FINCHforum

My female red headed parrot finch is not happy - the male chases her around all day long, and when she can't take it anymore she leaves the cage. Remarkably, she sits on the top of her cage till I come and put her back in. So today I picked up a female blue faced parrot finch to take the pressure off of her.

This bird has the blue face, but also small red spots on each side of her neck. I was told she was a cross between a red head and a blue face, and that she was probably infertile. I wasn't planning on breeding her, and the male is 6 and too old to be a dad, but now I am curious. Can you cross red heads with blue faces, and do you think she is fertile?

Hi ann - did you get your new bird through craigslist? I saw one, very close to what you are describing, on the Orange County craigslist. I was curious and asked a very knowledgeable friend of mine. He said exactly the same thing: that this bird is a cross between a red head and blue faced parrot finch. So your info is correct. Pretty bird, I liked the coloring, too.
Iso

PS: I didn't ask if it would be fertile or not.

Iso, I did get her on craigslist. The seller wasn't positive that it was a hen, but an hour after I picked her up she laid an egg.

Could you post a pic?

My phone is out of storage, whatever that means, so I should be able to take a photo after I spend at least 3 hours on tech support.

Yes, red head and blue face are known for cross breeding. It is very common among these two species. There is a good chance she lay fertile eggs.

ann wrote: My phone is out of storage, whatever that means, so I should be able to take a photo after I spend at least 3 hours on tech support.

It just means that you don't have an memory space left. Just transfer some of your pictures off the phone and onto your computer - you should be able to do it easily by hooking it up to the PC with a USB cable. It will be just like moving them from one place on your hard drive to another.

Then you can delete them off your phone and free up space on the phone.

See, easy-peasy! 2 minutes on the forum, no need to spend 3 hours with tech support, LOL!

ann

Regarding your male , chasing your female relentlessly.

Red Throat Parrot Finch males, are not renown for being gentle lovers.
Given the chance they will chase the female half to death, pull out many of her feathers, and err.... mate with her whether she's willing or not.

At times if there are several males, it can get quite ugly.

So it is a good thing, that she has an option to escape his amorous attentions.

They need a large flight, with lots of plants, which will offer hiding places for the female. Or better yet, two or more females to a male, untill they form a true pair, at which point the other females can be removed.