FINCHforum

Got my first pair from the Bird Mart here and would like to hear what others have learned about these birds. I have read what I can find, any other info would be appreciated. Thxs Heidi

Hi Heidi,

I got my 'pair' from a Petsmart and thought they were/was told they were male and female - after a few weeks the female moulted into a male lol. I later needed to build a new flight cage as they came into breeding condition at the same time and were trying to kill each other.

They need LOTS of flying room, my two are the most active of all my birds in the flight cages (6' long x 2-3' wide) and of course knock everyone around.

The males have very loud, awesome 'songs' consisting of a variety of trills, chirps, peeps, and sometimes high pitch sounds. I have no info on whether the female sings or not though.

When the males want to breed they will breed with anything around - live or not LOL. My male that is in the 'female' flight tries mating with all the females and the perches. The other male is nowhere near as hormonal (or aggressive).

I've found my males stay in breeding condition for 7-8 months before losing their tails.

My two are most aggressive to other birds of similar colouring - Zebras and Owls - but leave the Goulds, Cordons and GB Waxbills alone for the most part.

I'm not sure what else to say...

Are you going to try to breed them?

Good luck with them.
-Julie

I hope to breed them one day. I have them in a large cage, my male and female with a female Cordon. The male spends a lot of time watching the Goulds in the next cage or could be the Owls in the other cage. The price seemed cheap and my husband showed an intrest so they came home with us. And now I'm hoping I have a female with my male. How long have you had yours? Thank you Julie.

I went to the National Finch & Softbill Society site, as they have a lot of species info, but their finch and softbill informatiion is off line right now, for updating. Once they come back up, the site is www.nfss.org/.

Thank you for the info Sally. Like your flashing Proven Stars

One way of distinguishing out of season males from females is by the beak, females will have either completely brown beaks or just a little bit of brown on top or on the tip.

Males will not have that.