Lady gouldian finches
Lady Gouldian Finches, also called
Rainbow Finches , Painted Finches ,
Nature's Jewels , Lady Goulds , Goulds , Gouldians ,
Gouldian Finches ,
LGF... are bred
in captivity but they are still
an endangered species,
with less than 2,500 left in the wild...
Orange headed purple breasted blue back gouldian male
Lady Gouldian Finches. Gouldians. Goulds. LGFs. Their jewel tones dazzle us - red, black, orange, purple, lilac, white, yellow, green, blue, silver. Those touches of turqoise against an emerald back. How can emerald be considered "normal"?
About 5 inches long, gouldians are not small finches. They are considered passive, though, and get along well with other
passive finches. They originated in Australia, where they are now considered to be endangered - less than 2,500 remain in the wild. Visit www.savethegouldian.org for more information about the ongoing efforts to reestablish them in their natural habitat. They are widely bred in captivity, however, and have worked their way into hearts and aviaries around the world.
Lady gouldian finches are usually not silly birds. In fact, they can be quite stately. You will never catch one hanging upside down by one foot from the top of the cage (like those very silly little swees). Nor will you catch them in an eight-bird pigpile like societies or buttons. They don't cuddle or preen each other, but rather like to perch and let you admire their beauty. You know a pair really like each other when they perch next to each other to sleep.
Lady gouldian finches have the undeserved reputation among the uninitiated as being difficult to keep. Nothing could be further from the truth.
Like any finch they will not thrive on just seed, but with good food and a little common sense they will stay happy and healthy. Feed them a good seed, clean water, vegetables a couple of times a week, cuttlebone and/or eggshell, and eggfood (daily when raising chicks or molting). Iodine important for these birds to keep them in good feather. There are several products on the market - iodine drops (such as liquid kelp, to be added to their water), powdered kelp, and kelp granules.
The only time that they can really be considered to be "delicate" is during a molt - it is physically stressful to shed and regrow all of those feathers. Providing a warm spot should they need it, eggfood daily for the protein and keeping stress down is key. Never buy a young bird who has not yet gone through his first molt, nor a bird in the middle of a molt. How do you know if your gouldian is molting? Mine turn from sleek to scruffy (like I've been using them to dust my furniture), and you'll see the pin feathers appear as the new feathers come in. If they're going through a hard molt they may develop bald spots.
Breeding lady gouldian finches presents enough of a challenge to keep it interesting. They aren't as difficult as some of the African waxbills, which need a constant supply of livefood, but they do have a steeper learning curve than zebras or societies. The genetics are fascinating. Some people memorize the possible outcomes, while others use one of the several genetic calculators available on the web. I love to work my way through all of the "what ifs" of the possible pairings of my birds. Of course, they ultimately decide who ends up together as a pair, and I doubt that they take chick colors into account!
It starts out with the hen and cock. If they're both really in condition they'll accept just about any partner (in other words, if you wait until they get desperate). If he's in condition he'll sing to anything that moves, and if she is a normal (green back) her beak will turn black. (The beak of an orange head hen will get really red - like "a hussie with smeared lipstick" is how I once heard it described.) Otherwise, you may have to try a couple of different partners. When they like each other, you'll know! Remember when I said they usually are not silly birds? All of that grace goes out the window when the male starts trying to woo his female. He'll try to impress her with his fairly soft song. He'll bow his head and shake it at her. Once he really gets going he'll also start hopping up and down like a pogo stick (remember those?!). Such a stately bird, hopping up and down like a maniac..... If she responds by bowing and shaking her head back, holding her tail to the side, you know that you've made a match. If she moves away and ignores him, well, some girls can be very selective. If they do like each other they will mate in their nest.
Lady gouldian finches seem to accept just about any nest, though deeper is better to keep the chicks in. They are not great nest-builders, so I generally line the inside with coconut fiber with a little jute on the bottom. The cock may rearrange one or two fibers, but generally accept the nest as is (in my experience). They will generally lay 4-6 eggs, which they'll take turns incubating for around 14 days. Chicks will fledge around 21 days after hatching. I can tell mine are almost ready to fledge when I see them all backed up against the back of their nest, practically standing on their heads to get as far away from the entrance as possible. "No, no, you can't make me do it!" Once out, they generally will not return to the nest.
Once they've figured things out, gouldians make wonderful parents. It's the "figuring things out" that stumps most would-be breeders. It may take new parents a couple of tries to figure things out, and you'll probably lose some chicks unless you're willing to foster them. They may lose interest in their eggs very easily, or refuse to incubate at all. Once hatched, some birds will toss the young out of the nest or just refuse to feed them. Many people keep societies available for these chicks. I have a pair that had exactly this learning curve. They sat diligently on their first clutch, but tossed the first two chicks to hatch. The first died, but the second lived and I put it back into the nest. The parents then refused to feed any of the chicks, so they ended up with fosters. I separated the pair and gave them a rest, then tried again. This time I gave them as much privacy as possible, and left them totally alone. They raised that clutch 
and have raised two more without any problems at all. I've even left the fledglings from the prior clutch in the cage with them as they raised the next, and nothing seems to faze them. They'll even tolerate nest checks now. If a pair consistently refuses to incubate or raise their chicks, you may want to switch partners around - sometimes a different combination of personalities does the trick.
I think the best part of breeding lady gouldian finches is the anticipation as I wait for the juveniles to color out. Normal are usually an olive green with gray heads as juveniles, so you really have to wait to find out what their adult colors will be. Are they males or females? Will the breast be purple, white or lilac? What color will the head be? Those chicks in the nest just starting to feather out - are they normals or is one a blue?Genetic calculators will give you an idea of what to expect, but you never know when a stray gene from an unknown grandparent will pop up. That's what makes breeding these birds so fun!
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