Red-billed Fire Finch Baby

[Sally]

At long last, after a long hiatus from breeding, I have a baby! This pair tossed two, I found one dead and one ice cold. I was able to revive the ice cold one, but lost it after hand feeding for a couple of days. I know there is one baby still in the nest, but I thought I heard two babies begging this afternoon.

[Sally]

I did hear two babies! Here they are, side by side, getting quite big!

[delray]

Sally Congrats Sally!! Can't wait to see more photos of the journey.

[a_gouldian]

Congratulations! Ours are sitting on at least 3 eggs right now. Hope if they are fertile they feed them and don't toss.

[Sally]

Looks like these two will be leaving the nest soon. This pair apparently had a clutch of four, with these two being the only survivors. They have been well-fed.

[a_gouldian]

Sally, Congratulations on your babies! What are you feeding you them while they are breeding?

We are going through a similar experience with our Fire Finches. They are a week or two behind yours, but this is what we think happened. There were 4 eggs, one egg hatched first. Then two more eggs hatched and they tossed those 2 chicks. Then the following day the last egg hatched and they tossed the chick. But so far have not tossed the first chick that hatched. For insects we are feeding mainly live mini meal worms and some dried blood worms.

[lovezebs]

Sally

WOOOHOOO!!!

How did I miss this bit of news...

Were you trying to get them to breed, or did they simply decide to go for it without permission?

Well woman, you're back in th saddle again

[wildbill]

Sally

I bred quite a few red bill fire-tails a few years back and I found them easy to cater for. the key ingredient for me was green food which I supplied in lettuce only. never gave them any type of live food but if given the chance they will certainly -go for it!

so with just a seed diet and the lettuce all went well. I recall in one nest to actually score 6 young. only happened the once though.

I have not had them now for 18 months as all my old stock died out. when the seller decides to freight them I have just purchased 4 pair of the pied variety along with 4 pair of the pied red cheek cordon blue - unfortunately these cordon are a highly strung lot and definitely require live food or will toss out their young.

[isobea]

Sally - just like lovezebs I somehow missed your good news. Congratulations! They look great. When I had fire finches they almost exclusively fed mini mealworms (especially in the beginning). I once watched my male pick up 19 (!) minis before returning to the nest. How in the world he managed that is still a mystery to me.
Iso

[Babs _Owner]

Sally

I missed this too! Congrats Sally!! Time for youngin's to be bouncing around the nest!! Yay!

[lovezebs]

wildbill

Firetails, are gorgeous birds, but different from the African Fires.

[Sally]

a_gouldian@lovezebs@wildbill@isobea@Babs

One of the babies fledged today, but I was having an off day myself, so I will have to try to band it tomorrow, as the other one should fledge tomorrow. I fed mostly my homemade egg food. At first, I didn't have any mini mealworms, and then when my order came in, they were medium size instead of mini. I did pick through and offer the ones that had just shed their skins, so they are more tender, and then once my minis arrived, I offered those.

This pair has been very good about feeding these two, no idea why they tossed two others. But considering they are in a flight (F030) with a Green-backed Twinspot hen, a Red-cheeked Cordon Bleu male, and another Red-billed Fire finch hen. they have been good. I hadn't planned on breeding them quite yet, but they didn't consult with me first!

[lovezebs]

Sally

They have a mind of their own sometime

I'm just happy that you finally have some babies again, Sally. It's been way too long, and babies are nice .

[MariusStegmann]

Sally Very nice Sally. I had semi success with my red billed firefinch. Well sort of, because the hen died, I gave it to a friend, who had a hen. He said to me yesterday that they raised 4 chicks, but the one died yesterday, when his foot got stuck to something in the aviary.

[Sally]

Both babies fledged today, and I finally got them closed banded. Tiny little things. I did get photos of one of them before I put it back in the cage. They are still clumsy fliers, so I was able to catch them easily.