Who's next?

[Tiaris]

Its not that Pytilias & Bluecaps don't eat other livefoods - they will do so very readily. They just don't breed consistently on anything other than termites.
One livefood which does warrant further experimentation is baby crickets. A mate has had breeding success with Melbas using large quantities of young crickets as the favoured livefood & these would be worth trying with the other species too.

[Tiaris]

It's interesting how almost all the species mentioned in this topic don't have an established mutation (not that I know of). It's funny how mutations can save a bird (or give it a popularity boost) yet without some breeders vigilance to keep pure strains it can be their demise as well.

The existence & establishment of captive-bred mutations usually requires the species to be well established & bred in good numbers for the mutation to have a reasonable chance of occurring a few times and then to be noticed & established by those interested in doing so. This is a largely why mutations are not common in species with smaller captive populations. The proliferation of mutations in a species is broadly a function of that species being more heavily domesticated.

[Lachlan1]

Another question from me is,do finches have a sence of smell?,i know some raptures can. Craig

They do indeed have a sense of smell according to a recent study but it is very limited. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/10/scien ... html?_r=1&

One livefood which does warrant further experimentation is baby crickets. A mate has had breeding success with Melbas using large quantities of young crickets as the favoured livefood & these would be worth trying with the other species too.

Very cool. If there is a will there is a way.

[Lachlan1]

Decided to go a step further this arvo after work and look around the local bush for termite mounds. Is the picture of the mound attached the right kind of termites to collect? If so what is the best way to do so and store them? + how many termites would a pair of pytilias go through per clutch? (roughly). Sorry for all the questions haha.

[Tiaris]

Drive your mattock into it & see what it's like inside. Break off termite laden pieces into a large bucket/drum with a spade &/or mattock to take home & try to replace the mound with an equivalent amount of leaf litter, bark, etc. from the forest floor & if possible put the outer shell back onto this as best you can, then come back in a few weeks to see if they seal up the mound properly. If they do, you should be able to rob the colony every 6-8 weeks as long as you don't take the queen. If this works you need only find 6-8 termite mounds to have a constant supply by robbing 1 nest per week.
You can either tap or sieve the termites out of the lumps in the bush & take home the termites & small debris to be fed & any excess refrigerated (for up to 1 week with fridge on low/warmest setting to keep them alive but in a suspended state which soon rejuvenate upon warming up), or frozen for up to 10 weeks (dead but still palatable). Refrigerated or frozen termites need to be kept in a lidded plastic container (ice-cream container or similar is perfect) for best storage & to retain their body moisture well.
Give the birds as many as they will eat for optimum breeding.

[Lachlan1]

Drive your mattock into it & see what it's like inside. Break off termite laden pieces into a large bucket/drum with a spade &/or mattock to take home & try to replace the mound with an equivalent amount of leaf litter, bark, etc. from the forest floor & if possible put the outer shell back onto this as best you can, then come back in a few weeks to see if they seal up the mound properly. If they do, you should be able to rob the colony every 6-8 weeks as long as you don't take the queen. If this works you need only find 6-8 termite mounds to have a constant supply by robbing 1 nest per week.
You can either tap or sieve the termites out of the lumps in the bush & take home the termites & small debris to be fed & any excess refrigerated (for up to 1 week with fridge on low/warmest setting to keep them alive but in a suspended state which soon rejuvenate upon warming up), or frozen for up to 10 weeks (dead but still palatable). Refrigerated or frozen termites need to be kept in a lidded plastic container (ice-cream container or similar is perfect) for best storage & to retain their body moisture well.
Give the birds as many as they will eat for optimum breeding.

Cheers mate, really appreciate it. Will start adding it to the diet so come next season I can hopefully source some Pytilias.

[Craig52]

Drive your mattock into it & see what it's like inside. Break off termite laden pieces into a large bucket/drum with a spade &/or mattock to take home & try to replace the mound with an equivalent amount of leaf litter, bark, etc. from the forest floor & if possible put the outer shell back onto this as best you can, then come back in a few weeks to see if they seal up the mound properly. If they do, you should be able to rob the colony every 6-8 weeks as long as you don't take the queen. If this works you need only find 6-8 termite mounds to have a constant supply by robbing 1 nest per week.
You can either tap or sieve the termites out of the lumps in the bush & take home the termites & small debris to be fed & any excess refrigerated (for up to 1 week with fridge on low/warmest setting to keep them alive but in a suspended state which soon rejuvenate upon warming up), or frozen for up to 10 weeks (dead but still palatable). Refrigerated or frozen termites need to be kept in a lidded plastic container (ice-cream container or similar is perfect) for best storage & to retain their body moisture well.
Give the birds as many as they will eat for optimum breeding.

Cheers mate, really appreciate it. Will start adding it to the diet so come next season I can hopefully source some Pytilias.

Go for it Lachlan,that's some really good advice. Craig