Why my star finch have no sign of breeding?

[Delta007]

Hello All
I'm a new breeder and do it for fun. I have a Pair of star finch. The male is a Red head and the female is yellow head. Can RH and YH be a pair like Lady Gouldian?

Sorry if that was a stupid question.

[L in Ontario]

Hi Delta. Yes you can mix the Red Star with a Yellow Star. How long have you had them set up for breeding and how old are they?

[Sally]

Hi Delta, as Liz has said, you can breed RF and YF Stars together. One thing to keep in mind once they start having babies--the YF mutation is sex-linked, which means that this pairing (RF male and YF hen), will produce all RF babies. The hens will be normal RF, but the males will be RF split to YF. Now if the RF male you have is also split to YF, then you would get some YF babies. Good luck with them--Stars are usually good about building nests and incubating their eggs, but they aren't always the best parents.

[Delta007]

They are more then 1 years old. I set them up 3 months ago.

[Sally]

They are old enough then, and three months can be enough time for them to bond. However, once in a while you will get a pair that just never bond, or some of them take longer to bond. Now you need to look at their living conditions to see if that might be keeping them from breeding. What type and size cage are they in? Are they by themselves? Do they have some privacy? What type nests and nesting material are you providing? Are you giving them lots of eggfood, or other high-protein foods, to stimulate them into breeding?

With breeding, sometimes it is just a matter of getting conditions just right for them so they feel comfortable enough in their surroundings to want to raise a family.

[Delta007]

I have a 7' high 5' wide and 2.5'deep home made cage (Aviary). I have all my birds there. The gouldian just had a baby few days ago and the parrot finch, green singer and gold breasted waxbill is building nest. I do give egg food every day also provide home grown cucumber and other green foods. I have both nest box and bamboo made finch nest. the green singer are working on the canary type nest.

Should i try to get a Red head female and a yellow head male to see if they bond?

[Sally]

I wouldn't add any more birds to that size flight. For breeding purposes, more like 3 to 4 pairs would be better in that space. Breeding pairs always need more room than single birds, because they might be more territorial, plus once they have a clutch, now you have increased the number of birds in the flight by 4-5. I have a flight cage that is almost the same size as that, and I put young juveniles in it. Right now I have 9 young Cordon Bleu hens in there.

Also, you have Green Singers and RH Parrot finches, which can become somewhat aggressive while breeding, plus Zebras, which usually get in everyone else's business. My Stars are somewhat shy when breeding, so the number of other cage occupants may keep them from having any interest in breeding.