Aussie Finch Forum

appears that the onset of the cooler weather has made some of my birds realise that they needed to have another go at breeding.
have 3 prs of painteds sitting tight. red cheeked cordons have young. orange breasts are sitting. st helenas are building. the gouldians have nests everywhere all at different stages, one nest of 6 fledged today. a second nest of two young should fledge before the end of the week and a few other pairs are sitting.
have my fingers crossed for another good run with the nests.

Congrats on the babies Mick. Hope everything goes well for you.

Thats great news Mick, mine are still breeding like flies

good luck mick.i to have a few at various stages.not quite as prolific as flies though.

Well done mick. My 1 pair of Painteds have hatched & 3 pair of gouldians with young that are about to fledge.Should have about 11 fledge in all.
Will the painteds do alright rearing in cold weather?
Do you give your painteds live food?

Cheers

the only time my painteds touch live food is when they have young in the nest.
the cold hasnt been a problem for mine (to date) they sit so tight that the eggs never get cold and even when the young have hatched the parents are always in the nest with them. for me painteds are probably the most consistent breeders I have and they have a very high hatch %. only 1 or 2 infertile eggs a year from them

What type of live food do you give them?
I agree that sit very tight. How do they go with nest inspections?

am unable to get termites (best livefood there is IMO) so mine have to make do with mealworm, maggots and moths.
as a rule I dont do nest inspections, will have a look as I walk past a nest most times all I see is an adult staring at me.
guess they would be like most finches though, the less inspections if any the better the outcome may be.

I'm with you on nest inspections. I havn't done one for my painteds and will just wait and see. I'm offering mealworms so far.
Do you use the mini mealworms or just normal size?

the birds get whatever comes out of the container. any that are really big are put into a new container though to start the next breeding colony. I always try to have at least 3 colonies going at any time.
maggots I always feed small though