Aussie Finch Forum

Jessica wrote: ↑27 Dec 2020, 14:05

Brisbane_Finches_333 wrote: ↑27 Dec 2020, 13:54 ... my mum is quite grossed out at the sound of me breeding maggots...

Aren't they a bit small for you?

Seriously though - the SOUND they make? Maggots make sounds? I just shuddered.

No, they don't make sounds. I meant, she just didn't like me wanting to breed maggots. Perhaps I used the wrong choice of wording.

Sometimes I respond but it doesn't post. Anyway, Adrian, good to know maggots don't scream or cry or beg for their lives. My mom won't let me have anything but worm bins and it took me a year to talk her into them. Now she LOVES the worm castings for our garden!

You said you breed maggots. I asked if they were a bit small for you ... [pause] It isn't as funny if I need to explain my jokes!

When I tell friends I plan to breed finches, I always hesitate and clarify that I'll let THEM breed each other instead.

Jessica wrote: ↑27 Dec 2020, 14:15 Sometimes I respond but it doesn't post. Anyway, Adrian, good to know maggots don't scream or cry or beg for their lives. My mom won't let me have anything but worm bins and it took me a year to talk her into them. Now she LOVES the worm castings for our garden!

My mum agreed to originally let me breed maggots but she made me get rid of them due to the smell (they smell quite bad).

Have never been able to talk myself into breeding maggots - so settled for mealworms and vinegar flys/fruit flys. The fruit can get a little ripe, but that is when you give it to the worms and start fresh.
You could go for finches that do well on greens and can do without livefood. Societies are a nice easy beginers finch that needs only greens.
In a small cage that is under 5ft square you want to be careful about your mix of finches and about over crowding. Idealy choose a pair of 2 types and stick with that till you have a little experience.
Wire cage bottoms are not ideal for finches feet, neither are mats like those shown that they could get their toenails caught in. I prefer natural dirt/sand floors myself.

Dear LML, I've taken the straw mats off my list. My concern about dirt in the bottom is that, with this cage, there are slide-out drawer and slide-out wire. If I remove the wire, how can I slide out the drawer to empty it without the birds getting out? I haven't put the cage together yet but my friend who has a similar cage just told them that they could fly out the bottom! Is she right?

It looks like, if I pull out the wire tray and leave it out, that there will be a 2" gap at the bottom that the birds can just fly out.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0002 ... UTF8&psc=1

Maybe I should get several trays and sit on the bottom on top of the wire and put dirt/sand in them instead?

ADDED: Maybe I can cut some wire (like hardware cloth) and glue it or wire it around the bottom where those openings are.

The tray will need to stay. What you may be able to do is make a "curtain" that hangs down over the gap when you remove the tray for cleaning. This way the wire "floor" would not be necessary.
Claim a section of the garden and a couple of pots to grow bird seed. Then you can plant at intervals so there is always some fresh seed heads. The pots, provided you use small ones, can be rotated in and out of the cage, so the birds can pick their own.
Or get sneaky - and plant cucumbers and peas - share them with the parents and the birds.

My family and I grow both cucumbers and peas now along with other veggies and some fruit which I know finches like (Zone 8B). I also grow microgreens inside so I can easily plant grass seed too (I suspect), growing them year-round with my lights.

LOVE the idea of switching small pots inside their cage. I can do this! Bless you, LML, and everyone here! Once I get the cage together, I'll devise a way so I can skip the wire floor! Mom hopes I really get into birds thinking I'll forget about boys. HA! Fat chance! Maybe I'll tell her a large aviary (and a Weaver pair) would help me forget about boys.

As a lady finchbreeder - I can tell your mum - I was bird mad from 2yrs to 17yrs - took a couple of years off and married hubby - been back with the finches since about 25yrs of age - wont say how long ago that was but my kids are grown and out of school. Besides men are useful for building avairies. (Don;t shoot me all you guys )
Most finches prefer veges to fruit.

Considering your from the US, I’ve had a few different conversations with a couple mates over there and two of the most common forms of live food US breeders feed are waxworms and aphids.....which don’t come with a smell or any other nasty backfires. Aphids you would be only able to get in spring and summer of course, but if you get a waxworm breeding setup going you’ll have live food all year round