Bronze winged Manikins,,,

[Meagan83]

Petsmart was running a sale and they were only 13.59ea!!! I got a pair of course can anyone give me any info on these?

[Sally]

This site looks like it has some good information: http://www.honoluluzoo.org/bronze-winged_mannikin.htm

[JohnBoy]

My life experience with them is that they are extremely hardy, very aggressive, especially during breeding. They calm down over a period of time as they get used to their cage mates. But will get aggressive again if new birds are introduced. They do not fair well in extreme cold even with a heat source. They love being friends with Magpie mannikins. Therefore interbreeding is possible but I have not encountered that problem. They usually do best in colonies. It seems to me that the more numbers you have the least aggressive they are. Go figure. Very pretty and interesting birds that should be in everyones' finch collection.
Getting these birds to raise a clutch is a challenge. My birds breed and lay, hatch the chicks out, but I have never had a pair raise a clutch. They either always throw the chicks out or let them die in the nest.
I am thrilled with the success of Jamezypoo's pair. I hope they follow through for him.

[jamezyboo21]

I love the bronzewings. I use to own them in the past and they always gave me clutches and hatched them but would never feed them so i ended rehoming them but I missed them so a few months ago I bought a pair and within a week they already built a neast and started laying. 1st clutch was infertile. 2nd clutch I took before I even gave them a chance and hand raised them. This clutch I left alone and so far the parents have done a very good job of feeding them. I saw them today feeding the babies. As for aggression, they are very protective of their nests and do chase other fiches off but like John Boy said they dosettle down once they are comfortable with the rest of the finches. The clutch they have now and before that they weren't even aggressive to anyone. They are cute little birds and plan on adding more un related pairs soon. This is their first time with babies so I am watching everyday just to make sure they continue feeds and im ready just in case I do have to start handfeeding.

[Meagan83]

I wonder why they are on the passive list if they can be aggressive at times? Well, I intend to treat them the same as my shafttails. If I breed them, it will be in a private breeder cage, and otherwise, they will stay in my flight which has no nesting locations. How aggressive can they be? They won't gouge out an eye on one of my goulds or anything will they
They looked very docile at the pet store.

[JohnBoy]

Meagan, Just watch them closely, I don't think they will gouge out eyes but they can sure pluck a bird pretty severely and stress their cage mates out. They mostly harass and chase birds. Personally I would not put them with Goulds. And as I said most the time they calm down after a month or so when they get used to their cage mates. But the first sign of chasing and pecking other birds and the other birds are getting stressed from it I would definitely pull them out especially if the birds are in a flight cage rather than an aviary. Usually everything fairs out well in a large aviary.

[jamezyboo21]

I have never had any that plucked they mostly just chased them away from the nest area. Mine are in a small aviary though like 8 ft long. Plus I only 14 finches in the aviary their all the tinier of the finches. they all get along. Right now i have Bronzewings in the aviary with, goldbreasts, orange cheeks, fires, yellow face grassquit, and Cordon bleus. I also had goulds, stars and owls in with them to and they were all fine together. I don't really consider them aggressive, their just really protective of their nest site. Just like any of the other finches. I have societies that are way more aggressive then them.

[JohnBoy]

jamezyboo, you have been lucky. I must have a bad luck streak purchasing aggressive BW's. I had a male almost kill my pair of star finches. Not by plucking but by chasing the birds and stressing them out so badly they got weak and almost went into shock. I pulled the BW's and the stars eventually got back to normal after a few days. If more males than females are present the strongest male will pluck the other males so badly they are hardly recognizable. I am speaking of my experience only. Others may have had no problems with them whatsoever. But I have been keeping BW's since the late 60's and I have always had some sore of aggressive behavior with every pair I bought. Therefore they always go in my aviary with the javas, whydahs, other mannikins, seedeaters, cutthroats, redheads, pytillas and other larger birds.

[Meagan83]

...... Well, I guess I may have gotten myself into a mess. I will have to be extra careful. Nobody is allowed to pick on my goulds.