How to stop breeding

[Fraza]

It is handy having someone from the uk haha aby any chance do u know any finches you can have as pets which are wild in uk I now greenfinches are but are there any others would be good having them communicating with outside birds

[wilkifam]

Fraza

Take out the nest boxes, and separate males and females. Put them on a resting diet, and don't pair them back up for at least 6 months.

[Fraza]

wilkifam didn’t know you could do this well in a way I’m in abit of luck because it’s becoming cold weather now and I’ve only had two lay eggs and the other 4 haven’t and don’t think they will breed in the cold
And I’m just gonna cut down all the extra food for breeding after eggs have fledged

[Stuart whiting]

Stuart whiting yeh but when they’ve slept out of beds they go dead stoff and cold and my dads a builder and he helped build the aviary and insulated it for me so it is warm but just don’t wanna chance leaving them with no bed and maybe waking up to a flock of dead birds however do u have lights in your aviry to keep it warm because I’ve ordered 2 just waiting for delivery then I’ll try a night with no beds

If keeping certain foreign birds then yes I will have lights in me birdroom as during the winter months the length of day light hrs are obviously considerably shorter, with the lights in me birdroom I can leave on upto Around 10 o'clock at night as this will enable them to feed for longer hrs,

Once me main light goes off I automatically have a night light that has a lower wattage bulb that will stay on all night, in fact this night light is not on a timer but actually stays on all of the time, yes even during the day, I keep me night light on permanently so I don't ever have to worry about turning it on any particular night in case I forget,

The main light within me birdroom I can however turn off at whatever time I like during the late evenings

When I've had birds outside of me birdroom in avaires over the years I've never had lighting inside of the avairy, I don't really know of many people who practice this eaither,
However there is always a first time and can't see any reason why you couldn't install a night light within yer avairy, it's not so much as for the heat because most quality modern day lighting is LED which dosen't throw heat like older light fittings do,

The idea of the night light is so if any birds become spooked during the night they won't crash themselves around the avairy in the pitch black and damage themselves, with a bit of light they can easily find there way back to there roosting positions etc.

Remember no need for beds .......lol

[Fraza]

Yeh well the guy I bought two off has an aviary like mine I sorta copied but his was a bigger version and like a semi circle and he give me some advice and just said at winter keep beds in and have the lights in the sleep room and make sure it’s jnsulated I’ve already bought them so might aswell put them in but I’ll see with the beds if they end up making beds again ready for breeding I will take them out

[Fraza]

Thanks for help

[Rob]

The idea of the night light is so if any birds become spooked during the night they won't crash themselves around the avairy in the pitch black and damage themselves, with a bit of light they can easily find there way back to there roosting positions etc.

I've read that estrildidae finches (waxbills) get spooked more easily than say society finches, and are more comfortable with a bit of light at night. My lavender twitches at the slightest movement or sound, whereas my society finches sleep through most anything. My canaries are somewhere in the middle.

@"Stuart whiting"
When you say bengalese can be wintered, what temperatures are you talking about?

[Stuart whiting]

The idea of the night light is so if any birds become spooked during the night they won't crash themselves around the avairy in the pitch black and damage themselves, with a bit of light they can easily find there way back to there roosting positions etc.

I've read that estrildidae finches (waxbills) get spooked more easily than say society finches, and are more comfortable with a bit of light at night. My lavender twitches at the slightest movement or sound, whereas my society finches sleep through most anything. My canaries are somewhere in the middle.

@"Stuart whiting"
When you say bengalese can be wintered, what temperatures are you talking about?

As regards to the use of night lights it were actually Waxbills that I first ever tried using the lights with many years ago,

Waxbills all need extra lighting during the winter months because the birds are so small they need to feed for longer than the day light hrs can provide, reason being is be because waxbills are so small they need to gain as much body heat as possible and they can only do this by feeding for at least 15-16 hrs per day, the body heat that is reserved through them feeding for extended hrs is generally enough to see the little birds through the cold winter nights, if one has heating within their birdroom then the body heat is obviously not so critical but if there is little or no heating they will need the additional lighting to feed for longer hrs,

Aswell as me main lighting in me birdroom I will now always use additional night lighting for all of me birds regardless to whatever birds they may be.

As for wintering bengalese it doesn't really matter about the temps of how cold, here in England the last few years have seen some rather mild winters but at times we've also had our fair share of snowy conditions and where the temps will plummet well below zero,

Zebras, bengalese, canaries, budgies, some varieties of parakeets, British, European and Siberian finches and softbills will all handle cold conditions,

The only birds that need to be out of the cold are the majority of the foreign finches and softbills although there are a few that are rather hardy and can be kept outside in cold conditions.

I've tried and kept at times a whole host of various birds throughout most of me life and nowadays I'm more so interested in keeping small foreign softbills as to me these are the ultimate of a challenge

Always remember that although many birds are actually ok in cold conditions never expose any birds to cold drafts and winds as this can obviously be fatal

[Fraza]

Stuart whiting well all my females that I have now have never had a clutch apart from my one zeb who’s is now on third but never had them hatch and never incubated and only ever laid like two eggs don’t even know if they where fertile so I’m gonna leave the nests and have the lights and I’ve been told by few members including elana that winter weather usually puts them off breeding then when summer comes round again she would have plenty of rest and all others will be fully paired and ready for breeding and thanks @Stuart whiting didn’t know they could handle cold weather thought why always needed atleast 10degress in there sleeping part

[Stuart whiting]

Stuart whiting]Stuart whiting well all my females that I have now have never had a clutch apart from my one zeb who’s is now on third but never had them hatch and never incubated and only ever laid like two eggs don’t even know if they where fertile so I’m gonna leave the nests and have the lights and I’ve been told by few members including elana that winter weather usually puts them off breeding then when summer comes round again she would have plenty of rest and all others will be fully paired and ready for breeding and thanks Stuart whiting[/url] didn’t know they could handle cold weather thought why always needed atleast 10degress in there sleeping part

Why did you think they need at least 10 degrees, someone must of obviously told you so or what you read out of a book,
You've clearly been told duff information, the same info about the beds
Why do you call em beds, there called nests,

Yer best bet is not to listen from inexperienced or read various rubish from basic books, try to google lots of info about zebras and bengalese,
Yes you can get quality info from books but there are high quality books and books like the basic TFH books that are generally c##p and you won't learn hardly anything from,

I'm a dedicated bird book collector and probably have in excess of 200 very good quality bird books within me study.

The zebra finch society uk would be a good place to start being one of the oldest specialist clubs within the uk, this should easily tell yer all yer ever likely to wanna know and is definitely not yer average useless info.

Always listen to experienced bird fanciers and yer may well learn a few things about yer birds, might also be wise to join one or two clubs as this will no doubt help yer knowledge, I'm currently in several specialist clubs here in the uk

[Fraza]

Stuart whiting really seven wow anyway I just call em beds because I just prefer because that word haha but maybe I should call it nests as that’s what they are anyway do u know where any shows are in England because would be good to go to one and learn abit aswell one of my local pet shops, a good one knows a show breeder who sometimes sells them birds but they won’t tell me his number and it’s so annoying but would like to get some better birds to breed so I can sell for easier they give me that new cream zeb female as she was one of his birds but they said they will give me one of his white ones to breed with it and I can sell the chicks to her for £7

[Fraza]

And I don’t have the time to sell online as wouldn’t like people coming to the house and don’t have time to be meeting up and stuff

[Stuart whiting]

Stuart whiting really seven wow anyway I just call em beds because I just prefer because that word haha but maybe I should call it nests as that’s what they are anyway do u know where any shows are in England because would be good to go to one and learn abit aswell one of my local pet shops, a good one knows a show breeder who sometimes sells them birds but they won’t tell me his number and it’s so annoying but would like to get some better birds to breed so I can sell for easier they give me that new cream zeb female as she was one of his birds but they said they will give me one of his white ones to breed with it and I can sell the chicks to her for £7

How about this for yer zebra finch shows, just give me local mate Keith Simms a call and ask for any information, Keith is the chairman of the zebra finch society

Alternatively you can call any of the other numbers as I'm sure that any of the officials will only be to glad to help

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[lovezebs]

Stuart whiting

Hi Stuart,

When Rob and I mention 'cold temperatures' (we live in the same city), we mean COLD temperatures, into the -20's and -30's C, with wind chill factors, that can go into the -40's.

I wouldn't keep any pet birds outside in that, unless you have an insulated, heated bird aviary/bird house.

Not sure what the temperature range is where you are in Southern England, or where Fraser is .

[Stuart whiting]

Stuart whiting

Hi Stuart,

When Rob and I mention 'cold temperatures' (we live in the same city), we mean COLD temperatures, into the -20's and -30's C, with wind chill factors, that can go into the -40's.

I wouldn't keep any pet birds outside in that, unless you have an insulated, heated bird aviary/bird house.

Not sure what the temperature range is where you are in Southern England, or where Fraser is .

Oh god know, perhaps yer temperatures are a bit extreme for birds in that respect,
I suppose we get down to about -10 degrees or there abouts, can't really recall it being much colder than that,

To perfectly honest Elana for the last several winters I've noticed that it appears to be getting a lot milder, we've hardly really seen much snow for quite some time now but I'm certainly not complaining as I personally don't like that horrible white stuff, causes more problems than enough.

Quite often over the last few winters I suppose it's hovered no lower than about -3 degrees which compared to your extreamaties is nothing,

Frazier is about 200 odd mile further up towards the north of England but quite a bit before you get to Scotland, I suppose he may get temperatures perhaps to around 3-4 degrees colder if bad weather is coming over the uk from the northeast IE like from Russia, Norway and Finland etc but the temperatures normally throughout the whole of England stays pretty much the same with hardly any differences to wanna worry about.

For many years probably around 30 odd I've seriously studied me weather patterns and tides as I'm a serious fanatical bass angler on the Thames estuary here close to me home which is actually the biggest river and estuary in England and bass fishing is all to do with wind patterns and tides, if one dosen't understand this as regards to bass fishing they may as well give up .....lol