Zebras Everywhere!

[JohnBoy]

I have about 30 zebras that fledged over the last few days. Check out this precious little fawn cheek.

[Ameza]

So cute

[lovemyfinch]

Adorable 30

[kenny]

hi
i bet that when you started out with finch breeding you where sayiny to yourself i am never going to get any chicks...and look at you now you are up to your ears in them,when i had bred to many i would take them to the local parks aviaries,and give them to the staff to turn them loose in thier massive flights,you can always sell them as they do eat a lot and you need to feed them all and its a lot out of your budget,the aviary staff always gave me a 25kg bag of seed for any of my birds...i didnt advertise them for sale,because the first time i did that my birdroom was broken into and the place was emptied.thats why i always vowed to give my excess stock away i mean i may be overstepping my mark here thinking that you may have to many to cope with.if you are keeping them all i wish you luck as you will have 3 times as many by the end of the year and you tend to get a lot of interbreeding with a lot of stock...but if you are happy the way things are good on you

ken

[JohnBoy]

Hi Kenny, I run an ad on EBAY Classifieds. I also sell them at our Community Market. When I start getting too many I just build another large cage for them. I have an acre of land so its not a problem and I love my birds. So I don't mind caring for large numbers. However I have had to remove all nest for a while until the numbers come down. I do occasionally give pairs away to local residents who want a pair but can't afford them. Lots of poor people here. Very few middle class. But also lots of old money here. I have one lady who occasionally has to borrow seed from me. I gladly give it to her.
Silverbills are more of a problem for me. They are like zebras when it comes to breeding. Silverbills are hard to sell so I usually give 2 away with the purchase of other birds. Buyers really like that. I sell them for $5 and they are hard to sell at that. And to think I paid $40 ea for 2 pairs at PetSmart 3 years ago.

[kenny]

wow ! thats excellent,all the breeders that i know in the uk find it really hard to breed silverbills,i wish you could get over to the uk with a few pairs you would get very rich quick...because of the import rules we have to buy siverbills is very expensive as there are very few bred in this country due to the very inclement weather here,i am glad you didnt take offence at my post i used to do the same thing remove all the nests to stop them from having more.reading your story of the lady coming for seed reminds me of a young girl who went to school with my daughter ,thats how she knew i bred finches ,as i never told anyone she came to me and said its my dads birthday and he has always wanted to breed finches,she had no money and offered to give me her watch! in exchange for a pair which really upset me knowing she was willing to do this to please her dad,she told me she already had a cage to put them in so i said to bring the cage across the road from where she lived and it was a massive cage that my daughter helped her carry over it was ina sorry state but i gave her 2 pairs as it was easily big enough and offered to clean the cage bars for her....i have never seen anyone smile with such a massive smile in my life of course there was no way i could take the watch or anything else for them it was just a pleasure to see her later on carrying the cage back across the road i was in tears....i know you may be thinking why didnt i carry it ..but since 1980 i had tohave 3 major operations on my neck and could only walk with sticks!the man is now a firm friend of mine i am glad to say,and i never told him about the watch!

ken