Java Rice Finches?

[Lyn&Roy]

[quote="newlinta"
I have 3pair mixed with gouldians,stars,owls,goldbreasts,societies,zebras,pearl headed silverbils and shafttails with no issues.[/quote]

Tim, if you catch this post, please mention if you think four javas would be okay with a pair of waxbills, or even two pair waxbills, in a cage 5 feet long, 2 1/2 feet deep and 3 feet tall. We plan to make that size for the main floor, but another option is a longer, 9 foot cage in a room upstairs with a door (plexiglass partial front and off the ground because of the kitty cats) Your comment makes me crazy thinking maybe we could try a couple more! Thank you. If anyone paired up or we tried breeding sometime, we could create alternate, like building a drop in divider ot two to go into the 9 feet for dif. combos.

[kenny]

hi
i kept javas for years and i must admit they bred better in a colony than in a cage,i did breed them in cages but had better results with colony but its harder to stop them from interbreeding if you dont keep a close eye on them i always rung the chick before they fledged with a solid colour.....like if the adults had yellow and green rings i put blue rings on the chicks and when they showed thier sex i just put another blue ring on the cock bird

ken

[Lyn&Roy]

Thanks Ken,
Will do and take care.

[newlinta]

Ok...let me start by saying my 3 pair of javas are kept with all those other finches in a large indoor walk-in aviary. It measures 11'w x 6 1/2'd x 7'h...

Right now 2 pair are breeding and I have no issues with them being aggressive towards other finches,though they do have territorial squabbles with the other javas(nothing more thar displays and beak fencing).

In your case, I don't think I would put 4 javas in the 5' cage...1pair would probably be ok, but I would go for the bigger cage upstairs if you want to put 2 pair together with other birds.

Just my opinion...

Plus personalities vary from bird to bird....the right ones together of any species is great...the wrong ones can spell disaster.
Trouble is you can't really tell till you try it...

[Lyn&Roy]

Thank you very much Tim for your advice.

I can't resist asking, noting your signature, is your aviary (how neat) in a room isolated from your cats ?
We too have cats and have a cage design including some plexiglass and slanted ledges to prevent cats from plastering themselves against the wire. When we have let them into the room under our eye, we hold the cage and make a growling sound (indicating possession in cat language, tho we are not good growlers) ; a couple of times so far we have had one leap up onto the cage, the birds flutter to other side of cage but resume their activities immediately upon noting the cat's departure. If the cats just sit and watch, the birds continue to play,and glance down at the cats as well.

So far they are actually learning, it is a process of time for sure too.

So we are interested in your experience or ideas, thanks very much if you catch this reply again.

[newlinta]

My cats are 5-7 years old and learned early that a quick,loud "pssst" means NO...
I've had fish tanks the whole time I've had the cats and they know not to touch or get on top of them. The transition to bird cages and the aviary was pretty simple for them to grasp.

My aviary/bird room is also the laundry and computer room. It's a pretty high traffic area with people,dogs and cats in and out all day.
The dogs range from 14lbs(Italian greyhound) to 80lbs(2 pitbulls) and the finches are not phased by any of the dogs or cats.

We play all kinds of music on the computer,fold laundry,the dogs wrestle/play in there and the birds are used to it. The cats generally just sit on the computer desk and watch the aviary like it's a big screen tv...lol. They have never climbed up/on the aviary in the few years I've had it.

The aviary front is a series of wooden screen doors so about the bottom 30 inches or so is closed in by wood panels.

[Lyn&Roy]

Tim

That is so great, really awesome.

We know cats can be trained, but do not have experience with bird emotions. So far we are surprised by how tolerant they can be, for noises and activity in the room upstairs. But we are keen to enjoy finches being nearer to where we spend the most time.

Thank you v. much.

[ambercat]

Just thought I would throw my 2 cents in here..... I breed white javas, my males start trying to sing when they are only a 2-3 months old, just a few notes but enough to know they are males. I just sold a couple of boys that fledged in Jan, and they had 99% of their full song already (6 months old) and had their first moult around 5 months old. Of course, they shouldn't be bred until around a year, I have read 10 months for males minimum and 12 months for females. And they will definitely try to breed with their siblings! At least they will sing to them.... just don't put a nest box in if you don't want breeding, they sleep fine on perches (although aren't they so cute in a box?) I breed in 24x18x18 cages but I have just ordered 30x18x18 cages to give them more room. I was told by someone that white javas tend to have lots of clear eggs, and just a few babies in each clutch, but that was just his personal experience although I am having the same results. His normals breed very well and raise large clutches. I don't have room for an avairy (yet!) so just cages for me. I do have 2 pairs in a 30x18x36 cage and they are happy provided they have multiple food and water dishes so they don't become possessive over one, and no nest boxes of course! Water for bathing is SO important so the adults take the moisture back to the nest so the eggs don't dry out.

[Lyn&Roy]

Thanks ambercat !
Super info, nice to hear about song; the one white one suddenly did a solo while the others rested, then he dropped down to a middle branch (did i say that before ?) perhaps for better acoustics under the metal roof, and continued there. It was just magical and a real little soul. Have not heard him again in these last, 1 and half or 2 weeks, again.

we do multiple dishes too and when we hang clover or lettuce use multiple bamboo clothespins. they love finding their own bunch but try to get others to feed them too.

Will not try breeding til one year, like January ish, if we do at all, but these 4 were from a combination flock of several breeding pair so probable okay breeding for one generation only.

That's interesting about white ones and clear eggs, they are such different temperament than the cinnamons too.

We were surprised 3 or 4 are males and we hope no fighting but will watch for any problems. What are probability odds 3 of 4 ? we don't know the arithmetic.

Lyn

[ambercat]

That's funny you say that, I got my javas from someone (4 parents and their 4 babies), and would you believe most of the babies were male? I bought them from someone getting out of javas, and he had put all 8 birds together in that 30x18x36 cage, which was probably fine when they were just weaned but once they started maturing there was quite a bit of fighting (but also lots of singing!) They were much happier once they were spread out into more cages. But since they all looked the same, and just the parents were banded, I had to sell all the babies as "siblings" to different people since I couldn't tell anyone apart. The last clutch I had was just 2 males. Not sure why there seems to be so many males......or even if there is a reason..... I have also read that some males might not sing in a group, sometimes just the dominant male will sing so if you separate out one he will sing (or not) pretty soon.