Aussie Finch Forum

Hello again,

Thanks to everyone for responding to my previous post. Is anyone willing/able to confirm I have a pair here? I am beginning to doubt myself after so long with no success! I am 95% confident the cock bird is to the right but having seen the more definitive breast colouring on other peoples cock birds doubts are creeping in.

I am sure they are a pair male on right and female on left

Agree - definitely a pair. How long have you had them and do you know their age?

12-18 months old, I got them at last years Geelong sale. I think its the mice, which I have now evicted, that may have been the main cause but as someone who is still fairly new I wondered if I was breaking Abbotts law by pairing these 2 up.

The cock bird is definately on the right,over the last few years some breeders have been breeding the red/yellow fronts on painted cocks to virtually cover the whole front which imo puts your bird to shame,but in saying that the painteds in the wild are not much better than yours. Craig

Agree with everything that's been said. Hen's generally have more spots on the chest and flanks which yours do.

I think the chin/throat is a good guide - like stars.

Definitely a pair, clean out the mice problem and leave them be still some time left in breeding season to get a clutch. Coming from sunshine I used to live in st Albans and mine would breed though till mid April.

What's your nesting situation, do you have- brush-boxes- both? My painteds build their own nests in brush.
If you only have boxes this could be your problem, they use charlcoal or bark chips to construct a platform
on which they build their nest.
Jack

At the moment I don't have brush as that is where the mice were holed up. I have boxes of different sizes and some wicker baskets.

On the subject of nesting material, how do people provide it? On the ground or up in some sort of contraption. Also, what size should the charcoal pieces be?