New Java finches

[paul-inAZ]

Marymac:
She had several more javas. Her birds are all outdoors in 3 separate aviaries. She also has zebras and some hook bills. Keeping them outside with no heat or A/C is obviously no problem. She is off I-17 @ Cactus so is close to you.
Here is her ad.
http://phoenix.craigslist.org/cph/pet/5899986082.html

[marymac]

paul-inAZ
Thank you so much for the info Paul!!! I also just discovered birdproduct.com which is close to me also and they have SO many birds!!!!

AND I see that there is a Bird Mart here in a few weeks!!! Yea!

[BrianB]

We're looking for some all white Javas. I have two pairs of the regular grey color, but they are hard to find here in Phoenix. One pair is a few months older than the other, and slightly bigger. They are like party animals. All over the cage, squawking at me, watching my every move and complaining while I feed them. The other pair is younger, a little smaller, and they are sitting on 4 eggs. They still make a mess of their cage almost daily, but they seem pretty well bonded. Hopefully we get chicks from them.

[Sojourner]

They are hard to find everywhere! Oddly enough I can find them for sale in Louisiana and TX, where they actually grow rice. Really makes you wonder who comes up with some of these regulations.

Makes me sad. I understand that we need to stop introducing foreign species in the wild, but many of the states where they have banned these birds they are highly unlikely to survive - IF someone actually released them to start with.

I can't figure out for sure whether or not they are illegal in my state. I guess I'll have to call somebody to find out. I'm guessing some kind of agriculture dept would be in charge of this sort of thing?

I swear I've been seriously considering making the 13 hour drive to Phoenix to get some because that seems to be the closest place where there are some for sale. Which would be a terrible idea, but it breaks my heart to think that these gregarious active birds seem likely to die out as a caged bird in this country.

[lovezebs]

Sojourner

Not to worry, they might die out as caged birds, but they will flourish in the wild, lol.

[BrianB]

I think they are so hard to find because of the restrictions on them. You can't ship them across state lines, and can't own them in some states. I keep looking, but I don't ask where people got them from. They are getting rare in their natural environment and I believe they stopped the export many years ago. At least I can be pretty sure they weren't caught in the wild.

[paul-inAZ]

Since my first post I spotted someone with a small number of Javas and traded the fawn for another normal and a juvenile normal. The 2 normals and the fawn were colony bred and could easily be related. Too small a gene pool to consider breeding recessives.
So now I have 4 normals. One of the foursome is a male. He sings quite a lot. The sex of the others is a ?? but they could be hens. The juvie is just feathering out.

Active, colorful, attractive birds.

Next decision is to breed or not, or even if I want to keep them. Having just acquired 4 parrotlets that will quickly become avicidal in a mixed colony, cage space is a consideration.

[lovezebs]

paul-inAZ

They are attractive birds, but mine are still flighty (eventhough I got them as uncoloured youngsters). They have come around a bit, but are still fairly shy.

How are you finding the Parrotlets?

[Shannylee]

Paul,

Finding true normals in the states is next to impossible now. My male has slight black ticking on one of his wings and the female has white ticking on her head. Do you feed your birds live food? Javas are hilarious with meal worms. The way they tilt their head to one-eyeball it is too funny.

Mine are feeding 3 fat chicks. Can you tell who is the biggest piggy?

[paul-inAZ]

No live food. They get basic finch mix and aren't too interested in much else. Once in a while some brown rice.

Truth be told I haven't paid much attention to them or to my other birds lately, having had 4 surgeries in the last 2 months -culminating in an artificial shoulder. My right arm of course so I am a clumsy left handed cripple at this time with right arm in a sling.