Squeaky Beepers and Rainbow Twitters

[Stinch]

These are good birds, no? (Dylan has pointed out that my Gouldian Finches may have enviromental melanism and that the cage is very small for 8 birds, I also need to get the aviary supplies when I can)



All the beepers.



I need to look at them more often, they're a joy to look at.







Not a finch, but he is a good bird.



Yesterday's photo of these little dinosaurs.




I did not make this, but I thought the people of this forum would enjoy this quality squeaky beeper.

[cindy]

make sure your pellets have D3 in them....

[Stinch]

The goulds only started eating the pellets from the seed mix since an undetermined date (maybe some time after being introduced into the soicety finch cage) and they get a weekly supplement of eggfood. If I have enough I'll get a liquid or powdered vitamin and mineral supplement, especially if I don't get the pellets in bulk or at all. They get eggfood 1-3 times a week. And they're getting more sunlight, is 40 minutes of sunlight a day enough or should they get more?

[Babs _Owner]

Stinch

Most windows today block out the beneficial spectrum of the sunlight. I use full spectrum lighting for my birds.

[debbie276]

1-3 days of egg is good. The goulds don't look bad at all to me. Usually in melanistic birds the breast and belly will have black feathers.
I also agree that cage is too small for all those birds. It would be a good idea to put the gouldians in their own cage if at all possible.

best of luck

[debbie276]

Melanism can be caused by dietary factors. For instance, a bird on a diet rich in hempseed with a high oil content can turn black.
http://www.rspb.org.uk/discoverandenjoy ... anism.aspx

I've personally don't think melanism was caused by too little UV, but have heard many times that it is most likely diet related.