What type of greens and do you chop them up? So far for greens I keep pots of live grass or asparagas fern around all the time, and clip a piece of fresh romane lettuce to a perch a couple of times a day, thinking it needs to be attached to something in order for them to be able to tear it off to eat.managermania wrote:Depending on which flight I put it in, I may also add greens and meal worms.
looking for Gold/Orange Breasted waxbill people
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Re: looking for Gold/Orange Breasted waxbill people
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Re: looking for Gold/Orange Breasted waxbill people
Thank you for the explanation and the pics. I got a couple of dishes about that same size. They are clear glass candle dishes, but they do well for holding seed and meal worms too. There's another type that has three small bowls in it for tea light candles, and I'm keeping longer term stuff in them like grit mixed with oyster shell powder, sunflower meat, and some granulated feed.finchmix22 wrote:Here are some more pics of my Society's eating off the floor. These are the fledges and they ate what the adults dropped, off the paper towels. I have to change them daily. Also, here is a pic of the cat dish at PetSmart I use for eggfood so I can change and clean it easily while leaving the seed/pellets in the cage.
- CandoAviary
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Re: looking for Gold/Orange Breasted waxbill people
These are some of my favorite little birds. Here are some of mine.
I use to harvest termites for them but now they eat shredded boiled egg, along with thier seed, which is a mix of millets, carary grass and a european finch mix.
I colony breed them, in three seperate aviaries. I haven't ever had much luck getting them to breed in cages.





A little strange pied fellow that just sprouted up

A couple I had to handfeed last winter... just too cold outdoors... don't know why these were even hatched... but they fledged too early and like I said, was just too cold to leave them on the floor of the outdoor aviary.



Here they were set up in a small aquarium with a desk/heat lamp. Like Sally said, they are so tiny and as chicks they could fit through the closest of wires. They eventually joined the flock


And here were a group awaiting presents last Christmas

I use to harvest termites for them but now they eat shredded boiled egg, along with thier seed, which is a mix of millets, carary grass and a european finch mix.
I colony breed them, in three seperate aviaries. I haven't ever had much luck getting them to breed in cages.





A little strange pied fellow that just sprouted up

A couple I had to handfeed last winter... just too cold outdoors... don't know why these were even hatched... but they fledged too early and like I said, was just too cold to leave them on the floor of the outdoor aviary.



Here they were set up in a small aquarium with a desk/heat lamp. Like Sally said, they are so tiny and as chicks they could fit through the closest of wires. They eventually joined the flock



And here were a group awaiting presents last Christmas


Candace
My Aviary http://www.candoaviary.com
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- managermania
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Re: looking for Gold/Orange Breasted waxbill people
Candace-
They are beautiful and even more so in a flock setting.
It may be as stupid question but with colony breeding, how do you keep them from inbreeding?
Btw- when we are in Destin next, I am going to make the voyage over to PC to check out your store!
They are beautiful and even more so in a flock setting.
It may be as stupid question but with colony breeding, how do you keep them from inbreeding?
Btw- when we are in Destin next, I am going to make the voyage over to PC to check out your store!
Chase
Normal & Fawn Owls, RT Parrots, Cherries, RF & YF Stars, BC Cordon Bleus, Cuban Melodious, Orange Cheeks, Gouldians, Shaftails, Senegal Fires, Normal & Fawn Diamond Fire Tails, White-headed Nuns , Goldbreasts, Societies, and Diamond Doves.
Normal & Fawn Owls, RT Parrots, Cherries, RF & YF Stars, BC Cordon Bleus, Cuban Melodious, Orange Cheeks, Gouldians, Shaftails, Senegal Fires, Normal & Fawn Diamond Fire Tails, White-headed Nuns , Goldbreasts, Societies, and Diamond Doves.
- CandoAviary
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Re: looking for Gold/Orange Breasted waxbill people
You can't keep them from inbreeding
You have to remove the chicks before matured. I have unrelated pairs that are set in the aviaries... like 3 pairs in one aviary, 3 pairs in a another aviary, 3 pairs in another aviary. I then can take some from each aviary and make unrelated pairs. I remove the babies before they color out so I don't get them mixed up with the parents. Every so often, I buy new goldbreast to introduce into my lines.
The flock pictures are from my first group in the aviary.... back when I tried to band the chicks... even the size A's would come off so I gave up on that. The first year I had 5 pairs in there and the rest are the first years offsprings in those pictures
Most of those adults are a little past the breeding prime age now and are not producing much, I keep them mostly as pets these days. With the shop and with being busier than ever I plan to cut back on the housing and breeding of finches. And yes, please come visit when you come, Destin is not that far away

The flock pictures are from my first group in the aviary.... back when I tried to band the chicks... even the size A's would come off so I gave up on that. The first year I had 5 pairs in there and the rest are the first years offsprings in those pictures

Most of those adults are a little past the breeding prime age now and are not producing much, I keep them mostly as pets these days. With the shop and with being busier than ever I plan to cut back on the housing and breeding of finches. And yes, please come visit when you come, Destin is not that far away

Candace
My Aviary http://www.candoaviary.com
My Store http://www.cagebirdmenagerie.com
Facebook Store http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Cage-B ... 3059529986
My Aviary http://www.candoaviary.com
My Store http://www.cagebirdmenagerie.com
Facebook Store http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Cage-B ... 3059529986
- PrettyBird
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Re: looking for Gold/Orange Breasted waxbill people
I am really thinking about getting a M/F pair.
Candace they are so adorable! Such tiny little birds. Ive seen a few of them over the years in petstore.
Does anyone have success breeding them in breeding cages? Or they prefer colony breeding?
Candace they are so adorable! Such tiny little birds. Ive seen a few of them over the years in petstore.
Does anyone have success breeding them in breeding cages? Or they prefer colony breeding?
- finchmix22
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Re: looking for Gold/Orange Breasted waxbill people
My GB's lay eggs routinely during breeding season and are sitting on eggs now, but last year, none hatched. I'm hoping this year they'll hatch some of the eggs. they're in a 24x12x28 cage.
DEBORAH

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Re: looking for Gold/Orange Breasted waxbill people
these little beauties have deffinitely caught my eye and i was 2 seconds away from buying a pair at a bird show in october but opted to stick with my gouldians. these birds are so cute and colorful. some say they are difficult to breed but sally has stated that they are easy.....and sally KNOWS her stuff!! so i am going to buy a pair after the breeding season is over.
- dan78
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Re: looking for Gold/Orange Breasted waxbill people
Gold breasts or Orange breast as we call them in oz, are very common over here, so sad that they aren't so common over there. $175 Us is alot of money I pay around $60 au a pair. Hope you people can breed them back into popularity because they.are a great little bird. How I breed all my Orange breasts are in avieries in a small flock consisting of 3-6 pairs, they don't seem to breed as readily in cages. I use Australian native bushes to make thick dense brush which gives them heaps of spots to hide ir build natural nests with fine grasses, small twits and feathers. I also place in artificial nesting boxes and wicker baskets and Canary nest pans. These are placed in different spots and at different heights with some even placed in some brush. I have found with food that mine don't take egg or egg food but prefer greens and seeding grasses with a good seed diet, the only time that I have seen mine attempt live food is during the time they are raising young and they only take maggots- I don't feed termites. I like the fact that for a small finch the hens are quite hardy and can take our cold winters quite easily without the constant use of heaters due to mine staying out in the aviery all winter and we can get an average min temp of 5 degrees celcius. I hope that all you guys and gals can get a breeding program that will keep this little finch going in America.
- PrettyBird
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Re: looking for Gold/Orange Breasted waxbill people
Or in Canada ;)dan78 wrote:Gold breasts or Orange breast as we call them in oz, are very common over here, so sad that they aren't so common over there. $175 Us is alot of money I pay around $60 au a pair. Hope you people can breed them back into popularity because they.are a great little bird. How I breed all my Orange breasts are in avieries in a small flock consisting of 3-6 pairs, they don't seem to breed as readily in cages. I use Australian native bushes to make thick dense brush which gives them heaps of spots to hide ir build natural nests with fine grasses, small twits and feathers. I also place in artificial nesting boxes and wicker baskets and Canary nest pans. These are placed in different spots and at different heights with some even placed in some brush. I have found with food that mine don't take egg or egg food but prefer greens and seeding grasses with a good seed diet, the only time that I have seen mine attempt live food is during the time they are raising young and they only take maggots- I don't feed termites. I like the fact that for a small finch the hens are quite hardy and can take our cold winters quite easily without the constant use of heaters due to mine staying out in the aviery all winter and we can get an average min temp of 5 degrees celcius. I hope that all you guys and gals can get a breeding program that will keep this little finch going in America.
Ive contacted a breeder to get a price on a pair. Hopefully in the near future I'll have some GB

Thanks for the info Dan
- trentfysty
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Re: looking for Gold/Orange Breasted waxbill people
My son asked for a pair of GB for his 5th birthday. My wife and I decided it would be a great way for him to learn responsibility and he has done a great job. We purchased them in October from a local breeder the only downside being they are not banded. It sounds like the banding is difficult anyway. So far the little GB are doing great. The are more flighty then other birds I've had but they have adjusted well to my son as they live in his room. Late last week my wife spotted two eggs in their nest box. I haven't seen her sitting so my guess is the eggs are not fertile or the lack of sitting will result in them not hatching. This pair is just a year old so this is their first clutch and I'm not too worried about them not sitting, they need practice and maturity.
We have had no success in getting them to eat egg food or live food. We've tried greens and the only thing we've had success with is soaked seed that has just started to chit. I am encouraged that they laid eggs in a nest box in their cage so hopefully cage breeding will be possible. The other funny thing about them is that you could set your watch by their bath time, 2:15 every afternoon. I would recommend these birds to anyone considering them, thy are delightful.
We have had no success in getting them to eat egg food or live food. We've tried greens and the only thing we've had success with is soaked seed that has just started to chit. I am encouraged that they laid eggs in a nest box in their cage so hopefully cage breeding will be possible. The other funny thing about them is that you could set your watch by their bath time, 2:15 every afternoon. I would recommend these birds to anyone considering them, thy are delightful.
- trentfysty
- Hatchling
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- Joined: Tue Oct 25, 2011 1:43 pm
- Location: Englewood, Colorado, USA
Re: looking for Gold/Orange Breasted waxbill people
My son asked for a pair of GB for his 5th birthday. My wife and I decided it would be a great way for him to learn responsibility and he has done a great job. We purchased them in October from a local breeder the only downside being they are not banded. It sounds like the banding is difficult anyway. So far the little GB are doing great. The are more flighty then other birds I've had but they have adjusted well to my son as they live in his room. Late last week my wife spotted two eggs in their nest box. I haven't seen her sitting so my guess is the eggs are not fertile or the lack of sitting will result in them not hatching. This pair is just a year old so this is their first clutch and I'm not too worried about them not sitting, they need practice and maturity.
We have had no success in getting them to eat egg food or live food. We've tried greens and the only thing we've had success with is soaked seed that has just started to chit. I am encouraged that they laid eggs in a nest box in their cage so hopefully cage breeding will be possible. The other funny thing about them is that you could set your watch by their bath time, 2:15 every afternoon. I would recommend these birds to anyone considering them, thy are delightful.
We have had no success in getting them to eat egg food or live food. We've tried greens and the only thing we've had success with is soaked seed that has just started to chit. I am encouraged that they laid eggs in a nest box in their cage so hopefully cage breeding will be possible. The other funny thing about them is that you could set your watch by their bath time, 2:15 every afternoon. I would recommend these birds to anyone considering them, thy are delightful.
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Re: looking for Gold/Orange Breasted waxbill people
PrettyBird wrote:Or in Canada ;)dan78 wrote:Gold breasts or Orange breast as we call them in oz, are very common over here, so sad that they aren't so common over there. $175 Us is alot of money I pay around $60 au a pair. Hope you people can breed them back into popularity because they.are a great little bird. How I breed all my Orange breasts are in avieries in a small flock consisting of 3-6 pairs, they don't seem to breed as readily in cages. I use Australian native bushes to make thick dense brush which gives them heaps of spots to hide ir build natural nests with fine grasses, small twits and feathers. I also place in artificial nesting boxes and wicker baskets and Canary nest pans. These are placed in different spots and at different heights with some even placed in some brush. I have found with food that mine don't take egg or egg food but prefer greens and seeding grasses with a good seed diet, the only time that I have seen mine attempt live food is during the time they are raising young and they only take maggots- I don't feed termites. I like the fact that for a small finch the hens are quite hardy and can take our cold winters quite easily without the constant use of heaters due to mine staying out in the aviery all winter and we can get an average min temp of 5 degrees celcius. I hope that all you guys and gals can get a breeding program that will keep this little finch going in America.
Ive contacted a breeder to get a price on a pair. Hopefully in the near future I'll have some GB
Thanks for the info Dan
hey there,
depending on where you live in alberta i know a breeder here in edmonton selling pairs for $80
thats the usual price of GB from breeders here
- PrettyBird
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Re: looking for Gold/Orange Breasted waxbill people
Thanks Talal. I know they arent too much compared to other finch species...Im sure the breeder has some. We will see. 

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Re: looking for Gold/Orange Breasted waxbill people
your very welcome, i didnt want you to overpay at petstores where they are asking $60-$100 per bird. i know i was tempted to buy a pair at $60 each but im glad i found out i could get them for way cheaper. the $40 could be used towards more findhes and finch supplies and your getting healthy clean birds.PrettyBird wrote:Thanks Talal. I know they arent too much compared to other finch species...Im sure the breeder has some. We will see.