FINCHforum

Thank you to Monotwine for the gorgeous hen The boy is from a dealer and they have been together for just over a week now. The 'relationship' has gone from her chasing him furiously all over the place, to completely ignoring each other (about a foot apart) and now she is looking for attention from him and he is not interested. Oh the Days of Our Lives! I am hoping they fall in love though

Very pretty Rox . When I grow up, I am going to get me some of those.

VE Waxbills are so gorgeous! They have just about disappeared from U.S. aviculture. Good luck with your pair!

Rox
They are lovely, Roxanne. Congratulations! !!

A tumultuous romance, eh? Smart lad, now he's playing hard to get, and I don't blame him after that rough start. Once they get their act together though, I predict beautiful babies.

Good luck

~Elana~

lovezebs I truly hope they do make beautiful babies! I love watching the dynamics, just wish I had more hours in the day! (or a rich husband would work )

I actually think I need my head checked getting all these waxbills. They already have me running around for live food - 5,000 mealworms are lasting 2 weeks max at the moment Thankfully the feeder insect business has grown here in SA, so at least I can get a regular supply going of mealies and maggots. Add to that all the green seed I am trying to grow for them and collecting out in the veld, I better be rewarded for all my efforts!

SUPER!!!! So glad you could home my girl. I truly hope you have better luck than me. Your aviaries are better suited to waxbills than mine.
The VE hen is still young and will eventually get your new boy to accept her. I always found they took a bit of time to form a relationship, but once formed they are strong and dedicated.

I am holding thumbs your patience and dedication is rewarded ten fold!

WoW beautiful bird! I know you are going to enjoy watching your new pair. It is always so much fun to check up on them and watch how they interact together. Congrats...post more photos when you can! Always love to see your beautiful photographs.

Rox
That's a lot of bugs!!!
Can you not grow your own mealworms, like Marius? I'm giving it a try, on a very small scale, just to see if it will work. As for Maggots, ugh... I think you have to have decomposing meat for them...ugh blah...don't even want to go there.... I did have the flightless fruit flies for a while. No body wanted them, and I ended up with flying, running, crawling, flies all over the house. NOT GOOD!!! NOT GOOD AT ALL!!!

How many Waxbills, do you have now total, that you're going through so many mealworms?
Should start a small business. ..."Have bugs? We want them!" LOL

~Elana~

Rox - congratulations on these lovely birds. You had me going to Google to read up on them and then to Youtube to find out what their song is like (no luck). I also think they will eventually become a dedicated pair. They are just different ages and in a new environment. It might take some time for them to settle down. I, too, am curious how your birds can go through 5000 mealworms in two weeks.

Elana - I once had fruit flies get away from me, too. I ended up putting a bowl with banana peels, apple cores and mango pits onto the kitchen counter. That worked like a magnet. Then at night, I stole into the dark kitchen, put a piece of plastic wrap over the whole thing and took it out into the yard to let them go. Had to repeat this procedure for three or four days - voila, no more fruit flies. But I'm with you on the maggot thing - NO, NO, NO!
Iso

Now those are stunning birds congratulations!

Jen@lovezebs@isobea

Jen, thank you!! I love photographing them. Gives me time to enjoy 2 hobbies at once

Elana/Iso,
The problem is that everyone eats them, including the gouldians, canaries and even my 2 society hens. Include all the young gouldian fledglings atm and they go through an insane amount of mealworms. Remember that most waxbills (except perhaps the golden-breast and fire finch) require lots of live food when rearing young. The first week after hatching, the parents only feed insects to the chicks. If they don't feel that there is enough food around, they will either not bother going to nest or will toss chicks. So you need to have a constant supply going. I have 2 breeding aviary's and they get worms twice a day, ideally making sure there is no inconsistency when it comes to availability and bugs are there at all times. Their consumption has increased dramatically over the last couple of weeks (our breeding season has just begun). Add to the fact that they are wild caught and I need to double my efforts to get them breeding. I can understand why people are hesitant to get into waxbills and push for them to move onto soft-foods.

In terms of waxbills, I now have the following birds:
Golden-breast - 15 from 3 pairs. I'm enjoying getting a flock going
BB Cordon Bleu - 2 pairs
BC Cordon Bleu - 1 pair plus extra boy
Orange-cheek - 2 pairs plus extra boy
Red-eared - 2 pairs
Fire finch - 1 pair
Black-cheek - 1 pair
Violet-eared - 1 pair
Peter's Twinspot - 1 pair

They look very beautiful good luck