FINCHforum

http://home.roadrunner.com/~brdland/cc/index.html

Here is a fantastic site about goldies.

Jerry

Are goldfinches allowed to be kept by people? Maybe I have my facts confused. They sure are pretty.

Jerry,
Thanks for sharing the site on the goldies.
Lou

seminolewind wrote:Are goldfinches allowed to be kept by people? Maybe I have my facts confused. They sure are pretty.

These are European goldfinches, so yes, you can keep them in the US and Canada. You're not allowed to keep wild birds = American Goldfinches (at least in the US, not sure about Canada).

Ursula wrote:

seminolewind wrote:Are goldfinches allowed to be kept by people? Maybe I have my facts confused. They sure are pretty.

These are European goldfinches, so yes, you can keep them in the US and Canada. You're not allowed to keep wild birds = American Goldfinches (at least in the US, not sure about Canada).

Not allowed in Canada either for American Goldfinch, but I do know a few people that have them.
I had one also, but someone stole it from my back yard.

Now, before everyone gets upset with me, the birds were not REALLY wild cought.
What I mean by really is, the eggs were taken from the nests and placed under European siskins and hatched and raised by them.
So the birds were never wild, but hatched and raised in a cage.

The fellow that gave me the bird would go through his orchard and take only one egg from each nest, untill he had two clutches of four.

He would then make pairs from the young and breed them, and that is what I had.
A second generation bird.

Now I don't want to give anyone any ideas.
This is harder than it sounds.
The timing has to be perfect and it is tricky.

This fellow has had decades of practice in Canada and Europe.
He is now in his 80's and no longer keeping birds.

Jerry

I don't know about Canada, but in the US it is illegal to take eggs from the nests of American goldfinches (as well as most other wild bird species), under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act.

Just in case anyone read the above post and thought it would be a good idea to take eggs from wild birds and hatch them under captive birds.

Yes Karen I agree with you!
This fellow was old school, raised up in a time
and mind set that it was ok to do it.

Come to think.
How did we get all the species of birds we have now?
From people trapping and selling birds.

It's still being done in Austrailia, New Zealand,
for th European Goldfinches.
In Poland and Russaia for Siberian
and Himilayan Goldfinches.

That will end eventually and we will have to woek with what we have.

Jerry