E Orix wrote:I had them in the 90's and they bred,sadly when my company took too much time, they went in the down size.
We actually called them Moustache Finches.
They will go to nest readily but require a high protein diet when feeding chicks.
Their biggest problem was that they really struggle in damp cold conditions.
They are generally a bird of the dry country and have similar problems that our Painted suffer from.
Very interesting bird, can be bossy at times but mine did not actually become aggressive.
They build a rather untidy small dome nest and lay a white background egg with grey/brown spots and smudges on them.
Thank you so much!!! This is just the info I was looking for. Our winters are wet and windy. Temp's don't get that cold (very seldomly drop below zero at night) but it can be weeks of rain. My aviary is 4mx2mx2m of which half is a wooden wendy house and the other half is an open, planted flight. The wendy house will be complete closed during winter, with access into the flight through a partially opened window. I can add heat to the wendy house if need be (it's a new aviary, not sure yet how warm the wendy house will stay in winter). I also put clear plastic drops on the open flight area to block off wind.
Do you think this would be sufficient for them to survive a damp winter or would it be safer to just scrap the idea? The birds are from up North, where the winters are dry...
Thanks for the feedback everyone
