My New Gold Breasted Waxbill

[PrettyBird]

I got a male GBW today I was wanting a m/f pair, but the breeder only had 2 males at the time so I will be getting a female next week.

For now hes in quarantine.
I got him a little cheaper because he had been plucked on the back of his head, by the bigger finches he was with. Im not worried about it, the feathers will grow back.

Im in awe at how tiny they are! Hes so adorable.
Heres some pics of him

[G8love4finches]

Great looking birds!....They are tiny.....My friend has a couple in a cage with 1/2 inch bar spacing, and one or both of them have escaped quite regularly....I babysit these birds, when she is away, and I have to keep an eye on them.....She has caught it up against the side of the cage, and watched as it wiggled between the bars into the cage!!....Keep a close eye on them....I think they are adorable!!

[PrettyBird]

Thank you

Wow, yea I heard that they can squeeze through the bars. I may be making some changes to the cage to prevent that.

[finchmix22]

I have GB in a smaller wired bird cage with a pair of Bronzed Winged Mannikins. They are the only grouping of finches that get along, relatively well together. They're both small finch species and they both can be bossy and try to dominate other finches species, even if they're larger than the GB or BW's. LOL. Their song is beautiful and light and they are very active. Enjoy them.

[PrettyBird]

Thanks

Hes so quiet atm, but I see him finding his food and water, and making the tinest little peeps! such a sweet little thing.

Can anyone share a photo of THEIR female GBW. (front view, side view) Not and internet picture.
I think there WAS actually a female there, but the breeder was confused... just want to be double sure its a gold breast..and if so, im going to have to drive back there to pick her up

[cindy]

HERE IS AN ARTICLE ON THEM

http://www.africanwaxbills.flyer.co.uk/asubflava.shtml

http://www.feathered.flyer.co.uk/finche ... reast.html

[PrettyBird]

Thank you cindy.
I have read numberous website links on the GBW. So I knew what the female looked like. I just wanted to be sure the one I saw was a female GBW, so I wanted to see forum members pics of them, not a web link.

She told me she thinks it was an orange cheek female. But arent both male and females alike in appearance?

[cindy]

Male and female Orange Cheek both have orange cheeks. If she had the female GB and she is not related I'd grab her up.

[finchmix22]

Yes, OCW look alike and hard to sex. Here is a pic of my GB hen and one of my OCW, for comparison. The first pic I posted shows the GB cock in the nest, the GB hen on the perch nest to a BWM. You can easily tell the difference between the GB and OCW.

[cindy]

By the way is you are concerned about them getting through the bars I would enclose the cage on the front and side with plastic cage wire mesh. When you go in to clean they usually try to fly to the sides or babk to get out and away. The young are very tiny when they fledge so enclosing the sides and back can prevent escapees. Once they get out, they are like very fast bullets and not easy to catch!

[CandoAviary]

Male bottom, Female top Right



Males and Females


Males Orange colored, females more of a golden butter color, youngsters, greenish brown

[PrettyBird]

Cindy- I have some black plastic mesh left over from the flight I made for the goulds, so I could use that.
When I got this male, he had the LONGEST nails, they were even curling. So I had to clip them before letting him out in his cage. Is this a common thing with them?

Thanks ladies for the info.

I do believe that it was a female GBW then! The female had a darker stripe down the front of her beak. The male GBW has this as well.
Iey yie yie...I tried to tell her I thot it was a gbw, and shes said she thinks its a orange cheek. I told her that orange cheeks are pretty much identical to the males, and this clearly wasnt one.
She didnt think so Oh well I tried lol.
I will still be getting a female GBW next week, so thats all that matters ;)

[cindy]

Does the lady still have the female, were they unrelated...if so it may be a bonded pair. Are you getting your female from her?

The nails on GB grow very fast, if the female is sitting on eggs/chicks check her nails after the chicks fedge, she may need a nail trim.

[PrettyBird]

The two males were siblings she told me.
She told me that she wants to keep her for the other male. Theres no way to know if my male was bonded with her, or if the other male was. So thats fine with me. I'll get a female next week anyways.

[kathmcm]

Beautiful pictures! The vibrant color of these birds really comes through. Can you tell me a little more about their personality? I have seen GBW on the list of "passive" birds but there seems to be different opinions about that.