Chaffinches

[mattymeischke]

I bought a pair of chaffinches at the sale in Queanbeyan on Sunday.
I have been trying various foods the last few days, and they are taking seed, egg and biscuit, milk thistle and spinach happily.
Of the live foods I have offered, they will take mealies and earthworms. No interest in crickets, maggots, slaters (except for the very smallest few).
Have yet to try termites.

I understand that they are very demanding of live food when breeding, and I was hoping to offer a wide variety.

Is it possible they have been bred on mostly mealies and that is why they won't try the others?
Is it possible they are termite addicts, and snob the less desirable wrigglers (I don't imagine there are many termites in their northern European home)?
Or perhaps they take little live food except when breeding?

What is the usual range of live foods one might expect a chaffinch to take?

Thank you in advance for replies,
mm.

[finches247]

They hardly eat no livefood in the non breeding season and eat quite a bit of livefood in breeding season mine liked maggots,mealworms,crickets

[Jayburd]

I read moths are very high on the agenda. I have an article here somewhere, I can give it to you when we meet up if you like.

[E Orix]

Over the years most Chaffinches were bred in the cooler states and around Melbourne.
Few breeders their feed Termites,generally M/Worms,possibly B/Fly Maggots and even a moth trap.
But they feed soaked seed but some of their mixes are high on the black seeds(oil seeds) maybe worth thinking about.
Also the best results are early in the season before it gets too hot.

[mattymeischke]

They hardly eat no livefood in the non breeding season

Good, that's reassuring.

I read moths are very high on the agenda ... I have an article here somewhere

Awesome, look forward to the article.

Over the years most Chaffinches were bred in the cooler states and around Melbourne.
Few breeders their feed Termites,generally M/Worms,possibly B/Fly Maggots and even a moth trap.
But they feed soaked seed but some of their mixes are high on the black seeds(oil seeds) maybe worth thinking about.
Also the best results are early in the season before it gets too hot.

Thank you. I usually give fresh milkseeds rather than sprouted seeds; do you think that they are significantly different?

The tip of her beak is dark, I hadn't noticed that before.
Does she change her beak colour when she comes into condition?

Thanks again for the tips.

[finches247]

The beak will get slightly Darker in breeding season.

[pdg]

Hi,

I'm from Belgium. I don't breed chaffinches (I breed gouldians and linnets) but my father in law and uncle breed them. It is a very common bird here. I had chaffinches in my aviary when I was about 14 and they nested, not succesful.

I can confirm what finches247 said: they only need animal (insect) proteins during breeding season. In nature there are no insects available in winter over here.

People don't have termites here, that's right, but here they are mostly fed mealworms and frozen maggots; they will do the job just fine. Ant eggs can be fed too. Here breeders can buy a kind of softfood which contains dried insects of different kinds. Egg food or soft food for European finches is of course also used. But it will indeed depend on what the birds are used too. You can always try to give them what they are not used too as well. Especially a few months before the breeding season you can teach them to eat certain foods by rationing their food. Very young birds might try something new too, although they will learn most from their parents of course. If they are in the aviary with other birds, like canaries, they might pick up their feeding habits as well. Especially if you don't give them all the different foods at once.

I am not sure about the difference between soked seed or fresh milky seed. If the milky seed is not fresh, I would prefer soked seed. But don't soke the seeds for more than 24 hours. The shorter the sprout, the better - it should be hardly visible. Also be careful to wash the seed 1 or 2 times during those 24 hours.

European finches will not only get into breeding condition because of a richer diet. They need a certain amount of light hours a day to get into breeding condition.

Be careful with the male(s). They can be very agressive during breeding season and two males together will definetely lead to the death of one of them. They might even attac any other bird that has got red in its feathers, especially the chest. You can however, put two hens in the aviary with one cock. This will enhace breeding chances. Just observe them well and catch out the not breeding hen as soon as you know the other has fallen for the guy. In a very large, well planted aviary you might even leave both of them in there.

If you have any more questions...

[mattymeischke]

Hartstikke bedankte voor dat, pdg.

They are presently in quarantine, and I have been offering a range to see what they will take.
They are going into an 8x5x5m (approx) planted aviary with skylarks (if I can catch some!), canaries and others.
I'll keep the red canaries separate.

The spring is really coming in here; wild birds are nesting, my first canaries hatched 5 days ago and another's clutch is due to hatch today.

I'm sure that I will have more questions soon.

Thanks again,
mm.