live food !!

[Rayray]

reading some topics about breeding birds that need "live" food ..
after breeding different species ( incl only insect eaters ) over 25 years i can say that i dont need live food .... i think a good eggfood with soaked seeds and 5% frozen maggots, mini mealies will do the job for all african and australian finches .... the most common finches like zebras , societies , etc dont need any frozen insects at all , a good commercial eggfood will do .....

what are you guys ideas about this

[kenny66]

reading some topics about breeding birds that need "live" food ..
after breeding different species ( incl only insect eaters ) over 25 years i can say that i dont need live food .... i think a good eggfood with soaked seeds and 5% frozen maggots, mini mealies will do the job for all african and australian finches .... the most common finches like zebras , societies , etc dont need any frozen insects at all , a good commercial eggfood will do .....

what are you guys ideas about this

well I can tell you what happens with mine-mostly Australian and African Species plus the Red Faced Parrot Finches and Jacarinis of course. This is also the experience of the breeders in my area who specialise in Australian Finches as well I think. Pytilias will not breed successfully without copious amounts of live food and most believe it has to be termites. Jacarinis might turn out a couple of chicks but mine cosume large amount of maggots amd mealworms with large clutches. My RFPF will not breed successfully without live food. Stars,St Helenas and fire finches take them as do the painteds. I have never bred the cordons without offering live food. Gouldians from the east coast eat them but the gouldians up north (mine) ignore them. Its breeding season now and I am going through 25gms of live food (maggots and mealworms) 3 time per day. Of course the compulsion to breed in finches is such that many will breed on the diet that you suggest and be happy with that . Although observing the line up that greets me at the live food trays in the morning I believe the birds must enjoy them, they are positively excited when I enter the aviaries. I think that there is no right or wrong answer to your question-whatever works for you. I like you have been breeding in excess of 25 years and maybe my approach is a little old fashioned. I have taken the view that I try and replicate to an extent what they have in the wild and perhaps we are quite fortunate in Australia with the profusion of termites, brush and those things that make an Australian aviary. I presume there are many breeders who dont use live food. Whether the birds are happy with that, I dont know.

[Rayray]

good to read your ideas !!
my fire finches , sint helena's and cb's never got live food besides frozen mini mealies and maggots .
the parrot finches ( 2 species ) i had didnt get any live food , that makes them all crazy , fat , leave the nest .
all other more common australian finches can do without live food .
this doesn't say what others do or give is wrong , am just curious if there's also others that do / can breed like i do , or not .

[kenny66]

good to read your ideas !!
my fire finches , sint helena's and cb's never got live food besides frozen mini mealies and maggots .
the parrot finches ( 2 species ) i had didnt get any live food , that makes them all crazy , fat , leave the nest .
all other more common australian finches can do without live food .
this doesn't say what others do or give is wrong , am just curious if there's also others that do / can breed like i do , or not .

if that works for you I think that is great. I am running about 40 Pied RFPF at the moment and I am aware that they have a propensity for obesity. That is why I dont give them soft food such as egg and biscuit which does make them fat. Termites are high protein low calories. All of my live food eaters have to have the bugs wriggling. They will not eat frozen live food. I am not sure what you mean by sending the RFPF "crazy". Mine raise large clutches on live food without any mental problems as do all the others. I think we have to be a bit circumspect about making definitive statements on finch breeding. everyone has different ideas and experiences. For me I would not even attempt to begin the breeding season without a constant supply of live food. Your method would I am sure save on costs and effort if that is indeed the purpose.I found your comments and husbandry methods very interesting.

[dan78]

Sorry to say rayray but I'm with Kenny on this one, I have been breeding finches for quite awhile but not as ling as you two, and in my experience like Kenny mine have produced larger and stronger clutches with the live food. I have tried certain pairs which I know with soft food mix (my own recipe) with no added live food and the pairs either left the clutch or only raised 1-2 of the young. With a couple of other pairs I left out live and soft food and continued with seeding grasses which gave me the same result as the previous pairs.
But as Kenny has stated what works for one doesn't work for everyone. My best results have cone from giving all my finches choices of live, soft food as well as fruits and vegies, seeding grasses and plenty of Green leafy foods, only with wide varied diet will mine be persistent enough to breed and when they do I always get a good return. After reading alot of posts about soft food on here I realize there is quite a difference in how birds all around the world are feed and housed, alot different to how mine are, and if it works for you keep doing it because some change can alter the results.

[Rayray]

no sorry needed Dan ,

everyone does it at his/her own way , and if that works don't change it , am as said only curious how others do it with in the back of my head the questions .. do we give them to much .. do we give them the right stuff ... what happens if ... etc ... and yes even i still learn after those years

[dan78]

The question is how much is too much? Well I believe that our feathered little friends will answer this. My bluecaps will eat every bit of live food available mealworms maggots crickets. Is this enough variety well probably no, heaps of people here will give them flies and termites also but I can't and they still get on fine with what I'm feeding. When comes to soft food I only give them two table spoons worth and I find that they don't eat all of it, but I suppose that its hard for me to judge since they get such a variety. I house mixed collections so as to speed the food around abit, I would hate to see what would happen if I placed alot of live food rarers together and nit enough live food. I'm glad that your able to raise young on soft foods I would like this it'll free up abit more time and I could be watching them alot more.