Crimsons

[garymc]

If I were to categorise them as a whole then it has been my experience that the WA birds are probably prettier but significantly more aggressive than their Eastern States counterparts. It does vary from individual to individual though.

I recall one WA cock bird that I had. He was a fantastic breeder but extremely aggressive. At one stage he destroyed 6 young just fledged yellowrumps in under an hour. He took the lower beak clean off one of them. I ended up putting him in the bird room in a cabinet by himself. He got out one day in the birdroom so I just opened the door and let him go. Two days later he was at the aviaries fighting through the wire with my other crimsons. Interestingly his progeny never showed the same aggression, but then again were never as prolific as him.

I have found the WB's to be the most placid of the Crimsons but even in these there are the odd cocks that show a bit of aggression. Again these tend to be the better producing birds. To this end I have only been housing parrotfinches with the more aggresive cocks just them to keep them occupied should they have a "bad" day (rather than take it out on the hen). Other pairs of the WB's I house with all odds and sods without any dramas.

[Myzomela]

Thanks Gary.

On the WBs, do you find the cocks are less hardy than the hens as is claimed by some or is this an old wives' tale?

[Craig52]

Thanks Gary.

On the WBs, do you find the cocks are less hardy than the hens as is claimed by some or is this an old wives' tale?

I know you are asking Gary,but Myzo it is an old wives tail,infact i lost my first breeding hen that is 4 years old just the other day and in the last five years with them i can't recall losing a breeding cock bird but in saying that i have moved a lot of crimsons on that were getting a bit old. Craig

[Myzomela]

Thanks Craig. The question was to all you guys with experience with the WBs.
It is just nice to either confirm these often quoted "facts", or relegate them to the "old wives tales" category.
It always seemed strange to me that the cock WBs would be weaker than the hens but there were never enough birds out there to get a general idea of their hardiness especially between the sexes.

[finchbreeder]

it is inedible that it

LML

[arthur]

Do you find that hard to swallow FB??

[Craig52]

it is inedible that it

LML

Edited

[Bmac27]

I agree with Gary and Craig , the males look to be in ill health .
My experience has been with both Western and Eastern Crimson males (I'm not an expert on Crims though) , the Eastern was a placid little fellow and was housed in an aviary with Melbas , Strawbs , Diamonds , TCPFs and he never once bothered any other inhabitants and vice versa the Melba cock .... the Western was a bird thrown in with an aviary purchase I made , the nick name I gave him speaks for itself .... Hannibal Lecter !
He would not even tolerate a female in his company which confused the hell out of me he was confined to isolation as hard as it was to do until I finally found him a home .
I have personally witnessed the Easterns in colonial habitation with multiple birds with red plumage and successful breeding was had by all inhabitants .
In saying this the aggressive traits are well known and I wouldn't advise anyone to just throw in a pair and "see how they fare" , that could be catastrophic !
The aggression displayed is varied from one individual to the next ... short story for anyone wanting these species is do your home work before getting into them .
Sorry for being off topic

[mattymeischke]

I have found that the variation in behaviour is not only between individuals; the same individual bird can behave differently with different clutches.
One of my current pairs:
Last year
- first clutch 3 birds. totally mellow with other aviary inhabitants but killed one chick when he got a red feather on his chest.
- second clutch 3 birds. no aggression to chicks but went psycho on the other inhabitants of the aviary and had to be moved.
This year
- third clutch 2 birds. Both killed by parents with no prior signs of aggression seen.
- fourth clutch just fledged three birds. Time will tell, but no aggression so far.

Given this pair's history, they live on their own and I remove chicks after 30 days.
The other two pairs currently breeding have never shown any aggression to any other bird and their chicks stay in with the parents..

I think that a short supply of live food when they are sitting or raising young is the thing which can precipitate aggressive behaviour; once they have 'tasted blood' though, they seem to stay aggressive.