Cordons & Goulds

sunnydove · Post by **sunnydove** » Sun Feb 10, 2008 10:03 pm

Thanks to all of you for your replies and amazing stories. It seems sometimes the best way to learn is by trial and error, as long as it is not at the expense of little birdies' lives, I guess.
I've been ill last few days, so I haven't been online. Had a lot of reading to catch up on.
Everyone here is always so helpful and kind. Thank you all so much.

Judy

BTW: I went ahead and put my other LG in with the dilute pair. The single is a normal (mom was a black normal and dad a red head normal so I'm guessing mine once moulted, will be red head normal since that is dominent). I have not put in any nest boxes yet, even with the cordons (which I will keep in their own cage for now at least). The male CB is doing the little pecking on her head, so I'm sure they are ready to breed. I have to gather nesting supplies for the CB's first. Have coconut fibers and feathers, but that's all. I have to get an order put in for other stuff for them, including meal worms, etc for feeding, so I don't want them nesting yet. I've been reading up in them a lot. Anyone have specific suggestions on their nesting: materials, type of housing, etc?

Here's a link to photos of the CB's and dilute LG's. They are not great photos, but I was in a hurry to take them. Will get better quality later.

http://picasaweb.google.com/bmosunny/MyPictures

Post by **Sally** » Mon Feb 11, 2008 11:14 am

My CBs love the coco fibers and white feathers--the male will usually court the female with a white feather. They also have used the large size hooded wicker nests, but one pair built their own nest in a plastic plant, using coco fiber and feathers. Of course, I haven't had much success yet in breeding, so maybe I'm not doing it right!

sunnydove · Post by **sunnydove** » Tue Feb 12, 2008 12:15 am

Thanks Sally for the info! Do you put the coconut fibers in the little hanging ball or how do you do yours? Also, the feathers the same way? Where do you get your feathers? Think I'm gonna get to my local pet store in a few days (not PetSmart) where they sell tons of reptiles, etc., and see what they have to offer in the way of meal worms, etc.
I want to get everything I need rounded up, since he's been playfully pecking the side of her head. I think he's trying to "woo" her already.
Since the CB's are quite different than the LGF's in the nesting habits and feeding, etc., I just want to get as informed as I can be.

Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Judy

Post by **Sally** » Tue Feb 12, 2008 12:32 pm

I have the two pairs of CBs in 34x18x18 breeding cages, one pair to a cage. With the coco fiber, it comes kind of stuck together, so I separate it as much as possible and just lay a clump on the floor, away from a perch. For the feathers, you can buy a feather pillow and you will have enough to last forever! I got a feather pillow at Wal-Mart, but it had a lot of brown feathers and a lot of junk in it. I got a feather pillow at Target, and it had really nice white feathers in it. Someone also sells small bags of white feathers, as soon as I can remember who that was, I will post it, because you won't need that many. When I got the feather pillow, I just went down the rows of cages putting handfuls of feathers on the bottom of the cages--well, in no time at all, it looked like a pillow fight had gone on in the bird room--bad idea! On another forum, someone said they take the mesh bags like onions or oranges come in, cut in small squares, stuff them with some white feathers, and hang those in the cages. That way, the birds can pull out what they want without feathers going everywhere.

One pair of CBs has not been successful with having babies, they have not stayed with the eggs, or will stay for a while and then abandon. I took away a clutch of 5 and put them under two Society males. Only one egg hatched, but so far, so good! I give the Societies egg food plus a dish of dry insectile mixture (Insectivorous Feast by Bird Care), and they are eating both to feed to the baby. The other pair are still in the bonding stage, I had lost my male and recently got another, so they are still settling in. I gave them a nest just in case, with nesting materials, but no action so far.

Sean and Michele (fairestfinches) are having wonderful success with their BCCBs. I am trying various waxbills this year, and it is very frustrating--so far I have had lots of eggs, and I have had Goldbreasts that hatched them out and then tossed them halfway to fledging. This is my first year with most of these, though, so I consider it a learning experience and hope for more success next year.

One thing about waxbills, most of them will not tolerate nest checks. You are in the dark as to what is going on, as even the babies don't make a lot of noise. So you don't know if you have eggs, or even nestlings. If you take a peek, you will likely find dead babies on the floor the next day. Place their cage in a quiet area, and place plastic plants around the nest both inside and outside the cage, to give them privacy.

You will just have to experiment with feeding them. I am having to keep records on my pairs, as even two pairs of the same species will eat different foods. Besides the basic finch mix and mineral mix, they all were offered dishes of dry commercial eggfood, homemade eggfood, herb salad, dry nestling food, and dry insectile mix, and then they can choose what they like. CBs definitely like mealworms, but they want small ones.

CBs are cuddly birds and will allopreen, but if you put a couple of white feathers in the cage, the male will hold a feather in his beak, hop up and down, and sing his heart out. The hens will do the same, if they are in breeding mode.

Post by **Sally** » Tue Feb 12, 2008 12:43 pm

Fancie Flight, you asked about Stars. I have three pairs, had decent success in the past, but this year has been a bust so far. The hen of one pair I believe is old, she will go to nest, sit tight for 2-3 weeks, and then I find that the nest is empty! I don't think they were eating the eggs, I think she just wasn't laying any. I retired her to the community flight, paired that male with another hen, and they have gone to nest now. In fact, for the first time with Stars, they built their own nest instead of using the wicker nests.

The second pair went to nest, hatched out 2 babies, but then tossed them when I had my mouse invasion. They are sitting tight again. The third pair has had eggs, but they haven't been consistent with sitting.

Fancie Flight · Post by **Fancie Flight** » Tue Feb 12, 2008 2:46 pm

Sally thats to bad about no luck this year. BUT sounds like its turning around some, Those lil strawberrys are so Beautiful.

I do NOT breed my cordons as my male is handicapped , * 1 leg missing the other is straight and bent back, * I took him in this way.
so he gets babies ALOT he flies great and has a woman who dotes on him, lol I supply him with certain waterers that cant get past a certain point and he does good,

Anyway I was wondering those with cordons do ya keep the cages up HIGH ?? I have heard with them they need to be eye level or above to be contant and breed do ya find this true?

sunnydove · Post by **sunnydove** » Tue Feb 12, 2008 3:53 pm

Sally, thanks for all the wonderful info. Your "bird farm"

sounds really nice. I would love to see all your beautiful babies.
I guess I'll get everything together and let them make an attempt at parenting.
I was wondering about something? I have my silkie bantoms who have these wonderful little fluffy white feathers (fuzzy- like) that are everywhere. If I use clean , dry small ones, could I use them? Just a thought.

Judy

sunnydove · Post by **sunnydove** » Tue Feb 12, 2008 4:18 pm

Sally, this is not my hen, but a photo of one just like mine. I have a white rooster and a white hen and 3 black hens.

http://picasaweb.google.com/bmosunny/My ... 2289338850

Judy

williep · Post by **williep** » Wed Feb 13, 2008 1:45 am

Sally, just a Q on your CB...

I spoke to a couple of local breeders and they all were very adamant that you will have more success breeding the CB's in a large (mixed) aviary.

I also would prefer to breed them in my breeding cages if possible, mine are 28x48x18. What do you think is it a good setup for breeding the CB's? Also I would think that they'll do better without any other birds bothering them?

Post by **Sally** » Wed Feb 13, 2008 2:19 am

Judy, the feathers from your chickens will work great! I have some ducks on the pond in my pasture, the Pekins are white, and I used to gather their feathers all the time. I just got lazy, plus I needed more and more.

williep, I agree, the CBs would probably do much better in an aviary. From what I have read on other forums, most of the waxbills breed better in planted walk-in flights at least 6' or 7' long, or breeding cages that are at least 4' long. I hope to redo my whole setup later on this year.

My cages are on shelves, three cages high. Unfortunately, most of the waxbills would do better on the top level, but some of them have to be in the middle, and some on the lower level.

Yes, Fancie Flight, the Strawberries are beautiful. I just got a male off craigslist. I had already purchased a male for my second hen, but thought I could always use another one, since they are so hard to find. Well, this little guy is turning into a rescue--he was kept in a tiny cage, and he can barely fly. I may do another whole post about him, since it points out to those new to the hobby what happens when finches aren't kept properly.

sunnydove · Post by **sunnydove** » Thu Feb 14, 2008 1:17 am

Thank you again Sally! I've been collecting the smaller, clean feathers.

Oh my gosh! I'm sorry to hear about your Strawberry. I don't understand how anyone thinks they can just stcik a bird of any kind in a tiny cage. It would be like us having to live in a tiny closet. Way too many people get pets (of all kinds) without any knowledge, or at least researching the needs, care, responisiblities and costs of keeping healthy, happy pets. Just irks me to no end.

I'd love to have a pair of them someday. We'll see.

Have a great day (fixing to get cold and nasty after tomorrow).

Judy

fairestfinches · Post by **fairestfinches** » Thu Feb 14, 2008 1:52 am

Hi, SunnyDove!

All I can tell you about breeding BCCB's is that nothing we were told/had read applied to our pairs. But, the difference could be that ours are housed in a 7 ft x 6 ft x 7 ft walk-in flight with several other types of finches.

We have various types and sizes of nests hanging in the flights. Some are high, some are mid-way, some are down low. We have a ficus tree and some kind of shrub/bush in each flight as well as ivy draped around the nests and strung to make perches. In addition, we have several open baskets of coco fiber, jute, sisal, manila, and sweet grass mix for the birds to choose from for nesting material. If you click on the "website" button at the bottom of this post, it will take you to our website where you can see pictures of our walk-in flights on the "Our Aviary" tab.

We do not offer white feathers and maybe twice a month I offer live white worms. Otherwise, the birds in the flights have fresh seed/water, spray millet, Miracle Meal, Herb Salad, insect flavored palm oil powder, our "Convenience Mix" (a mix of powdered oystershell, crushed charcoal, powdered kelp, and 63 trace minerals powder), and are offered fresh eggfood and roasted mealworms twice a day during the breeding season. The fresh eggfood is supplemented with Breeders Blend. We also have small waterfall/fountains that circulate water in each flight for bathing.

Our BCCB's use a mix of all the nesting material and typically select one of the smaller bamboo nests hanging near the mid-way point, but not in a "private" area (it's usually an exposed or semi-exposed area).

Each pair has successfully raised two clutches thus far this year and are working on their third clutches (their last clutches, but they don't know it yet...

).

We typically check the nest when we suspect the birds have laid a clutch and again when the eggs are due to hatch. We also remove the chicks from the nest to band them around the 8th - 10th day (of course, they're replaced in the nest after banding). Our BCCB hens tolerate my nest checks and banding. Most of the time, they hang out on a nearby perch and watch me until I'm finished then go right back into the nest. They're not yet as "tame" as the gould pairs in the flights ... the goulds help keep their chicks herded together while I'm banding them ... but I'm working on that.

It's really a sight to see.

Now, all of this flies in the face of pretty much everything we had read/heard about breeding BCCB's, so it might not work the same for you. All I can tell you is that this method is what has worked very well for our BCCB's.

Michele