Aussie Finch Forum

hello all i have 5 aviarys side byside have 3 pairs of red siskins side byside, they are all in very good condition flying like crazy, whistiling, but they havent started to breed, iv breed them in the past but never had more than one pair, the males seem to spend a lot of time bickering through wire, they are feed a very good diet of soaked seed, peas and corn, greens, seeding grass i cant move them as i have a pair of yellow siskins with young in the other avaries has anyone had same experince regards martin

hello all is anyone going to give me any suggestions or thoughts

Hi i do not breed red siskins but with my gouldians when there bickering through the wire i put shade clothe
between the aviarys so they dont see each other.
cheers flavio

I agree with Flav as i have a simmilar product between my crimson aviaries,but in saying that i think it's a bit late for red siskens to breed now. Craig

Or try removing the middle pair and keeping them in a holding cage. At least that way the two other pairs have a chance of settling down to breed.

mrscibbo wrote:hello all i have 5 aviarys side byside have 3 pairs of red siskins side byside, they are all in very good condition flying like crazy, whistiling, but they havent started to breed, iv breed them in the past but never had more than one pair, the males seem to spend a lot of time bickering through wire, they are feed a very good diet of soaked seed, peas and corn, greens, seeding grass i cant move them as i have a pair of yellow siskins with young in the other avaries has anyone had same experince regards martin

The fact that they are bickering and fighting through the wire it's a good sign "positive", I don't remember of any serious injuries with my birds, all they are doing is establishing their territory and each of those fighting males "claims a victory" and that's how it should be. Providing you have given them couple of nests attached in each corner and you offer Niger and Sunflower seeds every day with plenty of seeding grasses, leaf of lettuce etc they will breed. It's not too late, my usually breed till the end of March - early April. No need for shade cloth, fighting Siskins through the wire will eventually produce you lots of young. That's the best way to breed Siskins. Just make sure they have a little bit of camouflage around their nest, I use Shade cloth drapes but you can use some artificial greenery or Pine tree branches etc.

I agree there is plenty of Siskin breeding left. In fact, most attempts mine made before xmas were failures - most young bred for the season were reared from new year until mid-May. I did, however find they settled to breeding activity far better without the constant bickering & facing off with neighbouring pairs so only housed them in every 2nd aviary, I have mate who breeds them who provides brattice (hessian) screens between aviaries during the Siskin season to allow pairs to concentrate on breeding rather than distracting competitive behaviour with neighbouring pairs. If they were mine I'd remove one pair from the middle or provide a temporary visual barrier.

thank you everyone for there advice, will see what happens i have put a lot more brush in aviary so siskins seem to have settle down a lot better now hopefully the fire up soon , netsurfer what nests do yours usually use, and what nesting material do you offer, i have been giving mine hessian, coconut fibre and cotton wool
thanx regards martin

mrscibbo wrote:thank you everyone for there advice, will see what happens i have put a lot more brush in aviary so siskins seem to have settle down a lot better now hopefully the fire up soon , netsurfer what nests do yours usually use, and what nesting material do you offer, i have been giving mine hessian, coconut fibre and cotton wool
thanx regards martin

I guess that's OK, I use already made nest inserts and I also give them Hessian, Coconut fiber and the Sow Thistle fine down fiber, I have plenty of that growing in my back yards I collect seeds for Goldfinches and Siskins and save the soft down for nests. Where do you get the coconut wool?

cotton wool from super market, where does everyone buy sunflower kernals from and how much is there price
thanx martin