Aussie Finch Forum

Against my better judgement, I talked myself into spending $400 for a pair of painteds. Then I called my bird broker/breeder. He checked and....(drumroll please)...$525!!!

I'm going with goldbreasteds. $60.

wow,that's a scary thought. American dollars too!! Need a new hen here, she died a few weeks back, glad they don't cost as much!!!!
You'll love orange breasts and when you've bred them, move to Aus and keep painteds for $30 a pair

...I need to be talked out of this idea that's forming in my head. Take a trip to Australia (a place I've always wanted to visit), buy 10-20 pair of painteds and bring them back. I have the space available to build aviaries where I could breed them; then charge a reasonable price for them and still make a profit.

Surely importing birds isn't that easy?

No Australian native birds can be exported from our great dry country. We can't import any either. Sorry to be the burster of bubbles.

We can however export non native birds... But that's a can of worms best kept well and truly SHUT!!
Australia's a great place to visit though come to the dark side!!! Oops, I mean, the lovable land down under

That's just as well. I'm too cash strapped and too much of a novice to do it anyway.

$525 a pair, that's a shock compared to your prices and mine seem to breed like rabbits at times. The bad part of paying that if one doesn't make it what would the price of a single bird be. Unfortunately you can't buy/export from here but what of other countries that may still be breeding them can you buy from there such as Europe.

Not surprising, sierranomad, even strawberries are up to 350.00 a pair, when you can find them, I remember paying 80.00 a pair for them. Probably because the pet rock has made a come back!

Painteds are not commonly bred in Europe either & would be relatively expensive compared to locally abundant gold-breasts. Best to stick with something more locally cheap such Gold-breasts when you are mixing them with the other species you are already keeping. Nobody here would mix a $400pr finch species (with any reasonable prospect of breeding success) with Zebs, Bengos & Cockatiels & same applies in US.

Of course, you could just buy some lavender waxbills, twinspots, various whydahs etc, post your pictures on this forum and smile smugly in the knowledge that we either would have to pay at least 10-20 times what you would pay or else be unable to have them at all !!

Tiaris's advice makes the most sense. Good luck with whatever you chose to do.