Star finches breeding?

[MariusStegmann]

At last it seems that I have success with my starfinches. They have built a small nest between a piece of slangbos and the mesh. I now see mostly the male in the nest. It looks like they have eggs. I have had Starfinches a couple of years ago, but the hen died with eggbind. I refrained from buying new starfinches, because I know that they won't be able to breed in the same breeding season that they were born in. I am very impatient, (birds must breed immediately) This pair that I have, have bred before and the price was so good, I could not refuse them. Hopefully I will have little pied starfinches in a month and a bit.

[Jen]

Oh....so cool! I have two male Stars and can't wait to find a mate for them. I'm not sure what the pied's look like so I'm excited for you and can't wait for photos! What do the parents look like? My two males raised and fed a gouldian tossling and now they have built another nest!?!?! There is always one of the males in the nest....in anticipation??? Kind of funny, those two...but I know they would be great parents if I could find a female for them. Best of luck with your pair. Keep us posted!

[lovezebs]

MariusStegmann

Keeping my fingers crossed for you Marius.
My two yellow heads ( Skyler and Suzi) put on a big act for me. They were cuddling, they were preening, they were mating....
I placed them in a breeder cage with choices of nests and nesting materials piled high. Gave them the best food, offered privacy, candle light and romantic music.

They rushed this way and that way. Built a nest, took it apart, built another, and ripped it apart. Laid several eggs..... and ate them eventhough they had egg food, live food, freeze dried food, vegetables and anything and everything I could think of. Another nest, more eggs, smashed and eaten.

I pulled my hair out, and pulled them out of the breeder back into a flight.

Next time (if there is a next time) I'll try Skyler and Sunny, maybe that will work better.

By the way, didn't know that they would not breed in the same year that they were hatched.

Again, the best of luck

~Elana~

[MariusStegmann]

Jen I don't have great photos of them. The female doesn't have a lot of white on her. Both have pinkish tails which are not visable on the photos. My son's girlfriend is still going to come and take professional photographs of my birds.

Star.jpg (49.8 KiB) Viewed 530 times

[Rox]

Marius, good luck with your stars!

When I had them, they bred like crazy. There is a breeder here in S/West who concentrates on stars and grass finches, kept outside in large flights. If you are ever looking for more birds, let me know and I will send you his details. I got my birds from him and they are strong lines.

[vienneparis]

MariusStegmann
Good luck with your pair!
I have a pair that's sitting on 5 eggs right now. This is my first experience with breeding star finches. Hopefully, I'll have some success with this pair. I can't wait to see the babies

[MariusStegmann]

Thanks Rox and Vienne. Good luck with yours as well Vienne. I am not as lucky as you, mine are only sitting on 3 eggs. I managed to have a feel yesterday. It is in a super small, well hidden nest built between a piece of slangbos and the back mesh of the aviary.

@Rox is the breeder that you are referring to Cobus? I have seen ads from him on Birdtrader.

Vienne, like you I have not bred Stars before. The hen seems to do very little the nest duty apart from chasing trespassers away. Maybe the hen sits at night. I don't know if this is just my pair, or common to all stars.

[Rox]

Marius, yes it is Cobus. He has a great set up

[Jen]

mariusstegmann

How are your Stars doing? How many eggs? Are they setting well for you? Update please!!! Wishing you the best!

[MariusStegmann]

Jen I did one nest check and there were 3 eggs. The nest is completely "bird-made" and my hand is too big to get inside the nest. I also don't want to ruin the nest, that is why I am going to be hands off. They are still sitting tight. The male does most of the nest duty, and the female is pure poison around the nest. Sometimes she allows birds close to the nest, but mostly she just attacks any bird that comes closer than 1 meter to the nest. My diamond firetails have a nest with babies about 1.8 meters away from the star nest and she attacked the diamonds right in front of their own nest.

[vienneparis]

MariusStegmann
Marius, the eggs from my star finch pair were all duds. I took the pair out of the breeding cage and placed them in the aviary. Maybe with more room to fly around, they'll have more success next time.

Hopefully, your pair will have better luck with their eggs

[MariusStegmann]

vienneparis Don't even go there. I am not even thinking about dud eggs. Do you have any idea on how old your birds are and where they come from? Sometimes when you buy from a petshop, you are buying someone's birds that are too old to breed. It has happened to me a couple of times. Now I only buy birds from breeders. No more Petshops for me.

[vienneparis]

MariusStegmann
I bought my pair from a private owner who bought them from a local breeder. According to the seller, the pair are about 2 year old. If she's honest, then the pair should still be in breeding condition. I'll just have to wait and keep my fingers crossed