Cordon Bleus

[Shannylee]

I was offered a cageful of Cordon Bleus today. My bird guy pal is selling them cheap in order to get them into a good home because they have about plucked each other bald in the small cage in his store. No clue if they are red cheeks, blue caps, or blue breasted but there are probably 10 of them. I've researched them so they will not be going into the aviary due to their sensitivity to the cold but I do have an extra flight cage available so....

Any suggestions, comments, ideas, etc. are greatly appreciated. Has anyone had any luck breeding? 10 in a flight cage is fine for societies but not sure about CBs...?

Thanks

[isobea]

Shannylee - I wish I could be of help but my male blue cap 'Francois' is the first cordon bleu I've ever owned. I do love that bird: he's always active, calling and singing and oh so beautiful. I've been looking for a female for him for quite a while now but I guess they are a lot harder to find than the red cheeks.
Let us know what you will decide. Do you have any pictures?
Iso

PS: You said you wouldn't be able to put them outside right now - how cold do your nights get?

[w.l.]

Welcome to the World of Waxbills, Shannylee!

My post about breeding red-cheeked cordon bleus:

http://www.finchforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=33049

Sorry to say that I don't find getting 10 a great idea.
Male cordon bleus are agressive towards each other and unless you have a huge aviary, much bigger than yours, pairs should be kept separately!
They do get along with other species fine, so you could scatter them among your various cages, but don't plan to keep 10 together.
No wonder they got plucked at that trader!

And if you are serious about trying to breed them, each pair would be better housed in a separate flight cage. You should also offer them small live food regularly, and absolutely all the time if raising chicks.

[Jen]

Shannylee
Congrats on getting ten of the pretties waxbills one can ever wish to have! I have the Red Cheeked Cordons in my outdoor aviary. Because they have lots of room to fly free I see very little bickering. The males tend to chase each other around the aviary but there is much room to fly away from one space to another, so being in a small flight might be an issue because they can't get away from each other.

As w.l. mentioned, you could spread them out to different cages to keep the peace. I have never tried to keep that many CB's in one flight. If you do intend to breed them, you definitely will need to find a source of live food for them.

In my aviary, I try to keep the temp above 50F because of the CB's temp sensitivity. How cold does it get in the wintertime where you are? I have lost a couple of these beauties in the winter time when we had a rather cold Texas winter. At the end of this week we are expected to have mid 20'sF temps in the evenings.....I'm worried BIG TIME about my birds. I put a new heater inside the aviary because the older heater wasn't reliable anymore.

Post pics of your birds when you get a chance! Wish you all the best. You will totally enjoy them!!!

[Shannylee]

w.l., Thanks for all of the great suggestions! I have another local bird friend who may take some of the CBs. If I could put some in the aviary, that would be a different story but since they will have to be in a flight cage, I know that more than a pair will be a problem. If I get some, it will be a pair and they will go in their own flight cage. The European Goldfinches will weather much better in the aviary. Still drooling over them and will add them in the Spring.

@isobea, it can get rather cold here during the winter. We have some nights around freezing and some nights of hard freezes where the temps drop down to or below freezing for 4+ hours. I'm in Central FL but it gets colder here than most people realize. We have had icicles hanging off our house and have had, although rare, snow flurries.

[Shannylee]

Jen Jenny, I don't have them yet. I have a couple of days to decide because he is closed on Mon & Tues. These birds look like crap because they are BALD from being plucked. They are active and healthy looking but look a mess. Poor little guys don't have anything to do other than pluck each other.

What kind of heater do you have in your aviary? I have a brood lamp but think I need more than that if I add any CBs to the aviary. I am adding heavy plastic sheeting to most of the outside of the aviary to help keep the heat in for the winter.

[w.l.]

You couldn't keep even healthy cordons outside in such temperatures, let alone ones plucked bald. In fact you might need heating for those miserable ones even indoors until they become well feathered again.

I would still recommend keeping 2 pairs, or even an extra hen, just in case you lose one or two.

If kept in good housing and in healthy condition, cordons should be a source of lots of joy for you. Keeping an unhealthy, stressed flock in overcrowded conditions would be a source of frustration.

[Jen]

Shannylee
I have the electric heaters that look like "radiators" that have oil or some type of liquid inside that heats up and is thermostatically controlled. I usually have one heater like this and three or four heat lamps placed throughout the aviary. With the extreme cold coming at the end of next week, I have added another "radiator" heater. We had 4" to 5" of rain in the last two days so the added heat helps keep the dampness out.

A few weeks ago I wrapped the aviary like a "Christmas package" with heavy plastic wrapped all around, then I added heavy plastic sheets over the top. Sometimes we have winds up to 30 miles an hour or more so I've had to be creative about how I wrap the plastic and how to keep it down with the ability of open it up on one side when the days warm up.

Personally I hope you get them and give them a good home. Maybe you can separate them for the winter in flights and then add them to your aviary in the spring. What size is your aviary? What kind of temps do you have in the winter?

Let us know what you decide! Good luck!!!!

[Shannylee]

w.l., totally agree! These guys have no feathers to keep them warm so they will need extra heat, nutrition, etc. No outdoor aviary for them if I take them on.

[isobea]

Shannylee - Sharon, you will love your goldfinches! Once acclimated, they are extremely hardy. Growing up, I lived in northern Germany and even in the middle of winter there would always be some that came to the feeders (snow and all). When I kept them here (in southern California), I noticed that high heat days (during Santa Ana conditions) were hard on them. The waxbills, on the other hand, might shiver during our winter nights but take the Santa Anas in stride.
Iso

PS: You don't have canary pox in your area, do you?

[Shannylee]

isobea, I haven't heard of canary pox in my area (Central FL) but we do have a lot of mosquitoes during the summer months so I watch closely for signs of any illness.

@Jen , my aviary is 10ft wide x 8ft deep x 8ft tall. I'd love to see pix of your aviary wrapped in plastic. I haven't figured out how I'm going to hang/wrap mine yet. Temps here range anywhere from the mid 50's at night or it can go down to the high 20's if we have a cold front move through. I'm going to go get the CBs on Wednesday and my Crazy Bird Lady friend (we are both Crazy Bird Ladies ) and I are going to split them.

[Sally]

My CBs are all indoors, so I don't have to worry about temps, but they are supposed to be sensitive to temps below 50 degrees. If you can post photos, we can ID them for you. The hens look similar, so it is extremely important to ID them properly and not mix Red-cheeks, Blue-Caps, and Blue-breasted, as they will readily hybridize, with fertile hybrids resulting. The only way to keep the three species pure is to keep them separate.

Some of the plucking may be to the fact that they have been kept together--Cordon Bleus can be very aggressive with each other.

[Shannylee]

Sally, mine will be indoors during the cooler temps. It was in the mid-80's here yesterday and only dropped down in the low 70's overnight. HOT! Do yours breed successfully, Sally?

They look like little vultures! No head feathers. I'm sure they were plucking because they were all jammed up in a small cage for over 2 months. I'll take pix and post when I pick them up tomorrow.

There will be no breeding until I can guarantee that I am not cross breeding between species. They need to get healthy and back in good feather condition before I ever consider going down that road. They are active...just plucked...and that's the only reason I am considering bringing them home. I don't need a mess of sick birds to keep me busy.

[Sally]

Shannylee I haven't done any breeding in a long time, but when I did, they are not the easiest of species, though I was trying it in cages. In aviaries, I think they would be easier. They do love live food, though I had a few pairs that would breed without live food.

I love all the finches of the Uraeginthus genus, as both male and female sing, with quite a lovely song. (At least, I am assuming the Violet-eared females sing, since I've never owned any.)

[lovezebs]

Shannylee

Hi Sharon,

If you do get a pair or two, you will enjoy them as they are truly beautiful birds. You could place a pair in one flight, and a pair in another flight, so that the boys wouldn't go all .

Regarding the plucking, my silly girl tends to pluck my boy, and my silly boy appears to love it.... go figure (head shake).