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Anyonr breed forbes tricolor parrot finches?

Posted: Sat Jan 09, 2016 10:56 pm
by tt101
Hello,

Just wondering if anyone has bread forbes parrot finches and can give me some advice. What do I need to do to successfully breed them? Do they require live food? Will they accept freeze dried live food? Do the chicks take a long time to color up like gouldians do? I read that they can be bred as early as 6 months, that seems kind of drastic and aggressive to me. Thoughts?

Please let me know anything you have about them! Currently a toss up between them and gouldians on what I will breed.

Thank you

Re: Anyonr breed forbes tricolor parrot finches?

Posted: Wed Jan 13, 2016 1:29 pm
by slwatson
tt101

I wish I could help you with that, but I've never been lucky enough to come across a pair of them. The tri-colored are so gorgeous! I know at the last bird mart I went to, someone had one for sale, but another breeder recommended she hang onto it because they were so hard to find, at least in the area. I have a pair of red throated parrot finches who are on sitting on clutch number two after raising three babies, but I don't know if they require the same thing.

With my red throated parrot finches, I have them in a large flight cage, with a large wicker nest with the opening towards the top, lots of artificial plants for coverage, and I give them egg food, seed, chopped veggies, and a few live mealworms. I mix food made specifically for insectivores and freeze dried mealworms and bloodworms into the egg food. They use coconut fiber for their nesting material.

I can't help with the coloring up part because my juveniles haven't done that yet, and I'm not sure about the breeding age either.

Hope this helped some....

Re: Anyonr breed forbes tricolor parrot finches?

Posted: Wed Jan 13, 2016 6:02 pm
by Sally
finchmix22 has bred Forbes Parrot finches and can tell you how she did it. I know that she had them in a double flight cage, so they had lots of space.

Re: Anyonr breed forbes tricolor parrot finches?

Posted: Wed Jan 13, 2016 8:20 pm
by tt101
slwatson wrote: tt101

I wish I could help you with that, but I've never been lucky enough to come across a pair of them. The tri-colored are so gorgeous! I know at the last bird mart I went to, someone had one for sale, but another breeder recommended she hang onto it because they were so hard to find, at least in the area. I have a pair of red throated parrot finches who are on sitting on clutch number two after raising three babies, but I don't know if they require the same thing.

With my red throated parrot finches, I have them in a large flight cage, with a large wicker nest with the opening towards the top, lots of artificial plants for coverage, and I give them egg food, seed, chopped veggies, and a few live mealworms. I mix food made specifically for insectivores and freeze dried mealworms and bloodworms into the egg food. They use coconut fiber for their nesting material.

I can't help with the coloring up part because my juveniles haven't done that yet, and I'm not sure about the breeding age either.

Hope this helped some....
@slwatson
I agree, very beautiful and rare birds! The difficulty with finding and breeding them makes me even more attracted to them!

I honestly have never seen the forbes in person, are they the size of cordon bleus? I was also thinking large wicker basket, but some websites seemed to prefer the nest box style nest. I may try both and see what they like. I also read the forbes like coco fibre exclusively as well.

Live bugs creep me out so much, especially meal worms. I am goung to prepare egg food with freeze dried blood worms and the quiko insectivore diet mixed in. Hope they will take it!

It helped a lot. I highly appreciate the response!

Re: Anyonr breed forbes tricolor parrot finches?

Posted: Wed Jan 13, 2016 8:22 pm
by tt101
Sally wrote: finchmix22 has bred Forbes Parrot finches and can tell you how she did it. I know that she had them in a double flight cage, so they had lots of space.
Thanks sally, I will send her a pm to get her attention. I appreciate he heads up! By the way, how do I tag people in a post and is there no multi quote?

Re: Anyonr breed forbes tricolor parrot finches?

Posted: Wed Jan 13, 2016 8:54 pm
by isobea
tt101 - if I'm not completely mistaken kcdozy has been breeding them, too. Maybe you can get in touch with him also. Good luck. They are very beautiful birds.
Iso

Re: Anyonr breed forbes tricolor parrot finches?

Posted: Wed Jan 13, 2016 9:50 pm
by tt101
isobea wrote: tt101 - if I'm not completely mistaken kcdozy has been breeding them, too. Maybe you can get in touch with him also. Good luck. They are very beautiful birds.
Iso
Is there anyway you can tag him in this post? I have no idea how the other members are doing it. Also thank you very much for the heads up. They appear to be a somewhat less bred species which is exciting for me!

Re: Anyonr breed forbes tricolor parrot finches?

Posted: Thu Jan 14, 2016 2:18 am
by Sally
tt101

At the bottom left of each member's post, there is a little button just to the left of the profile button. Click on that button, and it will tag the member.

Re: Anyonr breed forbes tricolor parrot finches?

Posted: Thu Jan 14, 2016 2:25 am
by tt101
Sally

I got it! Thank you!

Re: Anyonr breed forbes tricolor parrot finches?

Posted: Thu Jan 14, 2016 2:14 pm
by slwatson
tt101

If you decide to get a pair of tri-colored, you'll have to post pics. I would love to get a pair myself!

Re: Anyonr breed forbes tricolor parrot finches?

Posted: Thu Jan 14, 2016 4:19 pm
by tt101
slwatson wrote: tt101

If you decide to get a pair of tri-colored, you'll have to post pics. I would love to get a pair myself!
I have decided to go through with a pair of forbes. Hopefully pick them up march 1st, I can't wait and yes pics for sure!!

Re: Anyonr breed forbes tricolor parrot finches?

Posted: Thu Jan 14, 2016 4:57 pm
by Smurf
I've some Forbes but only had them a couple of months now, they started moulting shortly after i got them and havn't shown any interest in nest box so far. I might try them with some live food in next few weeks if the're still not showing interest in breeding.

Re: Anyonr breed forbes tricolor parrot finches?

Posted: Thu Jan 14, 2016 8:41 pm
by tt101
Smurf wrote: I've some Forbes but only had them a couple of months now, they started moulting shortly after i got them and havn't shown any interest in nest box so far. I might try them with some live food in next few weeks if the're still not showing interest in breeding.
I would wait till after the moult. Moulting is very very stressful on the poor guys.