The breeder/importer from whim I purchased them then suggested to me that I start providing the birds with live food (he actually suggested providing live food throughout the year for all waxbills, weavers ect and increasing the amount when breeding). I immediately mentioned mealworm and he suggested I rather use termites as it is their favorite wild food and it is easily and freely available here.
So I followed the termite harvesting instructions and provided my first termites to my BCCB's. It took them less than a minute to notice the termites and less than 5 to consume all of them - lol. I then added some more and they went nuts, it was so funny to see the 4 of them all eating at the same time. They finished that batch in no time as well. Up to this point I was providing roughly about 100 - 150 termites at a time (I counted the amount 1 bird consumed and multiplied it by 4, how else do you count termites hidden in a piece of dust?).
It then concerned me that they consumed the termites so quickly and I added a big chunk of termite nest core which was overflowing with the little insects. My dominant male jumped on top of the nest and then quickly jumped away as I think the termites were attacking him
He then figured out to stay on the ledge of the termite bowl and attack from a distance. This chunk was good news as the birds could not consume all of the termites in a single day so I think it will work perfect once the babies arrive.My shaftails also ate some termites but not nearly the amount the BCCB's did, none of the other birds showed any interest in them - stars, zebras and javas.
my owl finches go absolutely crazy for them though my zebra are a bit wary of them, so i suggest if your finches go for them, you should feed termites or other live food.
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