diamond firetails

[spanna]

have 8 diamond firetails (at least 3 pair from calls and behaviour) in an aviary with only a pair of painted firetails (aviary 6mx3m), have had them for a year and not a single young fledged yet...

have heard young begging in the past then a few days later, parents would be building another nest

heard some young about 10 days ago, didnt want to get my hopes up. heard them yesterday, big strong calls, sounded like at least 3 young, cant help but be VERY anxious!! hoping to finally have some good news from these birds.

they get everything i have the time to give on a daily basis (mealies, lebanese cucumber, green grasses etc etc) but has anyone had a similar experience with diamonds abandoning nests for no particular reason (have read a couple of articles with similar stories)? more importantly, and my main question, any kind of solution?! finding it incredibly frustrating as a breeder and sad as an animal lover to lose young repeatedly.

[finchbreeder]

Good luck with them this time round.
LML

[GregH]

Well I've got a sibling pair and out of 14 nest (2 eggs each) only 6 have hatched and only one fledged. They are constanly sitting but to no avail. I did see a "pair" at Cartimar the other day for P10000 (AUD300) but that's too pricy for me. I need one more baby then I can perhaps swap for another pair and break up the original couple and get some life into them. I hope you have better luck.

[jluna]

i bred diamonds for a couple of years before i had to give up my birds - they can be inconsistent, for sure. the only thing i can recommend is high nest sites seemed to work better, in my experience anyway. mine all used cylinders of wire attached to the roof of the shelter, stuffed with grass to get them going. the birds who occasionally used wall nests abandoned them more regularly. i think they feel safer higher up. don't know if this could help in your situation.

[spanna]

i use natural nesting sites. all brush is right up to the roof, and many of the nests have been right up high close to it, but a few have been lower down. nest checks are NEVER performed, all old nest are still there (for fear of removing something valuable or disturbing others) and the birds are left more or less to their own devices. only change i have made his time around is that i increased green grasses and live feed even more (with high amounts to start!) as soon as i heard squeaking...

mine all used cylinders of wire attached to the roof of the shelter, stuffed with grass to get them going. the birds who occasionally used wall nests abandoned them more regularly. i think they feel safer higher up. don't know if this could help in your situation.

thanks jluna, might throw some cylinders in there and see if anything happens. cant hurt eh?

[mickw]

I'm experiencing similar things with my Black throats at the moment......though there's a few differences....they've only been in the aviary for 8-10 weeks now.......nest building, egg laying, incubation, then abandonment ....same with Blue Faced Parrotties, and Stars....

Mine get greens every day, shot seed, and termites.....the WE Masks feldged two young 2 weeks ago though

I'm putting all this down to the birds' youth and inexperience........and my Stars have to go ...they're very spiteful towards the WE Masks........

Sounds to me like you're doing the right things, not overcrowded, well looked after...............given its been a year, maybe you might want to try an austerity period through the hotter part of the season ie, persevere this spring, then trim them down a bit, maybe separate sexes ....then kick start 'em again in March or thereabouts

Also, try rainwater if you're not already

PS: Like Rumplestilskin in the fairy tale, if this advice works, I want your first born

[spanna]

dont have a rainwater tank but was thinking of giving bore water a go? sit on the gnangara mound (perths main water supply) so the water should be fine, and was tested in 2006 and found to be great except for very high iron content. would this be suitable?

heard the young again today.... im a very nervous expectant father!!! this is by far the oldest they've raised them and they're due out any day now!! not 100% sure on hatch date though so i'm constantly on edge!!!

might go with the austerity/seperation of sexes during december/january and see if that works. 90% sure i know who all the boys are never got them DNA sexed! just used me eyes n ears to see who did/said what

if you wanna make the trip for one we can talk business mickw

[MadHatter]

My pair took a season or two to get started, but once they got going they produced regular clutches for me.
Diet-wise the offerings were fairly meagre in hindsight - they got a few mealworms, some greenfood (mostly milk thistle and dandelion leaves), occasional seeding grasses and plenty of sprouted seed mixed with egg & biscuit / Passwell Finch Soft Food / Insectivore Rearing Mix.

The only real 'trick' I can point to is the provision of chunks of Pampass Grass seed heads as nesting material. The Diamonds went absolutely nuts for it and built the most enormous nests. I believe it is no coincidence that they took a long break after I ran out of Pampass Grass and started up again once I found a fresh supply.

[spanna]

thought i'd keep everyone updated (cos i know you all want to know every time a bird of mine fledges ) :

have a baby out of the nest!!!!!! WOOOOOOOOOOOOOT!!! time to get the camera out...

[arthur]

Mad Hatter where did you source the Pampas Grass?

Used to be very popular landscape plant 30(???) odd years ago, but declared weed in most states now . . mongrel stuff . . bit as you say heads are great for "turning on" the finches