FINCHforum

After I said no more new birds till Spring I bought new birds anyway. Our Ponchatoula Bird fair is this weekend and went to get supplies only. Yea right! Anyway this fair was really great. Unlike any other I have seen in this area, as far as finches go. I am going back tomorrow with more money cause most the dealers do not take credit cards or debit cards. Cash and checks only. I only had $200 in cash on me and no checks. Prices were great for the most part. One dealer from Texas was in line with the going market prices. The private breeders were selling their birds at excellent prices. And the birds never looked better. Quality breeders with quality birds. Any way I had never seen a pied cutthroat nor a pied Star finch. One breeder had only male pied stars so I bought one. $44.00. The other bird I bought was the pied female cutthroat. $25.00. The breeder had only females left in the pied. I have a lone male normal I will pair her with. I also bought a pair of clearwing societies $20 for the pair.
Also there were gorgeous Shafttails, $35 ea. The goulds were all high in prices. Mostly $150.00 pair for normals. They pintail whydahs (I will get a pair tomorrow) for $40 a pair. Red ear and orange cheek $20 ea. Purple Grenadiers $300 pair. Melbas $140 pair. One dealer had 1 tri colored nun. $20. I may buy it if it is still there but I don't like getting a bird I may never find a mate for. There were just too many for me to list here. Can't wait to go in the morning. Hope there is lots left.

Congrats on all your new birds. Don't you just LOVE bird marts>>

They are so fun to me. I always go saying no more birds, no more birds.... just supplies. But it never works.

I know what you mean about getting a bird and not being able to find a mate. I wanted a chesnut breasted mannikin for so long. I bought the one and still have not found a mate for her.

I love the pied cutthroat

I have never even heard of the pied cutthroats...much less seen one. Very interesting. Have fun... take a lot of money.... who needs to wait till spring ... just move the birds into the living room, bedroom, hallways

JohnBoy, the pictures you emailed me were great, I am glad you posted them here to. The Star has such a red face. I know you are pleased with the female cutthroat, she is very pretty. The clearwings are interesting, there are so many mutations for societies I was not aware of.

You are going to have to build a third aviary soon!!! After you help build mine!!!!!!!

Yup! I'm up for hire.

HIRED!!!!!!

John, we all understand over here Congrat's on all the new birds, and can't wait to see what you get tomorrow.

I love the clearwing societies, and that cutthroat hen could make me change my opinion of them, she's very pretty!

Renee

John I can't wait to see what you get tomorrow!! (purple grenadiers, purple grenadiers, purple grenadiers) You made some excellent choices today though. I wish I could have been at that bird mart, I would have eaten those prices up!

Wonderful looking fids. Congrats

I'm with Domenic, as soon as you get back from the bird fair post pictures!!!!! We can't wait to see what you got!

I only plan on getting a pair of pintail whydahs and a female normal star to go with the pied I bought yesterday. There were no pied females. I thought I'd wait to try and get a female pied but I can't pass up a normal for $35. And I liked this breeders birds. His stars were like one forth larger than the ones I have. I also may pick up the tri colored nun. EEK!

Good luck John, hope you find all the birds you are looking for. We will be here wating when you get back....pictures!!!!!!

Well, one thing I've learned is to go to the fair on the second day and hope that there is lots left. Well there was lots left and the prices were slashed even lower than yesterday's prices. The birds averaged $5 cheaper than yesterday. I did not buy much today. Would have but I just did not have any place to put the birds now. I just bought my female star and passed on the tri-color nun and also passed on the pintail whydahs. The whydahs being aggressive meant setting up a cage just for them and I do not have any extra cages now. I did buy another pair of shafttails. They were reduced to $30 ea from $35 yesterday. I also bought some plastic perches shaped like a branch. They were only $.50 ea and you can never have to many perches.
BTW The lady I bought the birds from was from Marianna, FL. I believe she said it was in the Pensacola area. The name of the company is G&G Exotic Aviary. I would recommend her to anyone. Her birds were flawless.
Texas Pride Aviary had the best selection of exotic finches and softbills. Her prices were in line with the current market price. Normally her birds look really stressed but this time they looked really good. She had some Great Tits that were spectacular. $300 for the pair. If I had the money and the room I definitely would have bought them. She also had grenadiers, CB's, RW pytillas, melbas, cuban melodious, grey singers, green singers, red ears, orange cheek, GW pytillas, morning sierra finch, and many others. The morning sierra finch is a really large bird. It looks more like a softbill. Its sorta a solid blue gray, I had never seen one before. It was quite showy.
I had never been to a show in my area with so much variety of finches. I hope this was a taste of the way they will be for now on.

John, congrats on the new birds. The fair sound like a great one, is is held once a year or quarterly?

You will need a third outdoor aviary to move your indoor birds into which means you'll have room for more!!!!!!