mexican house finch

[Carl]

Hello, my name is Carl and i live on the swedish west coast.
I will in a short time go to a very large bird show outside of Copenhagen, Denmark. There, I know, will be for sale amongst others mexican house finches (Carpodacus mexicanus). These are rare in my country so I lack information about them,prior to a possible purchase.Is there anything in particular that I should know about them? How do they get along with other species for ex. I would be very grateful for any assistance.

[Sally]

Hopefully there will be some members from Europe or Australia that can help you. The Mexican House finch or House finch is a native bird in the United States, so we are not allowed to keep them in captivity. I imagine it is the same in Canada.

[debbie276]

Not sure if this will help you much but it's all I could find:
http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/house_finch/id
http://www.aphis.usda.gov/wildlife_dama ... s/96-4.pdf
http://www.birdcare.com.au/mexican_rose_finch.htm

good luck

[GotFinch!]

Hi, Carl. Like Sally said, house finches are not allowed to be kept in the United States, but I've fed them couple of times before with wild birds feeders. They seem to thrive on all kinds of food-seeds, corn, bread, but they especially love thissel seeds. Anyway, that much I know. Don't know much about breeding though. Hope this help.

Ken

[jonvill]

Hi Carl, Best of luck with your house finches. Please post a picture of them when you can. As far as feeding goes, I think you can purchase Native Bird seed in your country. That is a blend specially formulated for carduelan finches. In addition to this mix you should feed eggfood, fresh greens, carrots, apple and also consider color feed during the moult to insure the brightest red coloration. The breeder you purchase these birds from will probably have some good information too.

[Queen_Bee]

We can't keep them in Canada either - they are cute little birds though! I love having them come to my feeder. They seem to eat the wild bird seed I put out - I expect they would love a finch mix.