Beautiful story:

I have 5 youngsters in one nest and on the 22^nd day 4 have fledged with one still in the box, two days later I noticed the 5^th on the floor with one of his brothers feeding him not the parents, so keeping my eye on him noticed that two more of the brothers are also feeding him.

Yes they are now 6 weeks old and during that time brothers or sisters have looked after him and he is now on his own eating by him self, and you can not tell the difference between them.

Have been informed by one of my friends from the fire-devastating area that he and all his friends (breeders) lost all the birds, and there is no prospect for them to get going again in the near future, I did offered him stock to start with, he thank me and said due to priorities, that would be the last thing on there lists.

To day I had also a visit from a senior breeder of finches, wanted to know why this year he is loosing his birds, after two hrs. of conversation I have discovered that he also keeps Manikins (not Bengalese), I seriously suspect that in the long hall, took time for the Manikins to infect the rest of his Gouldians, and they now keep dropping dead, there is no difference between Bengalese and Manikins they all carry the same sickness.

My advice was to separate the Gouldians as far as it is possible from the other finches to different room, and to start breeding with out the help of the Manikins.

He assured me that he is not using Bengalese, but Manikins for foster parents. (how pathetic is that?)