FINCHforum

Hi Guys,

I have just been reading that the European Goldfinch moults only once per year as opposed to the American. My newly acquired pair consists of a male that has still not gained his red and black face. I understand that the moult only occurs in Autumn. Does this mean he will not gain his colours until this time (and thus affect his breeding) ?

Thanks
Ian

You can't beat these guys if you have questions about keeping British birds.

http://www.british-birds-in-aviculture.info/

british ??

european birds !!

Ray

The forum is called British Birds in Aviculture...not European

damn brits , first buying , catching all our birds and now they call it british birds hehehe

Hi Ian,
Yes the European goldfinch moults in the fall.
The male and female both display the red mask and guess what?
The mask color depends on the health of the bird and the amount of red based carotenoids that the bird ingests during the moult.
Feel free to ask me any questions regarding this species.
I have bred these birds and they are difficult to keep because most of the birds available for sale are wild caught imported birds.
There are tweleve subspecies of this bird.

well i keep them myself and they do have them england BUT THERE NOT JUST BRITISH,we have them in ireland too as do most other european countries.they do moult once a year in autumn and should be well colored by now are you sure there goldfinches?

Young goldfinches are called greypates.
These birds develop the red mask and adult coloration at eight to tweleve weeks.

What information are you looking for about European Goldfinch?
I am italian european goldfinch breeder... Italy is in the center of Europe...
Moulting starts in Oct-Nov, take 1 month, and it's the most dangerous period of goldfinch's life.
Feed healty foods, and some fat seeds, clean water and take care to remove fecal everyday(yes everyday...)
Red mask will comes out during moulting, the color will show its healty status(orange bed, red good, red = perfect)
Don't forget allow to bird "sun shower", in this way you fix the color.
Check status every 2 days (chest and fecal).
Coccidiosis is lurking ...

Good luck,
Nick