Aussie Finch Forum

HI guys I recently purchased two unrelated pairs with the hope of securing a third pair from another supplier.

I was planning to have the three pairs in one aviary as I know tow pairs does not work well and one is best.

Since the sale of my third pair fell through I now have two pairs, 1 in the aviary and one in a cabinet.

Does anyone know if successful breeding will occur if I keep to females to one male?
or is a single pair best??

I know spare hens are a valuable asset but I would not like to keep one separated in a cabinet if having 2 females to 1 male is a bad idea....i would rather just sell the spare pair.

Advice is greatly appreciated!!

Thanks guys

El Feroz

Parrotfinches dont breed as trios.You could run the 2 pairs in the aviary together and add a third pair later on if you wish.Parrotfinches will stil breed as 2 pair ok.

Thanks for that..

some finchos at my local reckon they will fight too much.

The cabinet is at the moment within the large aviary and I have not seen any fighting between the bars. The aviary parrot finches hang around the cabinet chirping...I might give it a go and see.

In breeding time the cocks are aggressive to hens to make them mate like all Parrot Finches.Blue Face are more aggressive than Tri Colours and Red Fac are less aggressive.

One pair will dominate and breed better. There's no real aggression just a distinct pecking order - with two pair the only outcome is a winner and a loser. With three pairs - the domination is spread around a bit. The losing pairs will often have smaller clutches and breed less frequently as they need to wait for the dominant birds to feed and often miss out on the good bits if its limited. Its a bit like owning 1 1/2 pairs in terms of output.

Thanks guys..

I can see a benefit with this so I will release them tomorrow.

In the worse case I can sell the subordinate pair.

So long as no one will die I am fine!

I never found any difference between two and three pairs. As long as the aviary is big enough where they can get away from each other. They set up an exclusion zone around their own nest, and there is definitely a pecking order around the food dish,but i never had any major upsets. I would run them together.

I have always kept them 1 pair per aviary and have done well.. A mate had 2 pairs in a large aviary and both cocks where fighting over 1 hen .. It's normal for them to show who is boss between them but they scalped the hen..