FINCHforum

Hi everyone,
I need some quick advice. Found somebody who is selling a pair of shaft tails (2 years old). They weren't really on my wish list, but I just read up on them and it sounds like they would be a great addition to my aviary (gouldians, blue cap, red billed fire, grey singer and a canary).
Would you have any concerns?
Iso

isobea

Hi Iso,

They should be fine.
I had a pair for quite a while, with my waxbills without any problems (until I lost my female to a cat incident). Afterwhich my lonely male bonded very closely with a Strawberry female.

They are lovely birds.

I now have 2 males, which have to be housed seperately.

I'd snap them up if I were you.

lovezebs - Elana, I'm going up tomorrow morning to get them.
Iso

isobea

I think you will enjoy them Iso

Back in the day I had several shaftails in my flock and they were just fine with all of the other finches. But i found that if i wanted to breed them i had better success if I separated them into their own breading flights. I loved them

Well... what an exciting day it has been. Went up to Orange County this morning and picked up the shaft tails. Very pretty and healthy looking birds.
Since I was already in OC, I continued on to Magnolia Bird Farm and got a 'pair' of lavenders. The guy showed me how to tell males and females apart and at least in the pair I bought, it is easy to see. Let's hope they really are a true pair. Since they are relatively newly imported, they will have to stay inside the house for a while. So far they are active, inquisitive, chirping all the time and looking good.
Iso

Please take pictures when they are settle in congratulations on your new finches.

Tish - I'll try but the part of my aviary they are in has lots of fresh eucalyptus branches in two of the corners and they hide as soon as I get close.
Iso

isobea

Congratulations Iso,

Sounds like my kind of day Woo hoo

Could you snap a picture of the Lavenders, while you have them in the house, and explain the method of telling males and females apart? I would really like to know how it works.

Would love to see the Shaftails as well, if you can flush them out of the eucalyptus, lol. Are they a male and female? Or do you know?

I have never heared of the Magnolia Bird Farm. What all do they have? Did you take pictures?

lovezebs - Hi Elana, yes, definitely a good day (even though the last 25 minutes of my drive home were through pretty dense fog - at 12:30 pm!).
Where do I start? The difference in color in the lavenders is pretty obvious with these two. When I get ready to release them into the aviary, I'll catch them and try to turn them upside down to take pictures of the vent / under tail area. For now the female is definitely more plucked than the male (mostly in the back of her neck and a little between the wings). It might take a while to get proof positive that they really are a pair...
I'll see if I can get a picture of the shaft tails. The lady thought she had sold all the 1 1/2 to 2 year olds to one buyer but this pair was hiding in a nest. She says they definitely are a pair.
MBF is in Anaheim about 4 miles west of Disneyland. The first question the guy asked was, "Will they be indoors or outdoors?" I was happy to hear he was concerned about where they were going. Unfortunately he could only get me an 'outdoor' male and had to get the female from a big flight of 'indoor' birds. Hence both of them are now indoors for the time being.
They have anything from finches to parrots, cages, food, etc. and big side-by-side aviaries. I tried to find a Youtube video to link but most of them just deal with parrots. Didn't look around too much or take pictures because I wanted to get my new kids home as quickly as possible.
Iso

isobea

I actually found a video of the Farm after I posted. It appears to be quite large.

I have a feeling, that it's a good thing that it's far away from me . Once I went inside, it might be a long long time before I came out again, and I'd come out a poor poor woman .

If you can snap a picture of their bums at some point, I would appreciate it .

lovezebs - are we turning into voyeurs in the name of science???

isobea

It's all in the name of science of course....all for a good cause, and all that....

So how do you feel about being re-named "Peeping Tomasina"?

At times I wonder what our birds must think of us and all the crazy things that we do. They must think that we are totally insane, lol

Went outside earlier to close up my aviary because they are predicting more rain for us and decided to take a picture of it all closed up. Then I stayed inside for what seemed forever trying to get a picture of one of the shaft tails. Finally got it but had to enlarge it so much before posting that it's now kind of blurry. Sorry. Will try again once they settle down some more.
Iso

gorgeous looking aviary!!! love the colours!

Definitely would like a virtual tour of that!