Aussie Finch Forum

Great work, Iaos, and thanks for the update.
Great pics, too.

Now, I've got some diabetic patients who are having trouble shedding their weight; do you think they would be offended if I suggest that they eat only red and white millet and move into a large cage?

mattymeischke wrote:
Now, I've got some diabetic patients who are having trouble shedding their weight; do you think they would be offended if I suggest that they eat only red and white millet and move into a large cage?

BAHAHAHA I just read your post matty ...would love to try this myself...wander what they will say pmsl

I don't worry to much about those things, some of my birds do get like that just before the breeding season, when the hormones click in the fat quickly disappears. In older or very old birds it can cause problems. I have four young Tanimbars just out of the nest the female is yellow underneath similar to that, they are starting their next clutch, same with the RFPF. Plenty of young PF if anyone's interested.
Just don't worry about it, you'll see it will eventually disappear. The moment you start reducing or a "new" diet unless it's green food diet the birds will stop breeding. I feed complete seed mix, I have always available a dish of Niger and a dish of Sunflower (for Siskins and Goldfinches) and a handful of Hemp seeds. I also have a dish of egg & biscuit always available. I feed 2 to 3 hundred mealworms & a maggot dish available every day (Wrens), plus green lettuce, grass seeds etc daily. They eat what they like. But what I do may not necessarily work for someone else, keeping in mind that the aviary size, location and many other things does matter.

That's great IF your birds are already breeding, but if they are unable to make fertile eggs or are too lazy to the courtship chase & go to nest, etc. due to their obesity then the only option to turn things around is to trim them down. So leaving them be is not a reasonable option where continued clear eggs or lack of breeding activity is what's occuring. When I first obtained Tri-colours years ago, I had birds which didn't lay a fertile egg for 2 years, then only only once trimmed down as per Ian's birds, they started breeding productively. Other pairs were simply too inactive to attempt breeding due to obesity (for the same 2 year period). Same result for them once trimmed down. All fine if most of the fatty stuff is being fed to dependent young, but a very high chance of causing infertility & reduced breeding drive in pairs which are not already breeding. Well done Ian.

I wouldn't be as concerned with females being abit on the fat side as it will assist when the heavy work load when breeding.
But I would be very concerned about the males being that way. It has been proved that when male birds are fat their fertility drops dramatically
Not sure if it is because of inactivity, trouble mating or what, but before breeding season I normally give Parrot Finches a couple of weeks of
Red Millet, Yellow Millet and White Millet and that's it. They don't go backwards in condition and are more active etc.
If they are kept in breeding cages or small aviaries they do need to be watched otherwise they will become very tubby.

I strongly agree that obesity in males is more of an issue than females. This is also a crucial impediment to many people trying to breed Bluecaps with repeated clear eggs being a common result.

Unfortunatly my pair both fell of the perch during the January heat wave. They were the only two birds in the aviary that died.