HEALTH

Dr Rob, I have been breeding gouldians in an aviary in my backyard for a couple of years, but I never have a great deal of success. I always lose a few babies and those that fledge cannot fly for several days and are not fully developed when they leave the nest. I feed them seeding grasses every day to try to provide them with enough protein to feed growing babies, I also provide cuttle bone, grit, eggshell, charcoal, seed mix, and a bit of egg and biscuit mix but they wont take much of this. I dunno what I’m doing wrong, every now and then I will get one adult bird fluff up, get a dirty vent, and spend all the time sleeping until they die or eventually, but rarely, get better. They are housed in an aviary with a dirt floor and lots of shrubs and native grasses. The aviary is about 1 third covered at the south east side as this is where the prevalent cold winds blow from in Sydney Australia. Another reoccurring problem I encounter is that a certain percentage of the young I breed develop deformed beaks in the nest. The lower mandible is longer than the upper mandible in these birds? Are you able to explain to me how this problem occurs? The problem seems worse when less protein is offered during the breeding season. My latest problem is that one of my cock gouldians has just fallen ill in the manner mentioned above. I am worried that this may be an illness I could have introduced with four new gouldians I purchased from a breeder and introduced to the aviary last week. The real problem is that this cock currently has a clutch of eggs in a nestbox in the aviary and I am worried that he will be unable to care for the eggs and will pass on his illness to the youngsters when they hatch. Any ideas on what I should do? Another thing you should know is that there are also king quail and diamond doves in the aviary however there are only a small number and they seem compatible with the Goulds. I also have to admit that I have been neglectful in that I have not been worming my birds, but I do not know if I should worm them now that the breeding season has begun? As you can see my situation is a bit of a mess and any recommendations to help me get my gouldians healthy would be really appreciated. Thanks mate, James Rees