GUESS WHAT I"M GETTING...

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Colt
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Re: GUESS WHAT I"M GETTING...

Post by Colt » Mon Jan 26, 2015 7:26 pm

Yes, they are already becoming a favorite. I like watching them. I wish I had an even larger space for them to fly in where they felt safer and less nervous around me, but this will have to do for now.

Amethyst Starling
BF and RT Parrot Finch
Chestnut-breasted Mannikin
Lady Gouldian
Owl Finch
Shaft-tail Finch
Society Finch
Star Finch
Strawberry
Tri-colored Nun
Zebra Finch
Diamond Dove
Bourke & Scarlet-chested Parakeet


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Sally
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Re: GUESS WHAT I"M GETTING...

Post by Sally » Mon Jan 26, 2015 7:30 pm

Colt No I didn't know you were getting the Starlings, they came from Su, right? I'll be at Helen's on Friday, so I'll probably see you then.
3 Purple Grenadiers, 1 Goldbreast + 1 cat.

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Colt
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Re: GUESS WHAT I"M GETTING...

Post by Colt » Mon Jan 26, 2015 7:36 pm

Yes, they were from Su's. And that sounds great. :)

Amethyst Starling
BF and RT Parrot Finch
Chestnut-breasted Mannikin
Lady Gouldian
Owl Finch
Shaft-tail Finch
Society Finch
Star Finch
Strawberry
Tri-colored Nun
Zebra Finch
Diamond Dove
Bourke & Scarlet-chested Parakeet


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Sally
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Re: GUESS WHAT I"M GETTING...

Post by Sally » Mon Jan 26, 2015 8:04 pm

Colt Oops, just talked to Helen, and the other Berries are coming on Saturday. I'll be staying overnight, so maybe I'll see you Saturday then.
3 Purple Grenadiers, 1 Goldbreast + 1 cat.

National Finch & Softbill Society - http://www.nfss.org

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Colt
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Re: GUESS WHAT I"M GETTING...

Post by Colt » Mon Jan 26, 2015 8:09 pm

Haha ok. Well I work Saturday afternoon, but I'm sure I can get there in the morning. Just have to do it in plenty of time to get them home and set up. :)

Amethyst Starling
BF and RT Parrot Finch
Chestnut-breasted Mannikin
Lady Gouldian
Owl Finch
Shaft-tail Finch
Society Finch
Star Finch
Strawberry
Tri-colored Nun
Zebra Finch
Diamond Dove
Bourke & Scarlet-chested Parakeet


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Re: GUESS WHAT I"M GETTING...

Post by MiaCarter » Mon Jan 26, 2015 8:43 pm

Colt - OH MY GOODNESS I'M SO INSANELY JEALOUS!!!!

I had a common black European starling as a wild rescue when I was doing rehabber work.
This bird was just so clever and beautiful. An incredible mimic (mostly of random sounds and other birds. There were a couple approximations of words, but not the perfect mimicry that you get with hookbills.)

I've been eyeing the fancy starlings on the Paradise Earth website for so long. I just don't have a suitable set-up for them right now. (My rescue was injured and couldn't fly, so it was no trouble keeping in a parrot cage and providing lots of out-cage time together.)

Mine started totally wild and became very tame. Not cuddly tame, but sit-by-you-so-she-can-watch-you-and-steal-anything-shiny-or-interesting-tame. This was a wild bird who was injured and permanently disabled. She knew this and learned to trust me very quickly. (That often happens in injured animals. They're vulnerable and they know it. They know they have no choice but to have direct contact when you need to do cleanings, bandage changes, etc. daily. The smart species tame and bond very quickly, which is part of what makes rehabbing so challenging! Most are returned to the wild, so you don't want them to bond or tame!)

So I'm not sure how tamable an able-bodied starling would be, but I can tell you that this is a VERY smart bird. It's a different brand of intelligence than you see with hookbills; it's closest to a corvid brand of intelligence. That is, keenly observant and very good with strategy-type of problem solving; not so great with tricks/cuddling/social types of behaviors.

You've got to post photos! I'd love to see them!
Are you going to breed them?
If so, I may very well need to make a trip to Texas!
Humum to....
13 Zebra Finches....and 2 squeeps!
3 Society Finches
6 Gouldians
1 Weaver
1 Pintail Whydah
2 Cockatiels
2 Parakeets

....along with 1 MinPin, 1 Pug, 1 JRT, 1 Yorkie, 2 Chihuahuas and 15 cats.


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Colt
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Re: GUESS WHAT I"M GETTING...

Post by Colt » Mon Jan 26, 2015 9:39 pm

Hey MiaCarter I was wondering when you'd pop in. :)

I am really hoping to breed them. Of course then I have to find another unrelated pair or two in order to offer unrelated offspring.

The breeder I purchased them from has had them for a couple of years and they were wild-caught imports so it is possible they've aged out. But I'm really hoping not. She had them housed in a flight that was probably 8-10 feet tall (it didn't sit on the floor so a bit hard to judge) maybe 2 feet deep and 4-5 feet wide. They were housed with several species of Tanagers, Dacnis, Honeycreepers, Waxbills, Mannikins, and Seedeaters. She never really gave them an opportunity to breed with that many birds. And they were never given an appropriate nesting site. She took amazing care of them though so once I get the male through his molt, or get the feathers grown back from the Honeycreeper picking on him (whichever is the case) I'll be conditioning them into breeding.

I've ordered a lot of different softbill diets in order to try to meet any and all dietary needs. MiaCarter do you know if Starlings can suffer from Iron Storage like Toucans? I haven't found anything in the limited data I have found on Amethysts but perhaps I should Google care of European Starlings. I've also ordered two new nestboxes and am thinking about ordering another style to see if they prefer one over the other.

I've ordered some live food as well which I know they don't necessarily require but would be nice if they learned to eat from my hand. Just so they can associate me with yummy treats instead of panicking and flying across the flight each time I move. I should probably just sit out there with them for a while each day so they learn. I think they were more comfortable at Su's because they were literally feet above our heads and payed us no mind. Although they certainly didn't mind her terribly lazy cat that lives in the birdroom. He lays on top of that cage (it his favorite) but frequents all the others too. The birds pay him no mind and even pull his long hair for nesting material. lol But if I walk out there they just panic. Of course it doesn't help I've had to move a lot and net them recently so they are all a bit more flighty than usual.

I would definitely say they are smarter than the average bird. They were very observant on the ride home and surprisingly calm for that matter in the smaller cage. They might not even bother jumping off the perch when I had to pick it up. The hen is much braver than the male in that respect. But it was fun watching them take in their surroundings, peering intently at the finches in the cage next to them as well as eyeballing things in the car. They seemed to look at everything, not just me like the finches do.

Their intelligence is what makes me think it would be fun to have them accept food from my hand. I don't expect them to just sit their as I reach around them like the Bourkes do, but it would be nice if I didn't see a purple bullet shoot across to each side of the flight to get away from me. And I can have my back to the flight and be on the other side of the room and they'll still do it.

I also found some reading online in regards to hand-raising the babies. Apparently the parent-raised birds can tame down relatively well, accepting food and generally being less nervous around you, but hand-raised individuals are very friendly and accepting of humans and can make fun birds to take to schools, etc to teach children about birds.

So maybe if I get babies I can work on that, but for now I'm just making sure all the parents needs are met. And if it comes down to them being absolutely miserable in the indoor flight I may cave and build a walk-in flight outdoors (a no-no as I'm renting) but maybe they'd enjoy that more. They are certainly going to have a plethora of food to choose from by the end of the week when all this food comes in. :) And I'll see if I can get some decent pictures of them tomorrow. I need to clean cages and the birdroom in general so I'm hoping once I get all that done I can sit down on the ladder and just play on my phone or something and let them get used to me. I might even open the door to the cage and let the male Bourke tool around the birdroom. He likes to sit on the door and watch me and then get in the floor and clean up seeds. He's a little mess. :)

Amethyst Starling
BF and RT Parrot Finch
Chestnut-breasted Mannikin
Lady Gouldian
Owl Finch
Shaft-tail Finch
Society Finch
Star Finch
Strawberry
Tri-colored Nun
Zebra Finch
Diamond Dove
Bourke & Scarlet-chested Parakeet


https://www.facebook.com/pages/Brushy-C ... 0659711916

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Re: GUESS WHAT I"M GETTING...

Post by Sheather » Mon Jan 26, 2015 10:21 pm

I recall reading that starlings are very susceptible to iron storage issues when I was considering adopting a European starling last year.
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MiaCarter
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Re: GUESS WHAT I"M GETTING...

Post by MiaCarter » Mon Jan 26, 2015 10:27 pm

Colt - Yes, they can suffer from hemochromatosis. Though I don't believe it's as commonplace as it is in the fruit-exclusive birds like mynahs and toucans, but definitely a worry.

Here's a good page (a good site, in fact) that discusses this condition in Starlings:
http://www.starlingtalk.com/hemochromatosis.htm

Of course, that references the common Euro starlings. I'm going to make an educated guess that it's likely common to the other starling varieties, but I'm not certain.
My avian vet always says that when we're uncertain as to whether a species is prone to hemochromatosis, it's best to assume they are and act accordingly.

One thing that I did as a rehabber was supplemented with tannin. I used a dog tannin supplement, as there was no tannin supplement for birds at the time (there may be now as there have been some avian studies on this recently that showed that it can be effective in preventing hemochromatosis.)

Starlings do eat a fair amount of insects. So lots of bugs should keep them happy!
Mine preferred live, but would also eat dead and/or freeze dried.

You do know that the standard for starlings is to feed dog food? That's what I did, but it was heavily supplemented with fresh foods, bugs, etc. (which probably comprised around 80% of the diet).
I have no idea how that compares to the commercial softbill foods that are now available. At the time, I couldn't find any real good commercial foods that mine would eat readily. But I know that there are tons more softbill foods available now. (And plus, I bet your guys may have a different diet since they're from a different geographical area.)

I can't wait to hear more about them! And see photos! I bet they're just lovely.

That's funny that you already picked up on the observant-ness of these guys. Make no mistake! They aren't just observing; they're analyzing. They will surprise you with what they notice and attempt! (Very good with escaping and manipulating simple latches and so forth, so watch out for that. They could engineer escapes and open latches and things like that in a way that I thought would be impossible for a bird who lacks the foot dexterity of a parrot.)
Humum to....
13 Zebra Finches....and 2 squeeps!
3 Society Finches
6 Gouldians
1 Weaver
1 Pintail Whydah
2 Cockatiels
2 Parakeets

....along with 1 MinPin, 1 Pug, 1 JRT, 1 Yorkie, 2 Chihuahuas and 15 cats.


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Colt
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Re: GUESS WHAT I"M GETTING...

Post by Colt » Mon Jan 26, 2015 10:28 pm

That's good to know. The previous owner didn't seem to be concerned about it, but I wanted to be sure there wouldn't be an issue further down the road. Right now I'm offering the same foods she was minus some things like Bugs n' Berries and the Goldenfeast Lory nectar that hasn't come in yet.

Amethyst Starling
BF and RT Parrot Finch
Chestnut-breasted Mannikin
Lady Gouldian
Owl Finch
Shaft-tail Finch
Society Finch
Star Finch
Strawberry
Tri-colored Nun
Zebra Finch
Diamond Dove
Bourke & Scarlet-chested Parakeet


https://www.facebook.com/pages/Brushy-C ... 0659711916

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Re: GUESS WHAT I"M GETTING...

Post by Ginene » Mon Jan 26, 2015 10:30 pm

Congrats Colt! Would love to see pics!!! ;)

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Colt
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Re: GUESS WHAT I"M GETTING...

Post by Colt » Mon Jan 26, 2015 10:42 pm

I hope they can't get out of the cage. The latches are really tight and swivel like most Prevue flight cages.

I did know that about the dog food, but haven't offered them any. My dogs eat a very high-quality food so I suppose I could. Paradise Earth feeds their Amethysts Zupreem Fruit pellets, meal worms, and fresh fruit. Currently I'm offering Roudybush Nibbles, XS Fruit Blend Zupreem, Pretty Bird Daily Select Mini and Small pellets which were all offered by Su although she wasn't sure which pellets the Starlings consumed versus the other birds in the flight. She also offered a Lory Powder (not sure on brand), Bugs N' Berries, Goldenfeast Lory Nectar, and fresh papaya and banana. I'm ordered the Bugs N' Berries, the Goldenfeast, and the Zupreem or Pretty Bird Softbill diet (can't remember which right now) and am planning on getting some fruit, cutting it up and freezing it like I did for the sugar gliders so I can offer a portion each day.

I already offer a blended seed to the flight for the other birds although I doubt they will show any interest in that but I offer my eggfood:

http://www.finchforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=73&t=31580

and I do hope they eat that. It's chock-full of protein. I'm going to get some freeze-dried mealworms to offer and already ordered Phoenix Worms to see if that will help the RCCB and GB Waxbills raise their babies so I'm going to offer those as well.

Is there any food you would avoid giving them other than citrus MiaCarter?

Amethyst Starling
BF and RT Parrot Finch
Chestnut-breasted Mannikin
Lady Gouldian
Owl Finch
Shaft-tail Finch
Society Finch
Star Finch
Strawberry
Tri-colored Nun
Zebra Finch
Diamond Dove
Bourke & Scarlet-chested Parakeet


https://www.facebook.com/pages/Brushy-C ... 0659711916

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Colt
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Re: GUESS WHAT I"M GETTING...

Post by Colt » Mon Jan 26, 2015 10:44 pm

Ginene - I'll see what I can do tomorrow. They act so kooky right now when I walk by the flight I don't know if they will sit still for a picture. And I'm sure my male Bourke will photobomb them. He's just too friendly for his own good. lol

Amethyst Starling
BF and RT Parrot Finch
Chestnut-breasted Mannikin
Lady Gouldian
Owl Finch
Shaft-tail Finch
Society Finch
Star Finch
Strawberry
Tri-colored Nun
Zebra Finch
Diamond Dove
Bourke & Scarlet-chested Parakeet


https://www.facebook.com/pages/Brushy-C ... 0659711916

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Re: GUESS WHAT I"M GETTING...

Post by delray » Mon Jan 26, 2015 10:51 pm

Colt wow. Congrats, they look amazing. Pictures please.
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Colt
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Re: GUESS WHAT I"M GETTING...

Post by Colt » Tue Jan 27, 2015 6:16 pm

Well they got some banana and unsweetened apple sauce today. I peeked out the door on the way to the front door to leave for work and saw them male flying up away from the plate.

I managed to get one terrible picture of them...lol They do not cooperate at all. I'll post it in a bit.

Amethyst Starling
BF and RT Parrot Finch
Chestnut-breasted Mannikin
Lady Gouldian
Owl Finch
Shaft-tail Finch
Society Finch
Star Finch
Strawberry
Tri-colored Nun
Zebra Finch
Diamond Dove
Bourke & Scarlet-chested Parakeet


https://www.facebook.com/pages/Brushy-C ... 0659711916

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