Can you pick me the perfect finch!?

[Buzzard-1]

The Red brows would suit you except for the NPWS licensing part, If you are getting Goulds make sure they are 100% aviary bred. Saint helena's are another one to think about. Stars are another. As for the chooks Deb's right but probably no more of a threat than visiting wild birds.PS Goulds aren't very insectivorous if at all.

[ecogreen]

I would probably prefer to avoid licensed species, it's just an extra hassle I don't need, been there before.

Should add too that as part of keeping my other birds I follow strict quarantine procedure which would also of course extend to any new chooks as well so I'm pretty careful with anything coming in. I actually copped psitticosis myself a few years ago courtesy of a group of rainbow lorikeets I was caring for, I was pretty darn glad then that they were in quarantine and hadn't just been thrown in with my other birds!

[Diane]

What about a colony of Orange breasted waxbills? Would the young get out through the wire spacing?
Then of course the emblema. Like to fossik on the ground, but a peaceful bird.
Firefinches.
Cubans?
Blue faced parrot finches?
I have gouldians in an aviary with all the above and they get on well, they are all either on the nest or building.
Dont know if you need a license for any of these in NSW though.

[jusdeb]

Yes bugger the license seems to be you have the rather enviable problem of deciding which finch to house in your aviary . Good luck with it .

If you like a more laid back finch then you cant go past the Emblemas . No license needed , no live food and a great allround finch .

[ecogreen]

What are people feelings about zebras? I know they are pretty well everywhere but they are listed as native to this area which is a bonus and they are cheap and easy to come by so wouldn't be hard to get a nice little flock. My only concern is are they interested enough in insects to perform the function I'm hoping for? The info I can find seems to suggest they might be less insectivorous than other species?


Just saw your post butterfly as I was posting. I'd prefer to avoid things that are strong ground foragers, tring to layer the space if you know what I mean, chooks/quail as the main occupants of the ground layer and finches as the upper layer. Of course any species will still spend time on the ground but that was part of the appeal of the gouldians. Any other species with similiar habits that people can think of?

I'll check out those other species you suggested, I liked the emblemas except for the ground foraging tendencies, are the parrot finches more likely to attack the fruit as a previous poster suggested?

Jusdeb, live food is exactly what I do want, I want those finches getting excited when the caterpillars start hatching and diving into the trees for a feast before the caterpillars feast on my trees

[jusdeb]

ooops not thinking outside the square was I .... hmmm wondering if there was an abundance of live food would the Emblemas join in on the feast ?
Nothing wromg with Zebs , you will need to practise some crowd control though as they are prolific breeders ACTUALLY thinking about it a sizeable flock of nice (not mutated colours ) normal zebs would look pretty awesome .

[Diane]

Red throated parrot finches love meal-worms so I reckon they would love those caterpillars, not sure about fruit eating, possibly a raid or two on the veggie patch.
If zebras are native to your area you might end up with a pair by default, Im sure if they know there is food on the go they will find a way in the aviary.
They will breed very fast!

[ecogreen]

I totally agree on the zebras, personally I think some of the mutations are just weird! It'd probably be pretty hard to get a true breeding group though so I'd probably start out with a pure 'looking' flock and end up with a mixed flock once they started breeding, I suppose that would be a good method of crowd control though, sell of the mutations and keep the normals.

[ecogreen]

Oh wow I absolutely love the look of the OB waxbills! Any thoughts from others whether the wire spacing would be too large for them at 12mm?(that's standard square aviary mesh)

I'm seriously considering a small flock of waxbills, a small flock of zebras and giving a few gouldians a try and just seeing how they go. Any thoughts on that combo...

[finchbreeder]

Orange Breasteds and St. Helenas are both insectiverous, and get on well together and in flocks should not be a problem for either. When you say catapillas I persume you mean green grubs, not hairy catapillas cause i don;t think finches like the hairys. Zebs are not really insectiverous.
LML