Good Conditions for Red Headed, Seagreen Parrot Finches

[MarkAnders]

Hello, we have had a pair of sea green parrot finches for several months and we had them in a cage in the house. Recently I let them out into a conservatory which is heavily planted with orchids and other tropicals. I put the cage in the conservatory and opened the door, the female readily left the cage and returns periodically, the male did leave the cage for a few days but has since return and won't leave anymore, the female sits on top of the cage and chats to him. He sleeps in the cage she sleeps on some bamboo across the roof of the conservatory.

What sort of temperatures can they tolerate as a minimum, for living and also for breeding, I understand they come from a variety of altitudes in New Caledonia and temperatures can be quite cool. Although in summer its pretty hot. The heater in the conservatory is at 15C at the moment and they look perfectly happy. Will they breed at that temperature? Can it be cooler or does it need to be hotter? Any advice or general info much appreciated.

[CandoAviary]

I have severaly pairs of parrot finches. They love big aviaries..I cannot believe they would stay in the cage over the large flying space Possibly remove the top portion of the cage.(sometimes they have trouble with a door) Also if that is where the food is then they will stay close to th dish. Place food outside the cage....hand millet, etc..
I had mine breed in the summer heat....90% F. I have some in an indoor area now with a low temp of 60% and they are thriving.
I don't have experience with any colder. I think that a colder temperature may cause moulting chicks problems as this is when they would be most vunerable.

[MarkAnders]

Hi thanks for the reply, yes the female is allays popping in and out of the cage to get food. Just checked (its night time now) and the male seems to have disappeared out and off into the plants somewhere, so maybe he's getting used to it.

It would be nice to be able to lower the temperature a little over winter, to save fuel and also as some of the plants prefer cold night time temps. But without knowing what they are really happy with I don't want to experiment.

[B CAMP]

MarkAnders
Welcome to the forum ,if you fill in your profile with where you live it makes it a lot easier to answer questions sometimes ,have you checked out the finch information center there is a lot of good reading there
http://www.finchinfo.com/index.php

[MarkAnders]

Thanks Bill, still finding my way around the forum, i'm in the UK. The birds are in a climate controlled conservatory so location wont probably help much i'm afraid.

Reading the information for this species, it suggests about 18C as a minimum, which appears to disagree with other reports on the distribution of the birds in New Caledonia. (Nouméa is 16C-20C in winter and the birds are reportedly found at various altitudes suggesting they tolerate lower temperatures). Also read of some people keeping them in Australia around Sydney where temps can be as low as 2C, but these birds have been captive bread for several generations and may have adapted.

I read of owner in the UK successfully keeping them at 15C so that was my starting point. Was hoping to hear any reports of people routinely keeping them cooler. Summer wont be a problem temps will be mid 20's to mid 30's.

[JohnBoy]

My red throat parrot finches are in an outdoor aviary. It is attached to a heated shed with a small window that is left open to the outside flight. We got down to 31 degrees F. the last few nights. I noticed the parrot finches (and many of the waxbills) stay in the cold for long periods before going back into the shed to warm up. They don't seem to be bothered by it. There is no reason for them to be out cause everything they need is in the heated area. But they actually seem to like it. I mean why else would they stay out. Not much sun gets into the aviary during the winter cause the north side is covered in plastic and only the east side is uncovered.

[MarkAnders]

It's good to hear that JohnBoy. Maybe I can reduce the temp a couple of degrees, they're certainly not showing any signs of being cold at the moment, both of them just had a bath in a water tray I keep on the floor and look totally happy. Do they fluff there feathers out if they are cold? I've never seen mine do that yet.

I did a lot of reading about the climate in New Caledonia and minimum recorded (at sea level) seems to be about 11C. I know the birds are found part way up Mount Des Khogis and at those altitudes the temps would be several degrees cooler, still I don't want to risk losing them.

[B CAMP]

As with most finch's its best to acclimate them slowly to the lower temp. sounds like you have a great place for them to live are you going to add any other kinds?

[MarkAnders]

Not planning to add any more species at the moment. I may get more red throated parrots as I suspect the two I have may both be female. They have laid eggs a couple of times but didn't sit on them, in fact they didn't even build a nest just laid them in a wicker basket. Plus none of them 'sing' they both do a short 'chirp'.

We tried canaries in there last year, but canaries seem to eat anything green. The finches don't seem to attack the plants at all though so seems like good combination, I wouldn't want to risk other species eating all the plants.

Actually here's a photo, sorry I took it on an iphone so the quality is rubbish (the fan is never used), down below is all plants. Its heated to a minimum 15C (at the moment) and there is a 400W HPS which extends the day length in winter. Humidity is quite high for the plants (as is New Caledonia) so i'm hoping they are a perfect match.

The two birds!


Old photo (theres a lot more plants now)

[JohnBoy]

Your radiator heater needs to have a hardware cloth protection around it to keep the birds safe from getting burned. Also I would not run the ceiling fan while the birds are flying freely. It could kill them. Your conservatory is absolutely lovely.

[MarkAnders]

I did wonder about the radiators, they are safe to touch for people, the hot part is protected underneath. They get warm but are safe for people to touch, will that be ok for the birds? We never use the fan.

[JohnBoy]

The radiator heater I have in my bathroom gets real hot to the touch. It can give you a bad burn. But if there is no place on the heater where the bird can get burned I guess it is OK.

[franny]

Looks to me like there are some openings in the radiator that would be dangerous for fledglings. So if you think you might have babies down the road, might still be a good idea to make a cover for the radiator. What a beautiful setting for your finches!

[CandoAviary]

Love your space I too have a passion for plants. The humidity is high here on the gulf coast. The parrots thrive in it. I use the same type radiator heaters...I do set a 36"tall x 30" long x 18" wide cage (with bottom removed) on top so that the birds cannot sit directly on the heater...... they will try They can sit on top of the cage wire and get toasty warm. If you have this heat source then the birds have the option to move to warmer areas. No problems then

[lovemyfinch]

Beautiful environment for an aviary.