St Helena, RCCB, Owls and Shaftails...more pictures

[cindy]

Shaftails are a little different from my other finches, my male sings A LOT!!! They are very inquisitive. I noticed they weren't to fond of the grate so I switched the grate out for the tray. Instead of aspen I put Care Fresh (Wal Mart $4.99 a bag). They love foraging through it for seed and playing with the bedding. They have been in an out of the box and the male is just so excited about, running up and down the branches, singing.

I think I hear that rapid clucking sound from the Helena nest but can't be sure. This time it is a stronger, louder sound. I heard it a couple of weeks ago but it was faint and then it stopped. The nest is so over built in the front it is impossible to ever get a glimpse of movement. I don't want to disturb it either.

This would be going on the third week since I heard the noise for the first time. They may have little chicks in there and kept them well feed to quiet them. I guess if one morning there are a few extra birds in their cage then either they had chicks or the *bird fairy* made a visit to our house.

[L in Ontario]

I guess if one morning there are a few extra birds in their cage then either they had chicks or the *bird fairy* made a visit to our house.

You just gotta love *bird fairies*! Good luck

[cindy]

I am hoping it is a chick or two unless one of the other finches are making a rapid noise like that, can't pinpoint it exactly.

Oh finch fairy come to my house!!!!!!

[cindy]

Today the pair have been in and out of the box, they eat together and go right back to the box, no building yet.

The female in both pictures is the one on the box, the male is on the branch. The male has a more orange color to his beak, female's beak is more of a deeper shade. They went back into the box to sleep for the night.

Oh Finch Fairy hurry and visit our house!!!!!

[earlybird09]

Fingers crossed for you!!! They should start building soon!!! At least with my zebras they always slept in there nest a couple of nights before starting to build in it!

[cindy]

At 6:30 this morning after I turned on all the finch lights and went to feed my dogs, I heard a racket coming from the Shafttail cage.

They were all excited, the male tried to mate the female several times, then they disappeared into the box. They haven't started building yet, my owls on the other had are building fanatics, one pair couldn't get the nesting material in fast enough!

The shaftails mating surprise me some, guess you can say they consider this home and settled in nicely.

[L in Ontario]

cindy - Great update! I'm surprised to see the female has the darker beak. In other finch species, it's the male that has the darker beak.

Janine - have you notice this in your parent Shaftails too? I'll have to check Sundance and Cassidy when I get home. Very interesting!

[lovemyfinch]

cindy - Great update! I'm surprised to see the female has the darker beak. In other finch species, it's the male that has the darker beak.

Janine - have you notice this in your parent Shaftails too? I'll have to check Sundance and Cassidy when I get home. Very interesting!

My male has a dark dirty coloured beak and the female and a bright orange beak. In the other babies I still can't tell, 1 has mom's beak colour and the other's have dad's. As for sex, the only one that ever sang was Sundance.

[cindy]

Liz from what I was reading the shaftails can have a yellow beak also. I think the way it goes is in the wild they have red beaks, females is lighter. Yellow beak is considered the American color since they were bred to create mutations. The males is an orange color and he sings up a storm, the female has the reddish beak. His beak is definately orange, wonder if he has a yellow gene that helped to create an orange beak!

They were mating so I am pretty sure they are male and female. Red beak was on the bottom!!! Close the curtains PLEASE!!!!!

May the finch fairy bless this house!!!!!!
Here are a few articles about beak color:

http://www.geocities.com/rainforest/can ... hecks.html

http://www.avianweb.com/shafttailfinches.html

http://www.singing-wings-aviary.com/shafttail.htm

[L in Ontario]

I'm not questioning the gender of your pair of Shaftails, Cindy. I just think the different variations of the beak colour is so cool!! It could well be linked to different genes within.

Thanks for the links - I'll peruse them at lunchtime.

[cindy]

Oh Liz, I do apologize if you thought I thought you were questioning the gender. Believe me I questioned the breeder a couple of times while purchasing him based on that beak.

He was really very nice compared to the other male Shaftails, a bit bigger and energetic. Based on the males beak color, things I read about the male's beak being a bolder color than the females I had my doubts, but trusted the breeder's word. He's been doing this a lot longer than me.

Even though the breeder is usually dead on in sexing finches I still had my doubts until he started singing in the car non stop.

Once he mated with her, there is no doubt he's a him.

Sorry Miss Liz, didn't mean to get you upset. I included the articles about the different colors just for reading purposes. There was one article I could not find that showed a shaftail with a yellow beak and yellow legs, that was neat but I like the normal colors for the beak and legs.

[cindy]

I going through a quick search on the mutations and I found this

http://www.avianeducationandresourcecen ... 2-2005.pdf

It talks about Creamino mutations with Societies and Shaftails. I found it interesting a Creamino Shaftail keeps it's red beak and legs (page 11)!

The article is long (start at page eight) but interesting, grab a cup of tea or coffee...it's a good read!

[L in Ontario]

Cindy - pls don't apologize - I'm not upset at all, honest.

I like hearing about different colouring of birds anatomy - whether it be the feathered parts or the beak & legs as you mentioned. I just find it interesting. I will read those links when I have more than 2 minutes to sneak on here.

I thought Casy would know about Shaftail gender since he gets so many birds through his shop - but he was dead wrong about the pair he sold me! He was going by the darker beak being the male (as I was) for other birds. But apparently such is not the case for Shaftails. How unique!

I look forward to reading the latest link posted since I have a Creamino Shaftail hen too! Thanks for posting and sharing that!

(hugs)

[cindy]

I knew with certain finches there was a whole differnet range of mutations like with lovebirds but didn't realize that so many other finches had mutations.

Since red is the dominant gene I wonder if the chicks will be red beaked also.

Glad things are ok. Let me know what you think of the article, I didn't make it all the way through it since I have to leave in a bit for a short errand. I'll finish it later after lunch. I would like to maybe dabble in mutations, I enjoyed it with lovebirds.

[CandoAviary]

How old are these birds? Are they banded with date?
The reason I asked is I thought these were young 09 babies? Be careful of letting them breed too young. A young female can have problems and also it can affect her chick producing abilities in the future.
Many birds will bred at 4 to 6 months....my red throat parrot finches are the worst, I have ended up putting only 1 chick to a grow out cage because all they want to do is play doctor...with thier sister at too young of an age. I found a broken egg at the bottom of a flight of my 4 month old female(I know it's a female now) she was by herself but had a brother in a cage catty cornered just like your set up. There was no nest yet just his singing and sight of the nearly molted male was enough
So I have moved her into the other room next to a couple of resting hens. No more eggs. They are just too young yet.
Not trying to question or upset anyone....just concerned for the female.