African Fire finches

atarasi · Post by **atarasi** » Mon Sep 01, 2008 2:44 am

Anybody have any experience with these. Visited a friend of mine and his roomie has 4 of them. They didn't know much about them. I guess I just like their look and their size....about the same as Gold Breasted Waxbills.....tiny.

****Edit

Actually Sally, you have these small finches if I remember correctly. What do you think of them?

mickp · Post by **mickp** » Mon Sep 01, 2008 9:52 pm

they are considered to be passive birds. I have the red billed in my aviary and they get along great with all the other birds. they are pretty easy to breed, seem to prefer a nest low down ( approx 3' above the ground). average clutch is 3 to 6 eggs and take about 12 days to hatch with the young leaving the nest at about 18 days. egg binding can be a problem, lots of green and live food seems to prevent this.
both male & female birds sing, its quite a pleasant sound ( I think so anyway)

now to confuse you

there are a few different types of firefinches.
1. african firefinch (blue billed firefinch)
2. red billed firefinch (senegal firefinch/common firefinch)
being the two most commonly kept in captivity.
the other types are kulikoro, speckle breasted, abysssinian and black bellied. I have only ever seen the first two in captivity, the others are just as gorgeous to look at.

atarasi · Post by **atarasi** » Tue Sep 02, 2008 2:08 am

Thanks Mick, that is confusing. I'll have to take another gander when I visit my friend again. I did know of two different varieties, but not 6 variations!

Post by **Hilary** » Tue Sep 02, 2008 6:13 pm

I have several of them and they're great little birds. Prone to tossing if they don't have "enough" livefood, though (and of course THEY define what "enough" is). Interesting - I heard that what is fed to the parents determines the sex of the chicks, and that it's not unusual to have entire clutches that are the same sex (I think "scarce" food results in females while "plentiful" results in males).

Geordie · Post by **Geordie** » Tue Sep 02, 2008 9:49 pm

Any pics of the different species? Cheers.

atarasi · Post by **atarasi** » Tue Sep 02, 2008 11:38 pm

Is looks like what my firiend has:

atarasi · Post by **atarasi** » Tue Sep 02, 2008 11:53 pm

Here is a list of waxbills including the different varieties of Firefinches that Mick spoke of.

Waxbill Society website

mickp · Post by **mickp** » Wed Sep 03, 2008 8:05 pm

looks like a blue billed firefinch

atarasi · Post by **atarasi** » Wed Sep 03, 2008 8:31 pm

Yes, isn't it cuddly?!

mickp · Post by **mickp** » Thu Sep 04, 2008 9:14 pm

if you can catch it to cuddle it go for it

I'll have to try changing their diet, different vegies, fruit & live food cos so far mine have only had female young.

Post by **Sally** » Thu Sep 04, 2008 11:12 pm

I have the more common Senegal Fire finch, which has a red bill. They are very nice, passive little birds, easy to keep. Mickp says his have a pleasant song. Mine are in my overcrowded bird room, and there are so many songs, calls, chirps, etc. going on, that I miss out on individual songs. The males are a nice pinkish red color, the females are mostly light brown, with touches of red.

mickp - I just had the one clutch, but it was 3 females to 1 male. He is taking forever to color up.

thnduong · Post by **thnduong** » Fri Sep 05, 2008 10:45 pm

I have 2 pairs of these cute birds . Last mont I lost one female ( egg bound , I think ) . The other pair had 3 eggs , but other birds bother them then they abandoned the nest . Now they have 4 eggs and hope they will hatch very soon .
Just want to share with room .

Thnduong .

Post by **Sally** » Fri Sep 05, 2008 10:56 pm

Welcome to the forum, Thnduong! Where are you located? I have extra hens.

Keep us posted on how they do with the eggs. Are they in a flight or aviary? Mine bred just fine in a 34x18x18 breeding cage they share with a pair of Goldbreasts.

mickp · Post by **mickp** » Sat Sep 06, 2008 7:11 am

my male has decided it is time to breed again. he is busy dancing around on the perch with anything he can pick up in his beal trying ever so hard to entice his missus

she just sits and looks at him almost as if to say "whatever"
he has colored up as well, at the moment he is a brilliant dark cherry red.

thnduong · Post by **thnduong** » Tue Sep 09, 2008 1:24 pm

Hi Sally ,

I am in Hayward ( 10' South of Oakland ) . This morning I checked , looks
like there are two of them hatched . I have them in the outdoor aviary with others . Will see whethers other two eggs hatch or not. Will let you know in couple of days .

FINCHforum

African Fire finches

African Fire finches

Fire Finches

They hatched!!!!!!!!!!!!!!