Best places for....

[west finch]

That’s right Mackstaa ,Johnson grass being a wild cousin to domestic sorghum.It was brought to Australia as a forage crop for grazing and went feral and is now a noxious plant .

[E Orix]

It basically comes up in numerous places early and I can get at it and spray but as my wanted grasses and bushes get their new growth up it comes,the J/Grass mixed in so access is not easy.I have got rid of it in my smaller aviaries but the big ones alot harder.I will beat it but possibly two seasons away though.
These days all plants in the big aviary are planted inside a plastic or metal retaining circle about 600mm in diam.and 250 into the ground and 100mm above the ground.just for control of plant and rodents.
As for height I have seen it grow to nearly 3 m in height

[Jayburd]

Thanks everyone
Ah! I didn't know that I thought it was something different, E Orix, I thought it was like a type of millet or something...
Fincho, one of my friends has red fountain grass, just didn't know if it was poisonous or anything.
Thanks Di
Orix, I've planted some finch mix and I'm waiting for it to come up. I have lots of soaked seed in there, in fact I think at the moment it's about all they're eating!
Ah, I've heard of guinea grass. Perhaps that would be good too.

[E Orix]

From memory guinea grass spreads and your aviary may not have enough floor space

[Jayburd]

Good point-I'll give that one a miss!

[SamDavis]

In the last few months I've got guinea grass going in large plastic pots to stop it getting out of control and also so you can rotate pots. Most species really love the seedheads in preference to most other seeds. It can grow up to about 2m tall and many finches love to use it as a nesting site. But as E Orix says it can really get out of control - a local mate's aviaries are pretty much inundated with the stuff (mind you his birds are breeding brillinantly).

Secondly, Where does everyone get termites from? I was thinking of mounting an expedition out this saturday to find some, and just wondering if people collect from roadside mounds, or if not where?

Look for scrubby land with the odd stunted looking ironbark. Ariound my place this is where the mounds are thickest on the ground. Go for the smaller mounds (I posted a heap of photos of a recent hunting trip somewhere on AFF) - smaller nests will last heaps longer in bins. To store I just put the whole lot in a plastic garbage bin with a bit of loose leaf litter from the site for food.

also how do you remove termites from the mound material without a termite tumbler?

Here's what I do to extrtact/feed. I don't add hessian/timber to the bin to attract/extract the termites as in my experience this can cause the whole lot to go mouldy if you don't use them quick smart. My theory is that removing termites without removing nest material lowers the overall density of termites. This means the termites are no longer able to control fungus growth. Instead I chisel (old brick bolster) off large chunks every few days (trying to disturb the remaining nest as little as possible). To extract termites I use an old carry cage with the back removed as a sieve (front is mouse wire). Break the large chunk into smaller bits and give it a good shake over a tray. Empty the tray into one of mum's flat tupperware biscuit containers to a maximum depth of about 2 or 3cm. Place a few pieces of cardboard (egg carton is great) in the tupperware container. The termites hide under the cardboard and you can easily shake/spoon them into your feeder each day. They'll last a good week or more in the tupperware containers so you don't need to disturb the nest so often and it's simpler on a daily basis. You can also shove them in the fridge and they'll suvive for longer or freeze them for longer still.