Somebody stop me!! New Birds!

[nixity]

I have a serious problem lately.... buying new birds

I said I would never get into the waxbills again after the disaster with the Cordon Bleus.. then Tom Keegan (the NFSS journal editor) sweet talked me into buying not one.... not two.... but three pairs of 2009 bred/banded Fire Finch pairs.
One hen has a split band because he didn't get to her in time after she fledged, but the rest are all close banded.
And.. they are parent raised by wild caught pairs!

Any time I have ever seen these birds they have been imports and they always look dreadful.
These birds were immaculate.. the male from the first pair below was actually 3rd place top bench at the show the day I bought him!

Pair 1:
(I love this photo!)



Pair 2:



Pair 3:

[Domenic]

Tiffany, what is this new inability to practice self-control? I like it. Congrats on the newbies, they are beautiful. I didn't know the CB's turned out so badly for you, do you still own them? From what I've read, fires are dependable parents, so here's hoping for some fire chicks in the future! I can't wait to see what you bring home next week.

[soloisok]

Wow, Tiffany, they are beautiful birds. Congratulations!

[MLaRue]

They don't look "boring" to me

[B CAMP]

Great looking for sure

[CandoAviary]

They are beautiful Congrats on your new endeavers

[lovemyfinch]

They are stunning Tiffany

Re: The Problem Good thing you are already a member of finchaholics.

[L in Ontario]

Congratulations on the new acquisitions! I hope they do a great job for you.

[nixity]

They don't look "boring" to me

The giant devil camera shocked them into action!

[annague]

Really stunning firefinches!

Not sure what happened with your CB's but surely it can't be a repeater.

[nixity]

I had two CB pairs that I was told were parent-raised with no live food.

One of the pairs would incubate but as soon as the eggs would hatch they would abandon the babies.
The other pair would feed really well and then religiously toss all babies at around 6-7 days old.
After finding dead babies over and over I finally spoke with the breeder when I saw her next and she said.. "Well if they toss, you have to give them mealworms"

[annague]

Ouch! Don't blame you for your feelings then... sounds like the breeder was ineffective.

Are you going to try to breed your new Fires without mealworms?

[nixity]

I'm going to try - he was upfront with me that he fed them live food, because the parents were wild caught imports.

My "plan" is to try to breed them with just egg food and sprouts, if this absolutely won't work, then I'll try the canned roasted mini mealies and bloodworms, and if that's not working, I guess I'll try wingless fruit flies and the small mealies
But I'm not sure about feeding them actually live - I don't want bugs crawling around my basement!!

I already have the scariest crickets alive that pop up here and there in the bird room as well as the unfinished portion of the basement:


Luckily they're totally harmless but the first time one jumped and hit my leg in the laundry room I nearly crapped my pants. I thought it was a huge jumping spider!

[annague]

Yech! I'm with you on those crickets. We have them in the unfinished part of our basement too. I think I am borderline psychotic about those because they will jump on you if you get in their way. I call them "Crickets from Hell!"

You know, though, feeding live food is like everything else -- you sort of get used to it -- if they will eat the freeze dried -- hallelujah!!

Looking forward to finding out what happens with your fires. I had a pair of blackbellies and with everyone talking about them on the forum (and seeing how beautiful yours are!) I almost want to get another pair.... getting new birds is definitely contagious...

[sierranomad]

Beautiful birds!!!!! (I love that top photo too).

Ugly crickets. See if you can convince your birds to eat them