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My local pet store has 2 beautiful shaft tails which I can get for $80 for both. MY question - is that a good price?

that's roughly what the store that's near me sells their for.

$40 per shaft tail is a good deal. I historically have paid around $60 per bird, and have seen them upwards of 70-90$ each depending on mutation and who you buy them from.

That is a good price for shaft tails. I bought mine this past fall, I paid $50 for a normal and $60 for a fawn.

That's an extremely good price as my local Petco had them priced at over 100$ each last winter.... $129 if I recall correctly.

Thanks, guys, for the info. My husband & I are now the proud parents of 2 beautiful shaftails. They are gorgeous! We have no idea if they are males or females, or 1 of each. I don't really care @ ths time. I was just so happy to get thm home in their big cage. The pet store had them in a VERY tiny cage. I kept thnking how miserable they must be, so went today & got them. They are just now beginng to get comfortable enough to eat & explore some. When they found their nest they both hopped in & would barely be visble behind the leaves we put around it. I read they are kind of shy & like privacy. And they make the funniest little peeping noise, they are so cute! Not knowing their sex yet, we decided to name them Harley & Hatcher.

Congrats! Seeing all these posts about shaft-tails makes me want to have some again. They are great birds, real characters.

I have found shaft tails to be very enjoyable and entertaining birds. They are funny to watch especially when they do there head bobbing every time they land on a perch. I have found them to be really curious birds checking out any new food you try giving them.

As far as sexing them, I was told by the breeder I got mine from that if you look at there throught patch the males often times have a more rounded thought patch and the hens have a longer narrower thought patch. If you go to http://efinch.com/species/shaft.htm and scroll down to where it says description there is a picture of a male and a female. You can also just wait and see if any of them starts singing.

Good luck with your new birds!

I'm glad people have had good experiences with shaft tails, that's the other species we're going to be putting in our aviary. Although our zebras have been so loud lately I think John might be happy just scrapping the idea and letting me get my budgie or parrotlet!

Congrats on the new birds!

Just to throw in another opinion, I love my shafties dearly but had to separate them from the others. I had them in my living room in a mixed aviary with owls and cbs and did not want to move them (I love watching them and listening to their song), but they dangled anybody they could catch, and when one of the owls lost a couple of toes I wasn't sure if it was an accident or the shafties. They'd probably do great in a mixed group in a larger cage or aviary, or maybe it's just my birds! One breeder suggested slightly clipping one wing - just enough to keep them a little humble without making them lose their balance. They weren't mean - they just played a little more aggressively than the others! Boy, they are handsome birds, though.

That's unusual I think.

My two Shafties get along with all my other birds, even the little Strawberries.

I'm hoping I have a male & a female with these two beauties, but still not sure. No singing yet as far as I know. I've been @ work all day but my husband Bob said he heard 1 of them making a funny whistling sound. Not sure what that would be. But if they are both the same sex then I'll just have to look for mates! Right? What's a couple more when you've already got 34 now?

lol spoken like a true addict!

tammieb wrote:That's unusual I think.

My two Shafties get along with all my other birds, even the little Strawberries.

Everyone seems to consider Shafties as very peaceful birds, but mine are a little pushy. I have one pair with Javas (who can definately hold their own) after I moved a pair of goulds out (they were being bullied). My other pair of shafties share an 8 x 8 room with pairs of European Goldfinches and Bananaquits. In the room, the shhafties are the pushiest as well.