Purple Grenadiers

[Sally]

It is like any species, such as strawberries, the Indian subspecies or tiger finch, amandava, is a more orange-red color; the flavidiventis is more of a golden color with a light belly; the chinese or strawberry is smaller in size, darker in color and red with less white spotting.
Many people today have crosses of these birds with some or all of the markings. To complicate it further, these birds have nuptial plumage and their plumage will also be affected by their enviroment, ie ..are they outdoors with natural sunlight? , diets rich in lutein and carotenene, etc.
However I don't think the PG have been mixed as badly as the Stawberries because they have never been that popular here in the states probably due to the high prices compared to what strawberries use to go for. I remember bing able to buy strawberries for $25

I know this thread is about Purple Grenadiers, so discussing Strawberries is off-topic, but I was curious as to why you would say that many people today have crosses of this species, or that the Strawberries have been badly mixed. Amandava amandava, or Red Avadat, or Red Strawberry, is the nominate species most commonly found in the U.S. and has been referred to as 'Indian'. Amandava amandava punicea is the subspecies often referred to as 'Chinese'. Amandava amandava flavidiventris, or Yellow Avadat, is a subspecies that I have not seen nor heard of in the U.S., at least since I have been keeping Strawberries. There are two more species of Amandava, A. formosa, or Green Strawberry, which seems to have disappeared from U.S. aviculture, and A. subflava, which is the Zebra Waxbill, or Orange-breasted Waxbill, or Goldbreasted Waxbill, which is quite common today.

I currently have more than three dozen Strawberries, mostly Amandava amandava, with a few Amandava amandava punicea. The differences between these two are so obvious that even a novice would be able to differentiate between them--they are not subtle. Even the A. a. punicea hen is obviously different from the A. amandava hens. The few people I know of that have A. a. punicea are aware of what they have and are not crossbreeding. Other than the fact that my males change appearance from eclipse to breeding plumage, all my A. amandavas have the same physical appearance. And it is only very recently that Strawberries became scarce and expensive, when bird flu in Asia stopped the imports from there. As recently as two years ago, I was able to buy Strawberries for $25-30 each. One of the reasons this species became so scarce is that they were so cheap and readily imported that few bothered breeding them.

[MLaRue]

With VEs the situations is much more delicate. Imports are very limited and most of what comes in are in real bad shape (many die in quarantine). I can count the number of Canadian VE breeders on one hand.
As far as subspecies goes there are two minor, one standard, and one dominant species. The dominant specie’s body colour is much darker (both male&female) than the standard subspecies, it is not difficult to tell them apart. The two minor subspecies (Retusus & Siccatus) are low in numbers (in nature); physically they are both (slightly) smaller and the dark blue on their forehead (attaching the beak) is almost invisible; U.G.Siccatus has lighter beak colour; I have never seen them in the Canadian bird trade.

Do you have enough bloodlines to sustain them? Are the imports coming from breeders in Europe or are they coming from wild caughts in Africa?

[MLaRue]

What a shame to see so much removed Fardad

I also checked with the brokers and none are aware of the imports you mentioned into the USA - which means they only moved thru here to another country or went to a very private individual but then did what with them? So the birds we were seeing in certain states like Florida and Nevada could have been imports left over from the big rush of them we had a year or so ago. The brokers assured me that nothing new has come in and since our economy is still so bad we are not sure when we might get more now.

[annague]

Fardad, I guess people log into the FF just to view your posts because when you author something the number of people who view it skyrockets!

What a freaking lot of pressure -- Forgive my ignorance but I am guessing that you must be one of the main authorities online (regarding finches) in the Northern Hemisphere?

And you are 20 something? Are you going to make your knowledge into a career? IS there a career you can go into where you can use your knowledge of finches/birds? (And make decent money, I mean).

I hope this doesn't embarrass you but I am thrilled that you are sharing your knowledge with us.

Thank you!

[annague]

I hear what you are saying, Fardad.

It is too bad that there isn't anything out there where you could use your knowledge to better the state of affairs for the finch species of the world in general...and make a living at it --

[MLaRue]

Not to bring up a sore post again but just realized I had lots of questions

Fardad,

Age...

How old are your oldest that are still breeding with good fertility?
Do you notice a difference between wild caught or domestic on their longevity and fertility?

I have a male that is banded (closed banded) 2007 - do you think he is capable of being fertile?

If the older Grens are capable of being fertile at 4 years old is there a diet change and or supplement you use to help in the aid of it (fertilty)?

What is the lowest temps you keep your Grens during resting and breeding?

How long do you let yours breed? How many clutches?

Is it normal for the pair to almost sit exclusively without ever seemingly to leave the nest to eat?

Do you ever mix wild caught and domestics together to breed? I mean I'm sure you do but do you prefer to do this or not?

I guess I have the same questions regarding the Violet Ears too.

Thank you in advance for your time and support.

[Domenic]

It's frustrating that so much valuable information has to be removed. Is someone complaining or something?

It angers me when the spreading of knowledge is copyrighted.

[MLaRue]

It's frustrating that so much valuable information has to be removed. Is someone complaining or something?

It angers me when the spreading of knowledge is copyrighted.

I couldn't agree more Domenic

[Domenic]

Domenic, if there are any specific questions you have, feel free to post them.

I don't have any specific questions at the moment, however I do plan on attempting to breed PG's such as yourself and Misty in the future and it would have been great to use this thread as a reference.

And I do apologize for interrupting the flow of this thread.

[Sally]

Fardad, my one pair of Grens that went to nest incubated for three weeks. I finally checked the nest, and there were four infertile eggs. For the whole three weeks, I never saw the hen off the nest. I know she had to come out to eat/drink (unless the male fed her), but if she did so, it was always when I was not present. The male sat with her, side by side, for hours at a time. In fact, there were some days that I never saw the male out of the nest either. The first week of incubation, the male ate eggfood and mini mealworms, the next two weeks, he didn't even touch those items.

I removed the nest, and after a few days, the male has started another nest in the same place. Also, both of them are now eating eggfood and mini mealworms like they are starving.

I have never had any bird sit any tighter than these two. In fact, when I decided to check the nest, I had to force her out of the nest. Both were quite upset when I removed the nest.

Hopefully, I'll have better luck with the next clutch. They both seem to be in breeding condition, both are in good health and condition, certainly devoted to that first clutch of eggs, I just don't know why they didn't get fertilized.

[MLaRue]

Again... Thank you for sharing your experience with us Fardad.

[Sally]

Yes, thank you Fardad for all the information. This pair is working on a new nest, so I will hope for better results next time. This male sings all the time right now, but when they were incubating, I didn't hear anything from him.