Lady Gouldian Finch
Canada believes that we are accountable to our clients and potential
clients and so to help you better understand us, we have created this
page detailing our Breeding Practices.
Diet
: Here
at Lady Gouldian Finch Canada we feed our birds protein
complete daily (when
breeding or not in austerity)
This is added to the sprouted seed, and fed freely in dishes
at a half
teaspoon per pair
ration; guaranteeing our birds the best balanced diet possible. We do
not feed any type of lettuce
including romaine as these are too high
in carbs
( already in the seeds) and not high enough in proteins
for a growing gouldian or it's family.
The full diet includes: -lots
of protein
( both animal and vegetable is best)
-vitamins
-cuttle bone
(calcium)
-mineral block
or any type of mineral product
-sprouted
seeds : high in vegetable proteins, vitamins -seeds ( high
in carbs)
This
diet ensures that both the chicks and parents are receiving the optimal
amount of nutrition without the need for heavy chemical dietary
supplementation or vitaminization.; which we feel leads to a healthier
bird naturally.
We
do
not "Factory
Breed" as this does nothing but
weaken the stock and cause all kinds
of problems in the future.
We try as best we can to make sure our chicks are parent raised. Our birds are bred in a
manner that
ensures each hen only completes three broods per
year, and gets a 5-6
month rest period per season, as we feel more is taxing and
not
beneficial to the hen's health in any way.
We also believe that our birds must be acclimatized in
such a way as to make them easily
fit into any home, and so we maintain
an aviary temperature of between 18-22 degrees
Celsius. This
temperature is ideal as it creates birds that can easily adjust to any
room temperature so that when our birds arrive they do not chill in
houses kept under
20 degrees, and so can fit much more comfortably in
the average home environment.
The birds are hardier as only the
healthiest eggs and chicks can survive.
Our
birds are separated by sex until the critical 16 month age period
is achieved as we do not believe in having inexperienced young hens
commit mistakes
that form into habits which weakens their natural
instinctual behaviours.
We
believe that
healthy birds create healthy birds and as a
result all our birds are exercised in quite spacious flights for 4-5
months prior to breeding. This exercise decreases both in-fertility and
also egg binding (common in obese or out of shape birds). All our
birds go through a properly maintained austerity period to help
regulate their hormones and protein intake by imitating nature. We also believe in
maintaining very high standards of hygiene and so
all our accessories
are chosen to be non porous and durable to allow for daily wear and
tear , as well as very easy disinfecting in a bleach water solution
weekly.
Here at Lady
Gouldian Finch Canada we do not believe in
prophylactic medication as it is un-sound and potentially quite
hazardous to the avian hobby as a whole.
Prophylactic Medicating has
been found to be un-sound and is illegal in most livestock production
facilities in Canada. These medications tend to be over used and can,
and do result in creating strains of a disease that are un-affected by
treatment.
Also over the counter medications may in fact do more harm then good as
they are generalized and not pathogenically specific.
These lightly dosed birds can cause viruses and parasites to become
Immunologically Immune to a drug or treatment leading to a much more
deadly and severe "super bug".
We feel that our commitment is to breeding superior birds that are
healthy and can maintain a good degree of vigour and vitality without
resorting to heavily medicating our flocks to make them just healthy
enough for shipping.
We
do
not believe in over supplementing our birds with chemical additives as
we believe that the birds should get most of their vitamins and
nutrients from the sprouted
seeds andprotein
complete
they are
fed daily.
We
also do not believe in "Factory
Breeding"
(using bengalese to foster rear successive clutches of a pair or a
species merely to increase yield and profit). We think that foster
rearing leads to most of the ills seen
quite typically in the Gouldian trade. These coddled birds seem to be
more trouble then they are worth. They seem to not know about proper
chick rearing. The most severe are birds that seem to not know what
their own chick looks like, and so
it is left to starve or tossed so that they can begin courtship all
over again. This can be a problem, with a whole nest dying
for
no good reason except for the ineptitude of a lazy or overly
inexperienced hen. We feel
fostering has it's place
in "special circumstances", but not as a common breeding practice.
We
are above all impassioned
Animal Lovers and Avian Enthuthiasts who enjoy helping bring each and
every new life into this world. Also, we as enthuthiasts, like
yourself, know some of the frustrations that come along with these more
coddled birds. As
cruel as it may seem we believe that birds that are un-able to
reproduce properly,
or that are in-efficient at raising their young, should have their
lines
left to die out. Raising a line of birds that are unable to reproduce
and rear successfully
by
themselves makes little sense to us as these are the birds that will
create problems in the hobby for generations to come.
We have found that by
leaving chicks in a few extra weeks after weaning and allowing them to
witness their parents brooding another clutch strengthens their
natural instincts.
We like to remove the
weaned clutch a few days after the younger hatchlings
have hatched again to strengthen instinct and allow them to witness how
to feed successfully. We
have found in fact that the easiest way
to
increase and solidify healthy breeding instinct is by allowing
the chicks to stay in the brooder cage longer ( until sibs are a few
days old) and witness successful courting, brooding and feeding
techniques.
Our final belief
is
that we owe healthy, well adjusted, easily
maintained birds to the generations of finch enthusiasts that come
after us.
Here
at Lady Gouldian
Finch Canada we strongly believe in banding birds. We do this for two
reasons. We are not only breeders but also competitors and some show
classes require closed bands. We also believe that our clients have the
right to know the age and heredity of their birds, and also that what
they are promised is what they receive. We are strong supporters of the
regulation and identification of birds in both aviaries and at pet
stores
selling birds. Banding not only tells the consumer how old the bird he
or
she is getting but can also tell the aviary the birds came from ( for
example our bands are embossed "LGC" and are unique to our aviary.
We
urge consumers to take
a stand
and start demanding that the birds they buy be properly identified.
Only through this practice can we make sure we are buying a young bird
that will provide years of companionship. Stores will sometimes have
coloured bands on the legs of the birds but these are not close bands
in most cases, but are instead open (or c shaped bands) bands that can
be put on at any time and tell you nothing about the bird (except
usually the sex).
Our
chicks are banded
at 9-11 days of age, and can come with breeding records.
Lady
Gouldian Finch Canada does not
believe in fostering as a general rule but we have fostered and do
foster in special circumstances only (usually in the case
of death or illness of a parent/both parents). On occasion we may have
a bird that
is not parent raised because one of these catastrophic events occurred
and
we fostered the chick(s). This is the only time we will foster. If a
bird
you
desire has been fostered we will let you know before a purchase takes
place
and also why this was necessary. We believe in always being accountable
to our clients.
We
hope you enjoy this site and our
birds as much as we enjoy bringing them to you.
