Any tips for Double Bars

White Rumped and Black Rumped.
Includes Species Profiles.
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Ivan
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Joined: 21 Jan 2012, 18:44
Location: Belgium

Question for Spanna:
How large is the aviary of the double bars and do they have company of other species?

I think that I have 2 pairs DB inside the house and in the spring (in Belgium) I want to put them outside in a rather small aviary (2,5m x 1,5m) in the company of 2 pairs of Gouldians. Is that a good idea or not?

Thanks
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spanna
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Location: Bullsbrook, Western Australia
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G'day Ivan

They should be fine in that aviary, especially since they won't go near nest boxes of the gouldians, but will instead use a completely different style of nest box, or build their own nest in brush.

My aviary is fairly large, around 12m by 3m, and they share it with redbrows, emblemas, gouldians, masked grassfinches, pictorellas, plumheads, tricoloured parrotfinches, diamond firetails and some quail. I have found mine to be quite social, even caught some double bars preening redbrows quite happily. Others have said that they have found them to be a bit intrusive, often making homes in other birds nests, though I suspect this was in smaller aviaries. Your situation would be fine for them. Do the gouldians breed in your spring time??

Cheers
spanna
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Greg41
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Location: Kingsley Suburb of Perth
Location: Kingsley. Suburb of Perth Wa

My attempts to breed D/B seem to be the same as the others. bought 1 pr, then a 2nd pr still with no breeding and then a 3rd pr.They are in a mixed aviary with
Painteds, O/B,stars, Gouldians and cordon Blues. There is heaps of brush in there and they now keep producing young on a regular basis, I have never seen where they nest, some where in the back corner, they get all the usual foods and love their meal worms. In my limited experience they like to be in a colony.

Cheers Greg.
GDG
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Ivan
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Joined: 21 Jan 2012, 18:44
Location: Belgium

Normally I put the Gouldians outside in may. First youngsters come in june. The summer begins here in july.
I bring them (the adults) back in the house in the autum, because then it is very wet or to cold.
The Gouldians breed very easy, no problems here.
The double bars are new to me, but they are funny.

Thanks for the reactions.

PS: what kind of nestboxes do DB prefer?
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geasterbrook
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Joined: 16 Aug 2010, 13:15
Location: Sydney, NSW

SamDavis wrote:Did you also buy the spice finches from the same source as the DBs? If so then maybe they're all wild caught. Are you sure the petlink seller actually bred these birds - I assume you did the licence paperwork. I may be completely off track in your case but I've no doubt many wild caught DBs (and also spice and redheads) are about in the Sydney market. And wild caught DBs would be very difficult to get breeding.
Hi SamDavis. The bird are not bought from the same source, sorry to spoil your conspiracy theory. Paperwork was dome and the seller told me of the bird dealer he had purchased them from
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mattymeischke
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Joined: 25 Jul 2011, 20:25
Location: Southern Tablelands of NSW

geasterbrook wrote:sorry to spoil your conspiracy theory
I got my double bars from a reputable Sydney dealer, and completed paperwork etc.., but I am fairly confident that they are wild-caught birds.
They are tremendously skittish, to a degree that far exceeds all of my other birds including the (presumed wildcaught) goldfinches.

I have accidentally caught redbrows, fairy wrens and silvereyes ( as well as sparrows, wood pigeons & cetera) in partially completed aviaries or while spring cleaning and leaving doors open. When I picked up some Diamondies from SamDavis a few months ago, there were wild double bars everywhere; I imagine he could "breed" dozens of double bars in a few hours with a reasonable trap. :shifty:

Among the problems with the licensing system is that individual birds are not identified and offspring are not identifiable (short of 'DNA fingerprinting' them). This makes it easy for an unscrupulous trapper to buy a pair of 'legitimate' birds and "breed" prolifically from them then pass them off as aviary-bred - I know of cases of this happening. :thumbdown:

So not so much a conspiracy theory as a perhaps widespread practice....
Good for you if this is not the case with your birds.
I hope you are enjoying them in any case.

mm :cloppy:
Avid amateur aviculturalist; I keep mostly australian and foreign finches.
The art is long, the life so short; the critical moment is fleeting and experience can be misleading, crisis is difficult....... (Hippocrates)
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Netsurfer
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Location: Sydney, NSW

mattymeischke wrote:
geasterbrook wrote:sorry to spoil your conspiracy theory
It's easy to point a finger on others or form a "conspiracy theory"! It's not a nice thing Sam, that's why we have laws and bird licensing, those who get caught will be charged and lets leave it at that!
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SamDavis
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Netsurfer wrote:It's easy to point a finger on others or form a "conspiracy theory"! It's not a nice thing Sam, that's why we have laws and bird licensing, those who get caught will be charged and lets leave it at that!
I'm not pointing the finger at anyone and there's no "conspiracy theory". I'm just stating a well known fact that both DBs and more so redheads are too plentiful and too cheap based on breeding difficulty. The logical implication is that wild birds are somehow entering the market, particularly given that in the wild both species are plentiful within the Sydney region. And as Matty points out, there is no way trappers would be caught and charged unless they were incredibly stupid.
geasterbrook wrote:Hi SamDavis. The bird are not bought from the same source, sorry to spoil your conspiracy theory. Paperwork was dome and the seller told me of the bird dealer he had purchased them from
If the seller purchased the DBs from a dealer as stated then they could still be wild caught, and in addition I'd suspect they may be old. geasterbrook, I've no idea if you've inadvertently purchased wild caught birds but I'm pretty sure many people have. I imagine the only person who knows for sure is the "breeder" who sold them to the dealer. In any case, I hope they get their act together and start breeding for you!
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Tiaris
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The majority of doublebars & normal redbrows on the captive market are definitely wildcaught. No theory just undeniable fact. If the only normal redbrows in captivity were genuine captive-bred ones their market price would be hundreds of dollars per pair. I really can't see this changing much unless NPWS regard these species as a real priority for compliance effort. Wild caught reddies & DBs at bird dealers and sales obviously stand out with their skittish nature so these birds could very easily be followed up by the powers that be if they wanted to. In reality the regular infusion of this wild blood helps the captive gene pool but it is a shame for the wild stocks which pay the price for those who seek to gain a few (very few) extra dollars by cleaning out their local flock by trapping them.
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Netsurfer
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Location: Sydney, NSW

Very sad what's happening it really breaks my hart, :nosey: the way we go on one day the authorities are gonna ban bird keeping all together, is that what you want. But don't be sad some of these are coming our way soon!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=en ... N7WcWJNxos" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

And while you're there check out how they breed one of the rarest parrots at the Loro Parque Tenerife!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pl ... aY-2MtoaEc#" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;!

and

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JsKH49L6 ... re=related" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

And a simplest way to make a bird Aviary, almost no welding except for the Front and rear end, just use pipe fittings or u-bolts.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQFLV4QS ... re=related" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
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