Excited! Red Faced Parrot Finches coming soon ...

[7936tj]

Sooooo excited ..... just HAD to share. We have two new featherbabies on their way to us in about 8 days time. A DNA'd pair of Red Faced Parrot Finches! They are SO cute! Can't wait for them to get here, feels like forever away.

Does anyone have any tips or advice for keeping these wee cherubs? Its our first time having this breed. They are going to be an indoor duo

Yay! Thanks so much xxx

[lovezebs]

7936tj

Congregations!
Parrot finches, are among the prettiest of Finches. They are very active and generally happy birdlings, and I'm sure you will enjoy them.

Regarding keeping them happy, healthy and comfortable.
These guys love life, lots of good food, and a bath once or twice (or three times ) a day.

A good finch mix, lots of veggies, some fruit, and hard boiled eggs, with the occasional mealworm thrown in, and they are happy.

Something that might surprise you, is that they tend to stay up a lot longer and later than other birds, still chatting, calling and flitting around, when other birds have long gone to bed. This is normal, so don't let it worry you.

Once they get into breeding mode, don't be alarmed by their courtship (which involves the male chasing the female relentlessly, and jumping her at every opportunity, holding her by the scruff and pulling out some of her feathers). Parrot boys, are not renowned for being gentlemen when it comes to romancing the ladies.

Make sure, that there are some hiding spots in your flight, for your girl to be able to get away from your boy when she needs a break from his amorous pursuit.

Good luck and enjoy your new kids when they arrive.

Elana

[7936tj]

Thank you SO much Elana for your words of wisdom, we are so excited for their arrival. I am going to add a hiding spot for Mrs Parrot Finch to get some 'her' time away from Mr Parrot Finch & his ideas heehee

[finchmix22]

7936tj
Congratulations on the new finches that are soon to arrive!
I have14 parrot finches and they are very, very active!! They love swings, greenery for hiding places and perching. I hang up plastic ivy strands at the top of the flight, so there is room to fly without getting caught in the ivy strand. I put a swing, bath dishes, which I change twice a day or more, if they are dirty. They love, love fruits, such as a blueberry or grape cut in half, mango slices, orange slices (a favorite!) and cucumbers sliced to make the seeds available for plucking out. LOL. My parrot finches love romaine lettuce, handmade/homemade eggfood, which I make using six hardboiled eggs and add six tablespoons of dried eggfood and hand feeding formula and then I pulse it 3-4 times in my food processor. They love that, especially with freeze dried blood worms sprinkled over the top! Enjoy them as they are one of my favorite species of finches!

[Smurf]

I seen this post earlier and Elana's reply covers just about everything including as she said they are bathaholics, only thing i'd add is they love mealworms BUT mealworms are very fattening for them, so much so that i don't give them during breeding as tendency is to give them ample supply thinking it's all going towards feeding the chicks when it's actualy fattening up the parents resulting in clear eggs and obese parents.

Congrats on the new future additions, you'll love them, the're very active, you'll have fun trying to get a good photo of them as they do not stay still for long.

[7936tj]

Thank you so much Deborah & Padraic ... I really appreciate all of your excellent advice. I had read that they LOVE taking baths, so have been working on finding a good sized dish they can wallow in. A very interesting note that they can get a bit pudgy ... I will definitely watch how many worms etc they get. I love the fact that they stay up later which is so awesome as our other birds in the aviary go to bed as soon as it gets dim outside. Do the parrots have a pretty song like our Cordons do?

[finchmix22]

7936tj
I use a stainless steal food dish sold at PetSmart. Found this in the cat section and picked out 2-3 different sizes. The parrot finches love those dishes!

[7936tj]

What a great idea! Thanks so much xxx

[vienneparis]

7936tj
Congratulations on your soon-to-arrive finches. I have several RFPF's and love them. They are some of the most colorful finches in my aviary, with such interesting personalities.

I echo what Elana said above. I also find that my RFPF's love to forage for seeds, etc on the aviary floor, as well as chasing each other all over the aviary. They need lots of room to stretch their wings.

As far as breeding, my pair has not been successful breeders. They tend to have small clutches, 2 to 3 eggs, only. Their 1st clutch resulted in 2 chicks, which they plucked to death. Their 2nd clutch yielded 1 chick & they abandoned the poor thing once it fledged. That baby was fostered by a couple of gouldians in the aviary, but did not survive once it was weaned. The pair is on their 3rd clutch now with 1 fledgling. I'm praying that the lone fledgling will survive to adulthood

Lots of luck with you pair.

[7936tj]

Thanks so much Vienne ... I have to say I'm a little nervous about the breeding side of things. We let our Cordons try once last Christmas .. they successfully hatched 3 sweet little babies & then proceeded to kick all of them out of the nest! It was heartbreaking to watch & nothing we could do to stop them. We didn't have any other breeders so couldn't even try to foster them. It was so sad. So we shall see xxx

[lovezebs]

7936tj

Hi.

I use an oblong Tupperware dish for their bath.
As to their song, there really isn't much of a song. The males do a trill sound. The females rarely make any sounds at all that I've observed.

Elana

[7936tj]

Awwwwwwwww look at the wee cherubs! So cute! Thanks so much for all of that info Elana ... only 7 days until their journey to us begins! Can't wait

[Sally]

Thanks so much Vienne ... I have to say I'm a little nervous about the breeding side of things. We let our Cordons try once last Christmas .. they successfully hatched 3 sweet little babies & then proceeded to kick all of them out of the nest! It was heartbreaking to watch & nothing we could do to stop them. We didn't have any other breeders so couldn't even try to foster them. It was so sad. So we shall see xxx

That is typical behavior for Cordon Bleus, they are awful tossers and difficult to breed. But don't let that keep you from trying to breed other species.

[7936tj]

Thank you, that is good to know .. it was so horrid to have to watch. We are hopeful that our wee parrots will try when they are ready & are hopefully successful & good parents to their babies

[lovezebs]

7936tj

There's always the option of handfeeding, in situations such as you mentioned with the Cordons. Time consuming, challenging, often heart breaking, but when successful it can be a wonderful experience.

Elana