Should I?

bonnies_gouldians · Post by **bonnies_gouldians** » Thu Dec 04, 2008 10:55 pm

I work at a chain petstore (sucks I know, but everyone has to have a job and they work with my school schedule...) and they offer 30% off on a few certain days a year, one of which is coming up on the 9th. We have just got in a pair of cordon blues (sp?). I know the one is a male red cheeked, and the other I think is a blue capped male, I checked online in the FIC and I will take a closer look at the second one because it may be a female. If it is a female, is there really anyway to tell if it should be a red cheeked? If it is a male, will they do okay together as a pair until I can get females for them? What is the average price of a a single one of these birds at a bird mart? I think we sell them for $95 each normally so I would be paying somewhere near 70 after taxes. I am trying too make myself be patient and not go crazy getting finches...and its not a space issue, I just got a new stack of breeding flight cages and only one of those cages is occupied...I know I am going to get a second pair of societies...can anyone tell me how finches can be a drug when you cant snort, inject, swallow, or in any other way absorb these little guys, yet you can still get a high from them?! LOL

kittani79 · Post by **kittani79** » Fri Dec 05, 2008 12:54 am

Hah, I know where you work. I work there too.

dfcauley · Post by **dfcauley** » Fri Dec 05, 2008 6:18 am

Hi Bonnie,

If the second one is a blue capped, you will know it immediatley due to the whole head is a beautiful blue. The female doesn't have blue on the top of her head.

I have a pair of each and cannot tell the two females apart.

They say not to keep bccb and a rccb males together. I think you should probably not put both of those in the same cage. I keep mine together and have experienced no problems at all. But they have a very large open aviary and can get away from each other.

They sell at our bird mart here in Atlanta for about 40-45 dollars each.
But with your sale price I guess it isn't just too bad.

It is hard not to wait isn't it?

Decisions....decisions.....

gomer · Post by **gomer** » Fri Dec 05, 2008 6:38 am

Bonnie there is worse drugs out there.Welcome to finches anonymous.My name is gomer.And I'm a finchaholic

mickp · Post by **mickp** » Fri Dec 05, 2008 9:33 am

it is so nice to hear others admitting theat they to have the addiction.
thank god there are lots of cage manufacturers out there Bonnie cos you will always be buying more cages and getting more birds. eventually it leads to getting a new house with a huge yard for even more cages/aviaries

L in Ontario · Post by **L in Ontario** » Fri Dec 05, 2008 10:37 am

Awww more new birdies (maybe) - YAY YAY YAY YAY YAY YAY

Post by **Sally** » Fri Dec 05, 2008 11:13 am

Bonnie, the hens of the three subspecies of Cordon Bleus are almost identical, making it difficult to be certain. They will interbreed, so it is better to try to keep the subspecies separate. If the CB that is not a Red-cheeked is a male Blue-capped, it will have blue all over the top of its head, extending to the back of the head. Very easy to tell if you compare pics at the FIC under species info. If it is a hen, the only difference I know of between a RC and a BC hen is that the RC hen has a slightly darker tip on her beak. It is easy to see if you have both hens, but harder to tell if you just have one hen. Hopefully, the store is dealing with a reputable breeder/dealer who would not place a RC cock with a BC hen. If they are both cocks, you won't be able to keep them together unless you have a large aviary like Donna's. In cages, the males are aggressive to other CB males, but peaceful with most other species.

As far as price, it varies thru the country. I sold BCCB cocks at the last mart for $50 each.

kittani79 · Post by **kittani79** » Fri Dec 05, 2008 1:34 pm

Unfortunately we are often left to our own devices on these particular birds. I am on maternity leave now but my store just got some cordon blues as well, and I did see the order in the system before I left -- it said simply "cordon blue finch - 2". When it arrived, I called to see what they got (hey, I have that 30% coming up too! lol)... one has red cheeks, the other looks like a normal cordon blue. They do normally send us male/female pairs but...who knows.

sean · Post by **sean** » Fri Dec 05, 2008 1:59 pm

oh snap...looks like somebody was trying to steal your birds!

better get on those CBs fast.

bonnies_gouldians · Post by **bonnies_gouldians** » Fri Dec 05, 2008 5:56 pm

okay, so I snuck my camera into work and snapped photos of the pair that came in. Kittani - ours came in under "blue capped cordon blues" even though I know for a fact that the one is a red cheeked.

and this little one they said was a green singer...not sure though, never have seen one before. There is two of them that look exactly like this:

I tried to get lots of angles but the little buggers are so nervous that it was hard to get just those (you should see how many BAD photos I got amongst these few okay photos!)

franny · Post by **franny** » Fri Dec 05, 2008 6:27 pm

The bottom one is definitely a Green Singing Finch. Can't see for sure if it's a male or female. Female would have a dotted grey line around it's neck like a "necklace".

I'm not sure, but the Cordon Bleu without the red cheek looks like it could be a female to me - the blue doesn't cover the whole top of the head. But it seems to have more blue than the Red Cheeked one on the Finch Info site. I wonder if it could be a Blue Capped female? Or maybe just a young Blue Capped male that hasn't finished moulting into adult colors?

bonnies_gouldians · Post by **bonnies_gouldians** » Fri Dec 05, 2008 6:29 pm

yes and this is my dilema...I dont want to get them and then have them fight non-stop. They seem to gett along well enough at the store...blah...

franny · Post by **franny** » Fri Dec 05, 2008 6:37 pm

bonnies_gouldians wrote:yes and this is my dilema...I dont want to get them and then have them fight non-stop. They seem to gett along well enough at the store...blah...

Maybe since you work there you could take them but return one if it turns out to be a male Blue Cap and they don't get along?

bonnies_gouldians · Post by **bonnies_gouldians** » Fri Dec 05, 2008 6:46 pm

i would only have 14 days to find out. I dont think he would finish coloring up before then.

Post by **Sally** » Fri Dec 05, 2008 7:30 pm

The bottom photo is definitely a Green Singer, the hens have a necklace while the cocks do not, as franny said, but you have to watch, the juveniles will have a necklace, so you think it is a hen, then they molt out into cocks. I wouldn't get Green Singers for a community passive setup, they can be aggressive when breeding, and hens don't sing.

The one CB is definitely a Red-cheeked male, but I'm not sure about the other one. It doesn't look like it has enough blue on its head to be a BCCB male, yet it has more blue on its head than my RCCB hens. I'm concerned that it could be a BCCB hen. Does your petstore guarantee that the birds are what they are represented to be? If they are selling these as a pair, then they should be willing to guarantee that it is a male/female pair of either Red-cheeked CBs or Blue-capped CBs (which we know it is not that).

I will try to get some photos of my RCCB and BCCB pairs so you can see the difference. By the way, that RCCB male has a really long overgrown beak. I had one like that, and it self-groomed it on the concrete perch, so I didn't even have to do anything about it.

FINCHforum

Should I?

Should I?

Re: Should I?