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Re: Fort Worth Bird Mart

Posted: Wed Oct 14, 2015 11:53 pm
by dunker817
Colt, you will see me. I am also interested in getting a pair of red cheeked cordon bleus. I just love the CBs.

Re: Fort Worth Bird Mart

Posted: Thu Oct 15, 2015 12:12 am
by Sally
This should be a good mart for finches, a really nice selection will be available. Come early for the best picks.

Just a reminder to everyone--the doors open to the public at 9:30 am this time. We decided to open 1/2 hour earlier, since we had such big crowds at the door last time. We will close at 4:30pm.

Re: Fort Worth Bird Mart

Posted: Sun Oct 18, 2015 3:41 pm
by FinchsRUS
Yes, I was able to sell one of my males to her. Now I need to find another male of a different pedigree.

Another person is coming to pick up one of my hens at the end of the month. Soon I'll have unrelated pairs. I think this finch is getting scarce again.

Re: Fort Worth Bird Mart

Posted: Tue Oct 20, 2015 2:03 pm
by slwatson
Sally

I had the best time at the mart! I really enjoyed helping Helen, and I came home with some awesome birds :D Did the birds that escaped ever come back down, especially Colt's bird?

Re: Fort Worth Bird Mart

Posted: Tue Oct 20, 2015 6:31 pm
by Sally
slwatson Glad you had fun, and sorry I didn't have time to visit. Seems like I stay so busy at these marts, I don't have enough time for socializing! :(

All loose birds were caught. Colt and his friend stayed until all vendors had left, and then it is much easier to try to chase them down. With the bigger birds, you can chase them until they tire and come down to the floor. With the small birds like finches, it is much harder, as they simply fly from rafter to rafter and don't want to come down at all. The last Owl finch was recovered yesterday afternoon, and her owner came and picked her up today. I don't think she would have lasted another day in the conference center.

Re: Fort Worth Bird Mart

Posted: Thu Oct 22, 2015 3:13 pm
by slwatson
Sally

I'm glad all of the birds were caught. I was helping Colt bring his cages in, and one of them had an exposed opening from where a seed cup had been knocked off. Luckily the bird flew out right as I was stepping into the mart, and didn't do it out in the open outside!

Re: Fort Worth Bird Mart

Posted: Wed Nov 18, 2015 11:01 am
by slwatson
Sally FinchsRUs

I've got my strawberry pair set up in a nice flight cage with artificial plants and a choice of three different kinds of nest at varying levels in the cage. I've given them coconut fiber, and light colored feathers, and I've been giving them egg food with insect food mixed everyday, and live meal worms every other day, and chopped veggies. So far, they haven't show any signs of breeding. I can't figure out what I'm doing wrong. I know the female is pretty young, but Colt said he thinks she's old enough to breed. Do either of you have any ideas I can try? Thank you for your help!

Re: Fort Worth Bird Mart

Posted: Wed Nov 18, 2015 12:40 pm
by Sally
The female is in charge, when she is not ready for breeding, nothing will happen. Strawberries can be slow to get started. I used to say they are very easy to breed, but I was wrong. I had a very prolific pair that bred like rabbits, so I thought all Strawberries were like that. They actually aren't that easy. You can get a pair that will immediately go to nest and raise a clutch, or you can get a pair that will take ages to settle in. I'd just give them time. Keep doing what you are doing, it sounds like you have them set up with what they need.

Re: Fort Worth Bird Mart

Posted: Wed Nov 18, 2015 1:41 pm
by slwatson
Sally

Thanks Sally! I didn't know it depended on the female. The male has really been singing, so I guess she'll let him know when she's ready :D That makes me feel better to know I'm doing it right.

Re: Fort Worth Bird Mart

Posted: Fri Nov 20, 2015 1:45 am
by FinchsRUS
Is this the only pair you have in the cage? The breeder in Washington says they won't breed of another breed is on the same cage.

The male does know how to build an elaborate nest so inexperience with nest building isn't an excuse. :) just put the cage in a quiet corner of the room and give them a fresh bathe after everyday. The less you fuss with the interior of the cage the better. I have the multi week feeders that only require new seed every other week.

Good luck. Mine went through several nests before the final one was to their satisfaction. It got HUGE. Three layers of nests. Two entire coconut husk "reams". Several nests of eggs tossed before the finally sat on them. Then they hatched five, one died and I ended up with the four. The next best was only a single hatch from at least 12 eggs.

Re: Fort Worth Bird Mart

Posted: Fri Nov 20, 2015 1:24 pm
by slwatson
I don't have any other birds in the cage with them, but they are in a double flight that has a divider, and the pair on the other side are blue capped cordon blues. I wonder if that could be it. I give them bath water daily, and I use vacation feeders, but I do replace their fresh food everyday. I try to disturb them as little as possible. I don't think I've ever seen them on their perches, but they sit on the fake plants and the tops of the nests I put in there.

I'm wondering if I should do the same thing with them that I did with my cordon blues. I took a wooden corner perch, wrapped it in fake ivy, and then put it in a corner of the cage, and they starting building their nest on the top of that. Last night I added a heat lamp to the top of the strawberry's flight, because I read online yesterday they might need more heat than other birds.

I didn't realize they were so difficult to breed! I noticed they don't eat a lot of the breeding food I give them. I take my normal egg food and mix it with some insect mix, and then add live mealworms. They don't seem very interested in the mealworms either. They crawl off the plate. Maybe I'm feeding too much? They've got me baffled!

Re: Fort Worth Bird Mart

Posted: Sun Nov 22, 2015 9:31 pm
by slwatson
Sally FinchsRUs

This weekend I added a heat lamp to the top of the flight cage, and have noticed several occasions where the male has presented the female with a piece of coconut fiber, and tonight it was a light colored feather, and she took it, and flew to the top of one of the nests, and then seemed unsure where to put it. What should I do to give them a foundation for building a nest? Do you think using a wooden corner perch wrapped in ivy would work?

Re: Fort Worth Bird Mart

Posted: Mon Nov 23, 2015 12:23 am
by Sally
slwatson Mine often like to build in a fake plant. In fact, as I was cleaning cages today, I realized that one pair had built a tiny nest in a plant that looks like monkey grass. I had hung one of those wicker balls stuffed with coco fiber in their cage, and they have ignored it for months. Actually, none of my birds took to that type nest. Anyway, I've never seen any courting action with these birds, so I figured they were not compatible. It seems they took some of the coco fiber out of that ball to make an almost flat platform-type nest, and she is sitting on four eggs. No way to know if they are fertile, or if the hen is just laying eggs, I'll just have to wait and see.

Re: Fort Worth Bird Mart

Posted: Mon Nov 23, 2015 10:57 am
by slwatson
Sally

That's a pleasant surprise! I need to change some things around today and see if they'll start building on some fake plants.

Re: Fort Worth Bird Mart

Posted: Fri Dec 04, 2015 9:53 am
by FinchsRUS
Mine use a lot of coco fiber to build their nests. A - LOT. Lol and in the tips of monkey grass.