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Tossing/Pitching
What is it?:
Tossing/Pitching is a response some birds have to
predators, illness, or upset.
When a bird feels the nest is threatened it will toss the
chicks / eggs and build a new nest somewhere else.
What is tossing/pitching in domestic gouldians?:
Tossing in domestic gouldians can be broken down
in to three categories:
•
Overly amorous males
• Genetic abnormalities in chicks
• A heightened hormonal system, "flight or fight"
response that causes the bird to react to outside interference inappropriately.
• Genetic abnormalities in chicks
• A heightened hormonal system, "flight or fight"
response that causes the bird to react to outside interference inappropriately.
First we will look at the overly amorous male.
This is usually a juvenile male (10-12 months of age)
who has been paired too early.
This male gouldian tends to pitch the chicks
to stimulate more copulation.
Solution: A breeder should always pair gouldians no earlier than
14 months of age for best results.
Males may appear to physically mature early but it takes
some time for their sense of responsibility to mature.
The breeder can also remove known perpetrators, after the eggs
have hatched, to a place where they can observe the hen and her
feeding of the nestlings and fledgling babies.
The breeder replaces the male gouldian near to the time of the
chicks weaning date (3 weeks after fledging in many cases),
and the nest has been removed.
If done before this time, the gouldian male may not feed the
chicks and may distract the hen from doing likewise.
This way the chicks will soon be feeding on their own
and will not be subject to starvation.
The breeder should monitor the returned gouldian male for a few days
as rarely, he may attack his own chicks.
By allowing the male to observe and not hinder, he will learn what
he and his mate have created and how to tend to the gouldian chicks
appropriately.
Hopefully this intervention will save lives and stimulate more than
the amorous gouldian male’s reproductive organs.
This intervention should ideally serve to guide him in future matings.
Here breeders have chicks being tossed because of some perceived abnormality.
It can be anything from illness to an odd colouration in skin, or eyes.
In the wild this serves to allow the healthy chicks to survive and the unhealthy to die off.
Many breeders do not consider mutations as anything but colour changes ,
but mutations may be recessives, (meaning they may lack the ability to process certain foods properly).
To a gouldian finch hen, this recessiveness in certain chicks
may be seen as a survival disadvantage, even though
to breeders it is a trait they are trying to achieve.
The reproductive goals of the breeder and the finches may not match,
and as a result tossing may occur.
It may also occur in chicks that are unhealthy, sickly looking,
lethargic or deformed.
Solution: The breeder should exchange any mutant chicks with gouldian
parents that do not mind the subtle oddities of skin, or eye colour.
Some will tolerate it others may not.
Treat any ill chicks and remove any with deformities from the breeding population.
Inappropriate
Hormonal Flight or Fight Response :
In this category breeders have birds that over react to outside stimuli.
These are the ones many new breeders read most about in
journals, chat groups etc...
These gouldians seem to form a habit of laying and tossing.
These are very problematic gouldian finches and the solution
may not be easy. It is actually a disorder that may grow in frequency
as more gouldians are bred indiscriminately in finch farms where no
notice is taken to any breeding/socializing issues the birds may have.
The main aim of these facilities is to have the hens lay fertile eggs and
to transfer the eggs to foster parents such as bengalese.
These gouldian finches experience an influx of fear which prompts them to react.
In many cases it causes them to have a heightened flight or fight response to outside interference.
In some cases this may not be curable as it is left until it becomes habitual.
In some cases the breeder may have to separate the gouldian pair and pair them with less excitable gouldian mates.
One might also seclude them and refrain from any nest interference or placing them where heavy traffic disturbs them and triggers the response.
The consensus amongst gouldian breeders is that this is hereditary and incurable, and so is something that as breeders we must look for
and remove from our breeding gouldian stock.
Other breeders believe however that gouldian chick tossing is curable with certain interventions.
Breeders can change this exaggerated response by diluting the trait over many generations or removing it from their breeding program altogether,
depending on their own goals and preferences.
Breeders must sometimes act as the check and balance that is usually
undertaken by nature.
In some cases measures may be drastic, but without nature's influence,
we must make these harsh decisions to in some cases, simply not
breed certain gouldian pairs no matter how attractive a certain
trait may be to us.
Conclusion : The challenge with tossing/pitching is for breeders to be certain why the pair are tossing before they can decide what action
to take.
In some cases the solution is simple but in others it may mean many years of hard work and planning for the breeder.
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| stills
from tossing
video |
