Random Quick Finch Questions . . .

[KoacNation]

1) Can I put the s76 and water into a spray bottle and start pummeling them with it to assure it gets on their skin? I mean, how is that much different from them bathing in the dish (which doesnt seem to be happening much)

2) What supplement do you prefer for iodine? My blueback female has a little baldness around her upper neck/lower head. Read that it is caused by iodine deficiency

3) My gouldians are incubating, like day 3, the nestbox is in a very inconvenient spot, and is one where you cant see in it at all unless you lift the top, so nest checks are extremely unlikely to happen, plus I dontknow yet how tolerable they will be to it, I dont plan to band them, (never bred these before) so my questions . . .

a) what would be a signal that I HAVE to take a look inside?

b) what day should I go in there to clean it out for the next clutch (keep in mind, I wont know if all the birdees fledged since I wont be able to peek in)

c) when the birdees hatch I have the standard seed, commercial eggfood, and millet, but they dont seem to eat real hard boiled egg. Is there something else I should put in there for them to feed the babies?

4) I put a second 3ft 6500 lux daylight bulb on top of my aviary, isnt this effort to get bright light in there bad for their eyes?

5) Anyone know where I could get mannikins in the Chicago area?

6) Would a pair of canaries added to 12 finches be a bad idea? I saw this pair of mango-colored (seriously, they were pinkish orange a totally unnatural shade.) ones at a petsmart and I almost picked em up.

7) Why dont my finches eat any real food? millet and seed is all they will take.

Thanks!

[nixity]

1) Can I put the s76 and water into a spray bottle and start pummeling them with it to assure it gets on their skin? I mean, how is that much different from them bathing in the dish (which doesnt seem to be happening much)

If you're administering it on their skin it has to be undiluted.
If you want to treat via water, why not just administer it in their drinking water as directed? (2 consecutive days for three consecutive weeks)

2) What supplement do you prefer for iodine? My blueback female has a little baldness around her upper neck/lower head. Read that it is caused by iodine deficiency

Baldness is not always/usually related to iodine deficiencies. In hens, it is usually caused by hormonal imbalances which is usually the result of being over bred or bred before being properly conditioned. They will usually come back when the bird goes through their annual molt.
If you want to have something available to them that will provide supplemental Iodine, my recommendation is free-choice Powdered Kelp. This way they can consume it as they like, and will not get excess of something they might not necessarily need.

3) My gouldians are incubating, like day 3, the nestbox is in a very inconvenient spot, and is one where you cant see in it at all unless you lift the top, so nest checks are extremely unlikely to happen, plus I dontknow yet how tolerable they will be to it, I dont plan to band them, (never bred these before) so my questions . . .

a) what would be a signal that I HAVE to take a look inside?

I notice almost always close to at hatch, suddenly I see both parents have disappeared. The males that don't toss stay in the nest with the female after the lights come on, and usually this is my cue that either something has hatched, or something will hatch soon.

b) what day should I go in there to clean it out for the next clutch (keep in mind, I wont know if all the birdees fledged since I wont be able to peek in)

I would just wait until all babies have fledged. Generally speaking they fledge within a few days of one another anyway, and clutches are on average 3-5 - so if you check early, chances are you could just put the nest back no harm no foul.

c) when the birdees hatch I have the standard seed, commercial eggfood, and millet, but they dont seem to eat real hard boiled egg. Is there something else I should put in there for them to feed the babies?

You could try soaking/sprouting seed - most of my pairs feed this almost exclusively.

4) I put a second 3ft 6500 lux daylight bulb on top of my aviary, isnt this effort to get bright light in there bad for their eyes?

I guess it depends if they are staring up at the light constantly ;)

5) Anyone know where I could get mannikins in the Chicago area?

Check the NFSS website for local breeders in your area, or maybe do a Hoobly search or BirdBreeders.com search.

6) Would a pair of canaries added to 12 finches be a bad idea? I saw this pair of mango-colored (seriously, they were pinkish orange a totally unnatural shade.) ones at a petsmart and I almost picked em up.

I don't recommend buying anything from PetSmart unless you plan a stringent quarantine for them.
That being said, from what I'm told Canaries cohabitate just fine with finches.

7) Why dont my finches eat any real food? millet and seed is all they will take.

Thanks!

Probably because that's all they were ever fed.
On average it takes a bird about 2 months to get accustomed to a new food.
If you really want them to expand their taste buds one way to accomplish this is to remove all food sources at night - and provide them with the food you WANT them to eat for the first 2 hours of the day. This is when they are hungriest and will eat what's available to them. It may be they don't recognize what you're giving as food.
How are you offering the fresh boiled egg?
My birds will only eat it if I grate it with a cheese grater so it looks like little worms, and then mix a bit of commercial egg food in (Miracle Meal, Orlux, etc.) to dry it up so it's a bit crumbly.

[ac12]

3) My gouldians are incubating, like day 3, the nestbox is in a very inconvenient spot, and is one where you cant see in it at all unless you lift the top, so nest checks are extremely unlikely to happen, plus I don't know yet how tolerable they will be to it, I dont plan to band them, (never bred these before) so my questions . . .

> If you can put a divider in the cage, shoo the birds to one side and slide in a SOLID divider. That way they cannot see what you are doing to the nest. If not, may have to leave it alone, I would not risk disturbing them too much on their first clutch.
Next time mount the nest box outside the cage. If your cage does not have a door, you may have to make a new door for the nest. That is what I did when I relocated the nestboxes to a different part of the cage.

a) what would be a signal that I HAVE to take a look inside?

> You never HAVE to look inside. And based on the setup, if that would risk the birds abandoning the nest, I would not disturb them. I have had my gouldian pair abandon their nest (and eggs) many times.

b) what day should I go in there to clean it out for the next clutch (keep in mind, I wont know if all the birdees fledged since I wont be able to peek in)

> If you don't check the nest. I would say 5-7 days after the first one fledges. I think that should take care of the difference between early and late fledgers.

c) when the birdees hatch I have the standard seed, commercial eggfood, and millet, but they dont seem to eat real hard boiled egg. Is there something else I should put in there for them to feed the babies?

> Try "Miracle Meal." My birds like it.
I have mixed seeds with the mashed hardboiled egg, and that has gotten them to try the egg at the same time they are eating the seeds. This is also how I got some to eat veggies, mix it with seeds.
But start NOW, don't wait till the egg hatch to get the parents used to the new food. They may not take to it immediately.

7) Why dont my finches eat any real food? millet and seed is all they will take.

> As Tiffany said, that is probably all they know as food.
I have converted finches to eat other food; pellets, veggies, egg, etc. I used the method Tiffany mentioned, remove their old food before lights out, then give them the "new" food in the morning. Do not replace their old food for 2 hrs. After a week, if they still don't eat the new food, extend the time to 4 hrs, and then to 6 hrs. Usually, they start to eat the new food by the time you hit 6 hrs. However, some birds will "hold out" knowing that their old food will come back if they wait long enough. The danger here is you don't want to starve the bird, so you have to put their old food back. But maybe the new food for the first 4 hrs for a couple/few weeks and they will start to eat the new food.

Another method is to have a "teacher bird." This is a bird that already eats the new food. They will watch the teacher bird then figure out that the new food is OK to eat. Some will follow quickly, others take a while longer. This also works when you have several birds and one starts to eat the new food. That bird then becomes the teacher bird.