FINCHforum

I am in need of female Shaft-tails. Out of my five birds I only have one hen. Three are for sure males and the other one is questionable. I'd be willing to trade a male or two for a hen or two if anyone in the area would like some new bloodlines. These males are about 6 month old. They aren't close banded but I got them when they were still in their juvenile plumage.

Did you check with Helen and/or Su? They both have Shaft-tails.

I haven't yet. I wasn't sure if they'd even want to trade on them. I don't have the space currently to bring more hens home without finding some of these boys a home.

Colt, that is crazy. Their other clutch was also predominantly males (3-1 was the ratio). I hope you find some. I'm glad to see they're doing well.

Colt, have you thought about setting up a black-light in your bird room? They say it can bring the male/female ratio back to 50/50, it would be interesting to see if it works for you.

Robert Black talks about this in the last 3 paragraphs of this article:
http://www.naturallighting.com/cart/sto ... sc_page=56

I've heard about it. Birds I've bred seem pretty well evenly male/female. These babies were purchased as juveniles from bach326. They hadn't colored up yet and I haven't hatched any from them yet.

I might try the light though just to see what happens.

@Sally - Do you think either of them would be interested in swapping blood lines?

@bach236 - Thanks. They are great. I love them. Especially the little one with one leg. It's very trusting. That one is supposed to be a male too right?

That's right, Colt. That bird is a male. Have you tried any sort of prosthetic limb for him? He is definitely a resilient bird. I never thought he would survive, but he was always active and ate well even when he was first injured.

I will consider adding a black light to my bird room. That sounds like an interesting possibility.

Colt@ I'm not sure if they would do trades at this time, but it wouldn't hurt to ask. The worst they can say is no, and they don't mind being asked.

bach326 When I first started breeding Strawberries, I had way too many male babies, either 4 out of 5 or 5 out of 5 with each clutch. Every Berry I could find for sale was another male, couldn't find hens anywhere. Someone told me to put a black light in my bird room, so I put a 4' fluorescent tube light in the middle of the room. Bam, I started getting hens! My clutches became closer to 50/50, sometimes even tipping to more hens than males. I would certainly give it a try, it is an inexpensive experiment with possible huge returns.

That's so great to hear. I will set something up as soon as I have a chance. The article Debbie shared is quite interesting.

The discussion about long and short ultraviolet waves is new to me. When I got setup about a year and a half ago, I remembered from when I was a kid that I needed to have 'full-spectrum' light, but I didn't understand it any more than that. When I went to purchase my lights, the clerk told me that 'full-spectrum' was quite vague by today's standard and, though I don't remember what we selected at the time, the specifications were really beyond me.

Considering Robert Black's article, do any of you have recommendations about the fluorescent lighting you provide for each flight? --I do realize that this discussion really belongs in another forum at this point...

Here's a great article on lighting to support avian vision:

http://confluence.mickaboo.org/download ... ummary.pdf

I've texted Helen and am going to message Su on Facebook or through her email and see if I luck out. In the mean time all you secret shaft-tail keepers in the East Texas area feel free to message me about a trade. lol ;)

Fantastic article, Debbie. I already have some new lights on their way and have the article saved on my computer for future reference.

Colt, I'll be sure to direct any finch-breeding hobbyists with shaft tails your way.

Thanks Andrew. Helen only has two pairs at the moment and I haven't had a chance to message Su yet. One of the younger males and the only hen seem to have really paired up no and are taking turns incubating what I'm hoping is not an empty nest.