Hi from a newbie

[trackboy]

Hi all, just introducing myself. Just getting back into aviculture after years of travelling. This time around think I will focus on one particular species rather than a mixed aviary. I'm currently planning a large planted aviary made of welded wire. It will take me a while to build, but worth it. I'm thinking of stocking a few pairs of red browed fire tails, although I have toyed with the idea of softbill (wrens or silver eyes). I'm keen to give my birds as natural setting and as much space as possible. Does anyone know of any conservation programs that it's possible to get involved in?

[finches247]

Hi Trackboy & Welcome to the Forum

[Diane]

Hi welcome to the forum.
One conservation project was run by the QFS, and they had quite a bit of success. I noted on their webpages "The Black Throat Recovery program" This may have been the bird they chose or a new project, but the link was broken so no further information from me...sorry.
Im sure other members will know more.

[finchbreeder]

Welcome. Try the search button at the top right of your screen, type conservation and recovery and you should get some usefull information. Then you can concentrate on a finch or softbill that is in need of conserving for aviculture. A very good goal to set yourself. Though you may want to spend a year with a less rare type to get yourself back into it first.
LML

[trackboy]

Hi All, thanks for saying hi and the advice. I can't find much on the conservation program on the QFS website, apart from silverbills and Javan Munias (I want to focus on aussie natives). there are a few thread posts and it looks like the census only closed in December...and they didn't get a good response. I noticed two breeds weren't even on the list: red browed firetails and the double bar finch. I also found another comment in the NFA president's report 2010, saying the number of red browed fire tails in aviculture had dropped at an alarming rate: something like 47% decrease from 1995-2010.
I think i'd like to focus on these two species as these have never been big in aviculture. I know these can be hard to breed as they both have breeding season dietary requirements (casurina seeds for the red browed and live food for d'bar). They are also quite shy. I have kept red broweds before, but with very limited breeding success, and at the time a mate had similar challenges with double bars. In both instances they were mixed aviaries - not ideal. So i think I'd enjoy the challenge of these two breeds (white-rumped for the d'bar).

[loz]

Hi Trackboy.
Welcome to the forum.
Cheers,
Loz.

[Craig52]

Hi and Welcome to the forum Trackboy,specialising is great to get the rarer birds numbers up but can become very boring,you just have to bite the bullet and keep saying no to yourself regarding keeping other finches. Craig

[trackboy]

Ha good point Craig52. I know I'll probably end up building another aviary for some gouldians

[finchbreeder]

Red browed and double bars sounds good. But obviously no one told my double bars they needed lots of insects. As my mixed avairy receives lots of green seeding grasses and a tiny bit of insect matter. And the Double bars breed about every 9 months. True they could have bigger batches if I upped the live food.
LML

[COUNTRY CAPITAL]

welcome to the forum trackboy!
good luck with your plans, gotta love our aussie finches.
dedicate a planted aviary and stock it with doublebars or redbrows and i can almost ensure you will breed them.
providing you give a varied diet etc.
imo most of the more common aussies dont get the same treatment as the more expensive breeds, they are forced to share overcrowded aviaries and people wonder why they fail to reproduce.
treat them well and they will reward you.


btw "normal" gouldians need a leg up too imo....splits/yellows/dilutes rule the gene pool....good luck if you want a challenge(sorry no more mutation bashing ).