There are many factors that are needed to be considered when designing a great outdoor aviary.

The number one factor is being able to provide a draft free interior for winter and air flow for the heat removal in summer.

Here is a description of the methods and materials I used to construct my purpose built gouldian finch outdoor aviary.

It is approximately 9 feet by 9 feet with an open flight section.

This aviary is very secure as gouldian finches are very expensive birds.

The main door, all the walls roof and floor are  constructed out of metal with vertical steel bars to finish off the security of the main front entrance door.

The frame of this  bird aviary was built using steel tubing.

The tubing was welded into a steel floor sections and interconnected with tubes that fit into the other sections.

Outdoor Aviary

outdoor aviary

If there is a need to disassemble it in the future it can be done easily by unscrewing all of the sections.

A mig welder and a standard home arc welder was used to weld the steel  tubing frames together.

Footings were used to build the outdoor aviary up off the ground for two reasons.

The first reason, the ground was not level.

The second but most important reason was to avoid damp floors and rotting of the plywood floor in the two bird rooms.

The floor  frame posts were concreted into footing first.
The floor frame was attached. Wall frames and a roof were then installed.

Sisilation was fixed to the outer frame before the outer shell was covered with color bond sheet metal.

The sheet metal was attached with self drilling screws and pop rivets for additional security to prevent theft of any birds.

The pop rivets would have to be drilled out by a thief and this is not easy with stainless steel pop rivets.

The floor has galvanized sheet metal attached on the bottom to prevent rodents from chewing holes through the plywood floor structure.

Fiberglass batts are then installed in all the wall, roof and floor cavities between the inner layer of plywood and outer layer of sisilation. This creates an  insulation sandwich to protect the aviary from the external heat or cold depending on the season.

All of the internal wall and roof skin is made of plywood. The combination of color bond, sisilation, insulation batts and plywood is very effective method to reduce the extreme heat or cold from being an issue for both of the bird rooms.

When you step into this outdoor gouldian aviary on a cold winters day it is surprising how warm the interior actually is. With a bit of sun shinning through the clear roof sections the interior warms up very nicely.

It is important to build an aviary with the open flight facing the rising morning sun.

In the winter this helps to warm the birds up after those bitter cold nights.

In the summer the hot sun set is on the fully covered side of the  aviary reducing the amount of heat inside.

For those days when is extremely hot there are removable plywood panels to allow air flow into the aviary.

The inner door has a removable plywood panel which can be placed under the clear section of roof to help prevent the suns hot rays from entering inside and overheating the interior.

On these hot days the internal temperature is normally only about 1 degree hotter inside than the external temperature.

Outdoor Aviary

Colony Breeding Room

The colony bird room is approximately 6 x 6 feet with 4 main perches, feeding and water stations.

The colony breeding room is entered via a 3/4 height door from the selective breeding room.

This door has a latch which is locked from the selective breeding room. It is possible to hang about 6 breeding boxes off the 3 walls.

This is the maximum number of nest boxes recommended in a room of this size.

The birds are free to leave and enter the colony room via the bird door.

The door is operated from inside the selective cage breeding section of the aviary by pushing or pulling an orange piece of plastic connected to a rectangular piece of sheet metal in between two plywood runners. When the door is closed it stops the gouldians from entering the open flight section or keeps them out while cleaning the colony room.

When it is approaching dusk the birds return back into the colony room to roost for the night till the morning.

It is very important to construct your aviary wall linings with wood as the gouldian finch has a tendency to roost right up against a wall at night.

If it is a very cold night the bird will loose allot of body heat if the wall is made of metal such as corrugated iron or colorbond.

My aviary walls are all filled with insulation batts and lined with sisalation then finished with an inner lining of plywood. This provides my birds with a surface which will not draw any body heat away from them over night.

You can easily loose a gouldian to a cold night with metal walls if they are not lined with wood on the inside.

Selective Breeding Room

The selective breeding room has 12 separate holding or dividable breeding cages.

Selective breeding gouldian finches is my preferred method for breeding gouldians.

The room also has a sink with 2 cupboards underneath, central door locking, an alarm system, a solar panel to recharge 4 x 18amphr batteries,internal low voltage down lights and an internal, external temperature gauge.

The extreme temperatures that my aviary are exposed to are as follows: summer-46degrees Celsius(115 Fahrenheit) winter 1degrees Celsius( 34 Fahrenheit).

The solar panel keeps up with the power usage of the outdoor aviary quite easily.

Water dispensers and cleaning is all done at the internal sink.

At the rear of the aviary are twin 44 gallon plastic water drums.

The roof surface gathers plenty of water for all internal use as well as plenty of spare water for the plants and garden around the house.

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But In nature, the reproductive season of the gouldian finch is triggered by a change in the length of daylight hours along with the availability of food.

This is indicative of the wet season.

The gouldian finch diet includes egg foods, seeding grasses and sprouted seed.

The birds lean period ends about six weeks before the birds are paired together by introducing them to the protein rich diet.

The ideal time for breeding gouldian finches is to pair them up at the start of summer.

It does depend on the climatic conditions of your location ie (northern and southern hemisphere).

Breeding gouldian finches with artificial lighting and heating can simulate the required conditions in cooler climates and when the daylight hours are shorter.

When gouldian health is at a very high level and they are in top condition.

This is the best time to start breeding your gouldian finches.
They should be bright and active and look like they are raring to go.

They become very active and sometimes will go through a vigorous flapping of wings routine.

The hens beak should be turning black by now and the males beak changes to a pearly white.

Breeding Gouldian Finches

There are two main methods of breeding gouldian finches in an outdoor aviary. These are colony and selective breeding.

Colony Breeding

Colony breeding gouldian finches is a bit of a hit and miss method as there isn’t good control of the birds selecting their mates. Selective breeding gouldian finches in separate cages is totally controllable.The birds are selected by yourself. The offspring’s genetics can be predicted as to a possible outcome (head color and breast color in mutations).

The number of pairs in a colony breeding aviary should not be too high. Overcrowding of gouldians causes stress which in turn creates health issues. Stressed birds are more likely to contract bacterial infections due to their lowered resistance.

Overcrowding by having too many pairs in one area when breeding gouldian finches does not actually produce more young, in fact you are likely to end up with less young being produced.

In a bird room which is approximately 6 x 6 feet I would suggest only have a maximum of up to 5 pairs. The breeding boxes I have had good success with have a round opening at the front and a perch just below it. Having a little platform at the box entrance is a good idea. The birds can enter their nest box easier instead of doing a balancing act on a round piece of dowel when carrying nesting material when entering their nest box.

Breeding Gouldian Finches

Selective Breeding

Selective breeding gouldian finches is a very productive method of breeding gouldians. I prefer this method myself as there is far more control and no interference from any other gouldians.

The cages I use are fully dividable with a plywood divider. I use 2 adjacent cages for the one pair of birds which provides the pair with plenty of room especially for when their young leave the nest.

Basically you choose a male and hen that you would like to pair for a desired head color for their offspring. Head color in the normal gouldian is the only variable where as gouldian mutations have allot more variable outcomes with head and body colors. Gouldian mutations is another topic in itself. I will explain this topic on another page in more detail or consider buying one of the many gouldian books available.

Different head colors should not really be mixed or you may get blotchy head color in the offspring. The offspring’s head color may look like a blackish red or a blackish yellow. This problem is more noticeable in the hens produced. If you are choosing a black headed hen to breed, ideally it should have a deep rich velvety black color with no signs of red or yellow feathers showing through.

A method of testing the chosen pair of gouldians for compatibility is observing them. If the pair of gouldians show signs of being aggressive to one another by beak fencing or chasing one another around the cage indicates this pair of gouldians are not compatible. Remove one of the pair and replace it with a new mate. Observe the pair again.

When a male is interested in a hen it will nearly immediately start its courtship with the hen when first paired. The male will then stare at the hen while standing tall, then it may start a whistling routine. The hen if interested will bow its head and move it side to side. When the pair have been observed carrying out this process indicates they are compatible.

The final method of testing the compatibility of the pair if you are still not sure is to observe the pair near dusk. They will roost side by side if they get along together. If not they roost or be separate on the perch.

When all is well, within about 2 weeks the hen will of stated laying eggs. This will depend on the current breeding condition the hen is in.

There  are many color variations which have have bred in captivity over the years.

White Breast
The first form of gouldian mutation is the white breast.

It is the same as the normal gouldian except it has a white colored breast. It is found in all three head colors.

The white breasted gouldian is recessive. It is either visible or hidden.

The hidden or unseen white breast is what is known or termed as a split.

That is split for the white breast. It is possible that a gouldian may be split for white breast as it is not visible.

The only way you can be sure a gouldian finch has the mutation of white breast is if one of its parents has a visible white breast the other parent can even have no white breast what so ever.

If this is the case no visible white breast will be present as all the offspring will be split for white breast.

The ideal way of breeding gouldian finches for this mutation to guarantee that the white breast mutation is passed on to all of the young is with one parent bird to have a white breast and the other parent bird to be split for white breast.
This theoretically produces half of the young gouldians to have a visible white breast and the other half to be split for white breast.

Gouldian Mutations

The Lilac Breast
The only difference between the lilac breasted gouldian and the normal is the breast color.

The lilac breast first appeared in the United Kingdom from breading split white breasted and white breasted gouldian mutations.

Some white breasted gouldian mutations may have patches of lilac. This mutation is recessive in the normal but dominant in the white breasted mutation.

Gouldian mutations

The Yellow Back

The Yellow back is a co-dominant sex linked mutation. It is only present if you can actually see it not like the white breast gouldian mutation where it may be a split for white breast.

The yellow back can not be a split for this mutation. The male can be either a double factor or a single factor in the yellow back. The female can only be a single factor for the yellow back mutation.

Single Factor Yellow Back
The single factor yellow back can be either purple breasted or white breasted. The purple breasted male looks like a normal except the green on its back is a lighter green and all of the black is not present.

Instead it is a grayish blue as seen in the photo on the right. The hen looks like the double factor in both the purple and the white breast.

Double Factor Yellow back
The double factor is only found in the male. It is found in both white and purple breasted.

The white breasted yellow back has a beautiful bright yellow back color and all the black coloring of the normal is not present. The purple breasted yellow back has a yellow green back color. The black is not present also.

The Blue Back
The green in the blue back is replaced by blue. Their body is a creamy yellow to a white color. The blue back is recessive genetically.

The blue breasted gouldian is quite difficult to breed out of all the gouldian mutations successfully due to it being such a recessive gene.

The light is placed up against the wall of the egg and the light passes through the eggs shell lighting up its contents.

If the egg is fertile a network of veins is visible inside, if the egg is not fertile the contents will be clear.

Only a yoke will be visible with the candling torch.

The candling torch I use is made out of a piece of garden irrigation pipe for the main shaft.

A high intensity white or clear Led is used to produce the light.

The power supply is a lithium battery switched on and off by a micro switch.

Purpose built candling torches can be purchased online or you could use a small pen light torch.

candling Torch

The candling torch should be used to check the gouldians eggs after the last egg has been laid.

Try to be a bit discreet and not stress the parents out too much when checking the eggs.

Tap gently on the side of the nest box before disturbing the birds if they are inside still.

candling Torch

This  gives them a chance to fly out before inspecting the nest box.

Do not check or disturb the parents too often.

This is very important or they may abandon  the eggs in the nest box.

The eggs have to be incubated for about five days.

By checking the eggs for fertility saves the birds from having to incubate eggs that are not fertile.

They can then focus on the fertile eggs until they hatch.

These are the split leg ring and the closed leg ring.

Split Leg Ring
Split gouldian finch leg rings are very easy to place an the gouldian finches leg.

It can be fitted at any time and at any age.

It is available in a rang of colors and designs.

I use a split ring of a particular color say yellow for example to fit to both the male and the hen if they are a great breeding pair.

This way when it comes time to prepare the gouldians for the next breeding season.

I can easily find the same pair to place in a selective breeding box together again very easily.

If the birds were not identifiable it can be difficult to remember which birds I paired up the previous year.

Gouldian Finch Leg Rings

Closed Leg Ring

Closed gouldian finch leg rings are used by gouldian finch enthusiasts.

It can only be placed on the leg of a gouldian when it is a baby.

Unlike the split leg ring the closed leg ring is a permanent type of leg ring.

They are available in a range of colors and alphanumeric characters.

The best way to learn how to fit a closed leg ring on a baby gouldians leg is to be shown by someone that has experience at placing closed leg rings on gouldians.

The young bird should be no older that 9 days old or it will get too large to place a leg ring on.

But if the bird is too young the ring will fall off.

First hold the bird it your left hand if you are right handed.

Point the two front toes forward then slide the leg band on slowly until it is fully over the two back toe nails.

If the band is not fully over the young birds nails a tooth pick can be used to gently release the rear toes.

After completing the banding of the new gouldian document the birds details,

The parents genetics, the date the bird eventually fledges or leaves the nest and the color and number of the closed band.

Gouldian Finch Leg Rings

Leg Band Suppliers

Closed and split leg rings can be purchased from large bird societies and clubs all over the world.

They can be custom made by a company called Chapman Rings in Mortdale NSW Australia if you live in Australia or are willing to have them send the rings overseas.

The most common seeds a gouldian finch consumes include canary seed, panicium millet, white millet, Japanese millet and millet spray.

Protein
Protein is specified in two categories, animal and vegetable protein.

The animal proteins the gouldian does consume are bread and milk.

The easiest way to serve this is to soak the bread in a low fat milk.

This is a supplement to their regular diet generally provided through out the year.

The left over portion if any should be removed and discarded by midday if prepared in the morning.

The majority of the gouldians dietary protein is derived from a range of seed and green foods.

Egg and biscuit is great to add to a gouldian finch diet. The advantage of the egg and biscuit is that is will last allot longer than freshly boiled eggs or milk soaked bread.

Gouldian Finch Diet

Seed
The gouldians staple diet consists of a mixture of seed all year round. These seeds include canary seed, white millet, panicium and Japanese millet.

You may think the gouldian wastes allot of seed by not eating it all but it is very selective with the particular types of seed it eats. Niger seed is supplied in the gouldians diet also. It is a very oily seed so it is supplied in small quantities.

It is supplied to the birds in the colder season. Hens should be supplied niger seed leading up to breeding and continued until laying has been completed.
Greens

The greens consist of seeding grasses broad leaf plants and weed seeds.

Thistle dandelion and chick weed are provided to the gouldian finch all year round or while available.
Greens that are wilted or that have been gathered from a location that may be exposed to pollutants like car exhaust, chemicals, pesticides, animal urine or other pollutants should definitely not be given to your birds.

Greens are best supplied to your finches early in the day and in small quantities rather than the evening as gouldians should only fill their crops with seed for the night.
Grits

Gouldians require a certain amount of grit in their diet. Grit can be either soluble or non soluble. It is great if your birds have access to exposed or open soil such as in an open flight floor. You will find them roaming around and pecking at the open soil.

Provide your gouldian finches cuttle bone and oyster shell. The oyster shell is a great source of iodine which is very important in a gouldians diet to maintain good gouldian health.

Egg shell which has been boiled in water is also very good for the gouldian also.
Supplements

Gouldian Finch Diet

Most gouldian finch diets are supplemented with a range of different foods.

Egg and biscuit can be provided to help boost the diet of gouldian finches.

The hospital cage is a very important piece of equipment for any finch breeder.

It is used to keep a sick finch warm in climates that are quite cold.

If the outdoor aviary the sick finch is normally housed in is cold at night or day then the bird is placed inside the hospital cage to recover.

With gouldian finches the hospital cageis mostly used during the breeding season.

Hens are inclined to occasionally become egg bound. This is where the hen can not pass its egg.

This especially happens if they are only one year old or if its their first breeding season.

There are a number of reasons why gouldian hens become egg bound.

Some of the causes are as follows, very cold climate or aviary conditions, or if the hens egg shell is too thin.

When this is the case it will have trouble passing the egg.

hospital cage

If a hen is suffering from its egg having a thin shell.

It should firstly be separated from its mate by placing it in another cage and be fed egg shells, cuttle fish bone, and or a supplement of calcivet which is a liquid calcium supplement.

This liquid calcium is added to the birds water.

Gouldian finch breeders who do not have a hospital cage yet should invest in the time to either purchase one or put in the effort to build one.

It is quite easy to build a simple one with a light globe inside a box. This would be a cheap and nasty version of a hospital cage though.

It is highly recommended it have some form of a thermostat installed to regulate the temperature inside the hospital cage to a desired level.

If it gets far too hot inside and the hospital cage the bird will be overheated.

How To Build A Hospital Cage

The hospital cage pictured on the right is the one I built myself and I have saved many of my sick gouldians with over the years.

It is made of melamine covered chip board ,a glass front ,3 globes, food and water dispensers and an adjustable thermostat with a thermometer indicator inside the cage.

There is a small low powered globe installed in the center of the hospital cage. The purpose of this globe is to prevent the bird inside being plunged into total darkness every time the thermostat turns the lights off.

There is a light dimmer switch installed to adjust the two main globes brightness.

The speed the heat is produced by the two main globes can then be adjusted manually to produce quick heat in the full brightness position or slow heat in dull position.

This is adjustable for different climates.

The dim setting is used for low heat production in warmer climates.

Full brightness is normally used when the bird is first placed into the hospital cage as the wood and glass may be cold.

Never place a bird into a preheated hot hospital cage.

The sick bird should always be placed in the hospital cage at room temperature first then the power turned on to start the hospital cage heating process.

This will give the sick bird a chance to adjust to the increasing heat inside the hospital cage from its cold cage outside instead of a sudden temperature change.

Hospital Cage

It is a good idea to add spark to the birds water.

This is a glucose and electrolyte additive which helps the bird in these times of stress.

If all goes well the bird will pass its egg in the morning if it is egg bound.

The bird should only be placed in the outdoor aviary if it has recovered fully.

Birds that has some other sickness should be observed very closely.

The hospital cage should always be cleaned thoroughly after use.

This will prevent the next bird getting sick also if the previous bird had an illness rather than being egg bound.

Like most animals water is more of a priority than food to sustain life.

Ideally there water supply needs to be checked and renewed daily or as required.

A great way of keeping the water clean and free of algae is to add a product called aviclense to their water.

It is a liquid which is added to the drinking water which keeps it nice and clean.

It is manufactured by a company based in Australia called VetaFarm.

Aviclense can be added to water in their pond or rock pools also.

Vetafarm produce a large range of bird supplements and medication also.
Diet

Gouldian Health

The gouldian finch diet is very specific.

It basically comprises of seed and greens.

They can be provided with a supplemented diet of egg and biscuit, cuttle fish bone, oyster shell and egg shells which will maintain good gouldian health.
Housing

Gouldian Health

The housing that is provided for your gouldian finches it extremely important, especially if you are in a cold climate region of the world.

If the birds are kept in an outdoor aviary it needs to be built specifically for the gouldian finches or gouldian health will be at risk.

The lady gouldian finch has three basic head colors. These are black, red and yellow.

The head color is separated by a thin band of black around the head and into the chin

(which can be seen in the photo on the right) followed by a light blue which goes right around the head and neck.

The breast color of the male lady gouldian finch is a purple which almost has an unnatural iridescence to it in sunlight.

The hen has a lighter purple – lilac colored breast. The lower front of the body is yellow.

The back of the lady gouldian finch is green with a small section between the wings to the start of the tail feathers which is the same blue as the neck.

Lady Gouldian Finch

The lady gouldian finch is found in a range of body colors also.

These are known as gouldian mutations.