Purple Honeycreeper? Info please...

[safarichick101]

Does anybody know anything about the care of purple honeycreepers and other tanager type birds?

[Sally]

I have never kept softbills, but there are a few members here who have. Hopefully, someone can chime in and help you. I think their diet is quite different from most finches, being more fruit-based. They are harder to find, and tend to be expensive.

[CandoAviary]

Yes and with a fruit base diet we are talking about very dirty(poop) cages
Best kept in large outdoor aviaries

[poohbear]

Tanagers are beautiful birds but not easy to keep.I wouldn't advise keeping them unless you have experience with the easier to keep species.No matter how much you read up about these birds lack of experience will only bring disappointment.

[yjkodiak]

I have a pair of red-legged honeycreepers, and am desperate to learn more about them. They were adults when I took them in, and they've been with me for about 2 years. The male sings and dances, but the pair has never legged eggs. I feed them mazuri softbill pellets soaked in mango nectar with supplements added to the mix. I also give them fruit and live insects. So far, they haven't eaten mealworms, but they occasionally will eat rice flour beetle larvae. They live in an indoor flight in a sunny location, by themselves. I offered different types of nests, and the female likes to sleep in an open canary nest, but has never laid eggs. I don't know if this is intentional nest-building or just a mess, but their nest fills up with sticky material that hardens... not sure if it's food or poop or both. After a few months, I'll throw it out and put in a new nest, because it seems like a health hazard, and besides, they have never laid (have I already said that?). If you have any success with your honeycreepers, I'd love to hear it!

[cindy]

When looking for Pekin Robins I came across this site and there are many breeders with information about certain softbills you can try going through this and contacting by email or call to see if they can help you.

http://www.softbillsforsale.com/

There is also a forum for softbills that is connected to the site, it is small but they may be able to help you

http://www.softbillsforum.com/

[Domenic]

Cindy you are the most devoted Pekin fan I have ever met. I really really hope you find a pair, perhaps when they are allowed to be shipped in again

[cindy]

Dominec, these are the birds that I remember the most that my mother raised. I did find them about 4 yrs ago but the breeder that had them was no caring for them correctly, they looked sick and stressed. There were about 6 crammed into a tiny show cage. they need long cages to exercise properly.

They stress easily if not housed right. At $35.00 a piece I should have bought the lot of them and taken them right to my avian vet. It probably would have cost a fortune to heal them, their feathers were in such bad shape, sticky looking and they had runny stools.

This is the last I have seen of them. Those that have them hang onto them and if they sell them they would be between $1000.00 to $2000.00 a pair. Way back when I was your age, my mother could buy them for $30.00 a pair.

There is a man in Naples that offered to import them for me but that concerns me as far as the health of the bird goes. Funny in Southeast Asia they are abundant.

They even fly free in Hawaii. They escaped from a breeder and developed a colony. Hmmm maybe I should go to Hawaii!!!!! Roadtrip!!!