Maggots vs. Termites

[Craig52]

Well done Deano,just goes to show that if you put the effort into your birds regarding live food anything goes.

Since the introduction of bush fly maggots 20 years ago by some brilliant person alot of finch and softbill breeders have made the switch or included them in there live food feeding as another choice.
I did try to convert my mixed collection of finches to maggots only with fair results but as young were bred and kept as breeders the results were far better.
But not with Melba's,they are just so hard wired to termites.
I did have 4 prs of bluecaps,i pr on their own setup in small aviaries that i did eventually convert to maggots but the process was long and a learning curve.
I had a mate in Melbourne who was colony breeding blue caps with good results using termites,he also was going to sell them due to the hard yakka of sourcing termites as we were not getting any younger.
Anyhow,we started adding maggots to the termite dishes and found they were being consumed as much as the termites,over the next few months we deceased the termites and added more maggots to the dish to eventually only feeding the maggots in the dish with the termite nest dust as we believed the maggots took on the smell of the termites.
The next breeding season,all they got was bushfly maggots and pupae and small mealworms if available and they bred quite well with one problem,all the young would fledge with white scours stuck to their vents and tails and couldn't fly.These young were caught up,washed and dried with a hair drier and were ok after that.
My mate and i nearly gave up after that but after some serious thought we decided that the maggots needed to be very clean to be fed to the bluecaps and that they needed to be cleaned out in dry bran for a minimum of 24hrs,the results were astounding the young fledged clean and healthy.For some strange reason,this saga only happened to bluecaps.
Others were having good results with their termite eating birds by adding a couple of drops of aniseed oil to the bran the maggots were in,apparently to make them smell/taste like termites.
Anyhow,most finches with the exception of bluecaps and one or two pytillia's will rare their young on maggots and other livefoods without the use of termites but the use of termites if you are able to access them,is the ultimate livefood for finches and softbills. Craig

[mattymeischke]

Thanks for that Craig, fascinating.
I use maggots and termites regularly, and sometimes have supply problems with one or the other but usually have one to offer.
The only birds I've had be fussy about this are Auroras and lesser RBs, and some new bloods I have recently acquired which are used to maggots and have so far taken no termites (just like their breeder said). All of the rest will take either, though some have a preference for one or the other, eg: red-cheeked CBs seemed to prefer termites very much, and my bloods and tricolors seem to prefer maggots.
I have to agree with:

Anyhow, most finches with the exception of bluecaps and one or two pytillia's will rare their young on maggots and other livefoods without the use of termites but the use of termites if you are able to access them,is the ultimate livefood for finches and softbills.

I also have to agree strongly with Numo; I got a Bunnings prefab mothtrap, originally for Chaffies, but the finches just smash them, especially the smaller moths. They are probably the most desirable livefood for my maskeds, paints, and Strawbs among the finches, as well as the chats, bulbuls and wrens.

As is often the case, I find offering a wide variety and taking the time to watch what they eat really helps to target the right foods to the right birds. Sometimes you don't know what they were bred on, but I also reckon that the individual birds can have quite different preferences and these can be quite surprising. My RH gouldians have been taking pupae and some maggots from the discard box I had left in the holding aviary they were in last year, since which time they get a bit when there is some to spare. This seems to have improved their breeding results somewhat. The BH and OH are not interested in the maggots/pupae at all, despite having regular access (they are in with weavers).

Matt.

[Craig52]

Thanks for the reply Matty,that's very interesting as well.My origanal lessers came from G.Mac and i believe have never seen a termite or a mealworm,they bred very well on bushfly maggots alone and when presented with both termites and mealworms did not touch them which.
My crimsons are the same,maggots taken only and still produce 4s and 5's in the nest.
Now that i specialise in two species only,i only use maggots as livefood and i have noticed that my new edition loves them as well so that has been a plus.
I do use night lights in the walkway and bird room and lately hundreds of moths enter the aviaries during the night so maybe my birds are feeding on them early in the morning which can only be a bonus.

Cheers Craig

[Tricky]

Although I haven't got results to talk about , my birds eat the termites & mealworms first & maggots last . By the time I'm home from work all are gone .

[garyh]

Matt ,the key words you used imo are that you sit and watch your birds ,to any breeder this is a must no matter what you breed,sorry to go off topic but to new breeders this is so important,garyh

[Craig52]

Although I haven't got results to talk about , my birds eat the termites & mealworms first & maggots last . By the time I'm home from work all are gone .

Tricky if that is the case them i afraid you are not going to breed many finches,live food needs to be available at all times.Some finches will dump their young if the livefood suddenly stops.
There should be live food left in the containers the next morning if you only feed once a day,that is why bush fly maggots can be fed addlib as they will be the last to be taken in your case and will get your young through to the next mixed feed. Craig

[Numo1975]

If anyone wants to give it a try ... The moth trap brand is "gecko" they're usually with all the bug zappers near the outdoor furniture at Bunnings . $105.00 well spent I say. Another good way of doing it ( saw it in the last ABK with same trap) is to install one on the roof of your flight with the bottom taken off so the moths fall directly in the aviary. Good fun having a morning coffee watching your birds hunt... I have a few flights so I will just share the booty around.
Cheers Deano

[Redwing]

My gecko bug zapper was only $25 but it was the smallest, but certainly worth considering for those with smaller setups.

[Tiaris]

The zappers kill them though, don't they? Whereas traps catch them alive.

[BluJay]

Someone mentioned, they feed their tri coloured finches live food. Is this necessary to get them to breed. If so, which live food is best. I don't know where to get termites live or frozen. Maggots, ewe, but I think I can manage those. Would you build some kind of box and throw piece of meat in, and farm them, so to speak, like this? Regards