controller which fan can blow air either in or out and also control the speed of it. the fan is located on top of the door, which is on the lest of this controller. and then it's the dimming switch which can set for wake up and sleep time with an option to set the lenght of sunshine and sunrise. A night light option is avaialble which can also be dimmed to your preferenace.

The construction of a block of 30 breeding cages. 5 across and 6 in height. I made it in two pieces and weld them together.




the two pieces together and on the background you can see the breeding room. The white square on top of the door is the fan. Opposite of the door is a window for air circulation and on the other two sides are the cages.

Here you can see the 30 cages on the left wall of the room. On the back and sides are covered with white plywood so they are box style cages.

I took a picture with the tray and divider before putting the side plywood so you can see how it works.

Same thing here

The breeding room with the photo taken on the doorstep. The window is covered with wire mesh so a bird cannot escape in case it flights out of its cage and metal bars are for protection in case somebody trys to break in.






With some coloured canaries from this year's breeding. Top raw breeding and the one below is used as flight for juvenilles. These canaries are used as foster parents for the Parisian Frills when needed.

this trolley is made by myself and it's an idea I got after seeing that I was going back and forth in the room many times a day. so I made this that I have all the different types of seeds that I use and move it along as I pass from each cage for feeding.

The sink which is a must in every breeding room. This water is used only for washing and cleaning. The drinking is in a water dispenser and I don't use the tap water but I use the one we consume for safety and quality. A plastic self cabinet with doors to store utensils and other things and protect them from dust and feathers.

The fan on top of the door. The glass door and inside there is a metal door just like the window for theft protection. A tubular light just above the door which has an indipendent switch from the dimming system. On the right is the dimmer and stuff you saw on a previous photo.

This is a part the work I'm currently busy with. When I finish all of these cages my room will be filled!

In the photos following I will try to show you the building procedure of my breeding room and cages. The breeding room was constructed by a very good friend of mine with my help. All electric wiring was done by an approved electrician. All cages, theft proof window and door was done by myself. I even made the gouldian finch nests using plywood so I can have them the size and shape I beleive suits them most.