Aussie Finch Forum

i am running a flock of about 16 at the moment which have produced a very good number of young this season so far.- they take lots of mealworms-leb cucumber-pak choy-enormous amounts of seeding grasses. I have a longish aviary and I find that they need heaps of exercise to breed successfully. As has been mentioned earlier i have a feed station one end and breeding area the other end so that they have to exercise. Mine have painteds-OBWB-stars and jacarinis in with them and there are no compatability problems. I have found that It is better to have more hens than cocks as the cocks can overwork the hens when breeding. It is important to go into the breeding season with the birds LEAN. I dont practice an austerity diet as such but I gradually introduce mealworms-extra seeding grasses-soft food etc from about the beginning of my canary breeding season (September), which in my case I find coincides with the start of the main breeding activity with my parrot finches. On occassion I put out the same soft food mix I use for canary pairs with chicks when i definitely know the RFPF have young in addition to their ususal diet. They eagerly take this. Mine breed in cane baskets-gouldian boxes where I have slightly enlarged the entrance holes-cocoanuts-half open wooden nest boxes- metal wracks full of tee tree-bracken and bottle brush etc etc etc. For me I find that I have success breeding as a small flock and I have had absolutely no disputes between the breeding pairs so far. My only observation/consideration would be whether they would prefer to be in a species only aviary, which I am inclined to effect by next breeding season. Apart from usual nesting material, feathers seem to be in hot demand. The main nesting material seems to to be bale hay.

When I had RFPF I had them at different times in with gouldians, orange breasted waxbills and emblema. I didnt have any problems, but be aware that it has been known for interspecies mixing between RFPF and gouldian. Also they love their food so could become a bit of a tyrant where access to the food is concerned.

Thanks guys.
I was thinking of housing Saint Helena's and Ruddies with them. I know the size difference, does that matter?.
Cheers, Mike

I have housed RFPF with nearly all the common type finches with absolutely no problems, including TCPF no interest shown in each other...I have a trio (2 hens 1 cock) in a cage with emblemas, only drama I see is the emblemas sit closer to the bottom while the RFPF go nuts across the top...

Cheers

Finch_Breeder wrote:Thanks guys.
I was thinking of housing Saint Helena's and Ruddies with them. I know the size difference, does that matter?.
Cheers, Mike

That would be a good mix of species.

finches247 wrote:

Finch_Breeder wrote:Thanks guys.
I was thinking of housing Saint Helena's and Ruddies with them. I know the size difference, does that matter?.
Cheers, Mike

That would be a good mix of species.

Thanks Henry

I'll probably plant tussock grasses in the aviary as well.
Mike.