FINCHforum

I had a feeling I would not be able to leave that pet store w/out a bird, and I was right.

Two little finches came home with me tonight: white Society and a Spice finch. I could not remember off hand if the two could be housed together but I decided to get them anyway. What a relief when I returned home, did some searching, and found out that they would be OK.

I saw 2 beautiful Star finches there, but they were $70 each

My two little guys, Sugar and Spice, are sitting very quietly, won't even move. But at least they are perching, not hanging on the side of the cage, as some of my Societies did.

I read that Spice's song or sounds are v. delicate; I can't wait to hear it, hopefully tomorrow morning.

I can only imagine how noisy my parrots will be once they hear new birdie noises in the a.m.

Well, as soon as I opened their cage and got my camera closer, they did move

Please meet Sugar & Spice.








They both need nail trimming but I will give them a day to rest first.

And speaking of looooong nails. Several Spice finches I saw today had extremely long nails. Their nails were like circles - when a bird was perching, his nails would circle the entire width of the perch. As I was watching them, trying to decide which Spice was going home with me, I noticed one that acted as he was stuck to a perch. He actually could not take off because of his nails!!! I have never seen anything like that and of course pointed that to the sales associate, but I wonder if they do anything about it. Poor finch.

I will be visiting that pet store again w/in a few days and I will check on their nails.

hi anneka
make sure you keep them on thier toes with the claw thing as many of the spice finches die like this hung up on the wire because they cannot unhook themselves from the wire and as you said they are already having difficulty letting go of the perches

ken

hi anneka
sorry forgot to compliment you on the pairing of your birds .they have been known to hybridise with each other so you certainly have picked the right pairing congratulations


ken

Thanks Kenny.
Today in the morning, the first thing I heard was Society's chirp and singing, so I am assuming it is a male. My other Society was not doing such an elaborate noise.

Spice, however, is v. quiet. He hardly chirps and if he/she does, it is v. soft, hardly noticeable.

BTW, does anyone have an audio file with Society and Spice MALE chirping/singing?

Thanks.

Hi Anneka! I don't mean to hijack your thread or anything, but I also visited a pet store the other day to pick up some supplies and saw some beautiful spice finches. I couldn't resist! Actually one of them I think is some type of mix, b/c it doesn't look like a regular spice. The store insisted that it was a pure bred spice finch though.

I'll post some photos... I purchased them on the 10th. They are much more skiddish then a lot of my other finches.




THIS IS THE SO-CALLED PURE SPICE THEY SAID... WHAT DO YOU GUYS THINK?

Oh, and I also wanted to tell you that the sounds the spices make are very unique. I enjoy them a lot!

hi emily
i think that pure spice they sold you may just be a hybrid as they do this very freely with societys i would not worry though as the majority are fertile..and i agree the song is very very soft hardly audible at all ...but if you wait a couple of weeks it may just be a young bird that has not grown his scale type feathers as juveniles are very much the same colour as the one you have


ken

hi anneka
here is a link with the society males song on if you would like it

ken


http://www.efinch.com/species/society.htm