FINCHforum

It has been years since I have had the RCCB's. I have always preferred the BC's so I always got them instead. At the last bird fair as you all recall I did purchase a pair of RCCB's along with the yellow wing pytilla's. Anyway I still have them in quarantine but will be putting them in the aviary in a few more weeks and my question is how do the BC and the RC get along together? I have no experience in this matter. I know I have had problems in the past with more than a pair of BC's to an aviary. Nothing serious, just lots of chasing and pecking.

You have to watch it because they will cross-breed!

And yes, you might have some chasing if you have more than 1 male. I have 2 males and 2 females though and they get along ok. Just when they are in breeding mood the males are chasing each other. Since they have enough hiding places they are ok.

Both pair are well bonded so I don't think I would have to worry about cross breeding, but will keep an eye out.

I have two hens and two males that are the result of a crossbreeding with a BCCB male and an RCCB hen that was supposed to be BCCB. The two males were easyfor me to spot as hybrid, as they developed the red cheek patches, with a little more blue than normal for an RCCB, but I'm sure most would see them as RCCB. The hens look so much like BCCB, it would be difficult to tell them apart from normal BCCB. I have the hens in my hen flight, and I cannot easily pick them out from the other hens. I finally had to put a bright leg band on them, as when I was trying to catch a BCCB to sell, I kept catching these two girls! Thank goodness for NFSS closed bands--they have permanent ID.

I'm not allowing them to breed, because I want to keep the BCCB and RCCB bloodlines pure for when the imports stop and all we have is what we have been able to produce. But I know that there are breeders out there (the bird mill type) that are crossbreeding--all they care about is production. It makes it difficult for those who want to buy birds--you have to trust your source.

My CBs have never gotten along with males together, except when they are young. Eventually, I wind up having to separate the males. Right now, I am trying those two hybrid males together in an all-male indoor aviary, with no hens nearby. So far, they sort of get along, some chasing but not nearly as bad as when a hen is near. They are young still, so they may get more aggressive as time goes by--I have seen them courting each other, carrying pieces of aspen shavings in their beak and hopping and singing, so I will have to watch them.

Thanks Sally & Ursula, I think I will keep them separate.

I was told long, long ago that the secret was three or more pairs of a species in a flight will really reduce the aggresive behaiver. Now that doesn't apply to all finches but I have flight bred CB's with 5-6 pair with no problems other then every once in awhile you will have one that just doesn't play well with others. I do seperate the blue caps from the red cheeked from the blue breasted as I really don't like the hybrids (never understood messing with what nature did such a great job with)

John Boy,

BCCB's and RCCB's are what I have most experience with. (About 3 yrs) I successfully keep both species together with no/minimal bickering in large aviary cages -- in fact, in one cage my RCCB male and female feed the fledglings of the more prolific BCCB pair -- although the male RCCB tends to toss his own chicks at the slightest provocation.

In fact, all the birds in this particular cage are very close to one another -- all small waxbills, 2 pairs of societies and my CB's -- they all watch out for and will feed each other's chicks -- especially the societies (of course) although the CB's fuss at them when they go in and feed the CB chicks. Pretty amazing stuff.

I have relatively few birds compared to most breeders so I do study them -- my CB pairs are all bonded and have shown no interest in the other genus so no cross-breeding worries at this time (or I would have to separate them -- no hybrids for me!)

I have only kept the two in an aviary by chance as I received two hens from a trader in the early days before I knew too much which were RCCB and not the BCCB which I had requested.

When my pairs never did anything I did some queries and was told by experienced breeders that the easiest way to tell the two appart was that BCCB hens have pink beaks and the RCCB have a dark bluish blush to their beaks. I checked and my hens had the dark beaks and I swapped them out for pink beaks. Now I get babies...
I had the two RCCB hens for quite some time, way past their juvenile stage and their beaks stayed dark.
I checked websites pics etc and I have never been able to see that dark blue effect that the breeders here talked about other than on very young birds, so I don't know for sure it that is the best way to tell them apart, but it has worked for me here.

Enjoy your new birds Johnboy.

Blue Caps are larger and their heads are more densely feathered than the red-cheeks -- so it makes their heads look bigger than that of a RC when they raise their crests.

BC females often dance and sing along with the males -- I have never seen RC females do this although my RC hens will occasionally sing (mostly at dawn and dusk).

Also, BC's (as mentioned above) DO have bright pink beaks whereas the RC's have more of a tan with black on the end.

In my opinion, they are both wonderful finches. The RC's are a bit "saucier" than the calmer BC's and more vocal in their disapproval
if you do something they don't like.

Fun birds.