Aussie Finch Forum

Years ago I gave goldfinch breeding a real go .

I used cabinets and cages and had mixed success.

I recently purchased a trapped hen for my muling rooster and thought I would throw them in my bigger aviary and see how they went.

They have been nest building for the last week and the result is one egg.

I have a first year canary that has just laid too so I have an option to foster eggs and young if the need comes up.

I am thinking I will try and let them have a go before removing eggs.

These are wild caught birds and their breeding results could go either way, especially in an aviary when I need to clean and replace seed daily.

The other thing is they have an unhealthy obsession with the siskins in the adjoining aviary but I think that has fuelled on their breeding instincts.

I know they are cheap, trapped and hard to breed birds but the goldfinch is one of my favourites. I can here them singing as I type this. I am hoping to establish an aviary bred lot over the next few years so I can commence cabinet breeding.

I anm having issues loading photos on my laptop so I hopefully will pop one on here shortly.

Photos

Good luck, hope your successful. Goldies are a favourite of mine also.

Nice yours are a bit further along then mine, all my pair if goldfinches have done us select a nest

Norse wrote:Nice yours are a bit further along then mine, all my pair if goldfinches have done us select a nest

Give them a heap of hessian sack sack bits abiut 5 cms long, that stuff out if old mattresses and coconut fibre. They will use a lot and in a week the nest will be done.

Don't forget pure cotton wool, but please forget the stuff out of mattresses, its usually synthethic and has been known to wrap around finches legs. Coconut fibre is also a favourite.
Let the Goldfinches rear their young, they are usually good parents.

UPDATE


The eggs were due t hatch Saturday. I noted the hen destroying the nest and trying to build a new one. I thought I noted that she wasnt sitting on the eggs two days before..well at least not as tightly as before.

I candled the eggs and they looked good so I chucked them under a canary.


The egg hatched but not before the canary laid another large egg on top of it. It seems as though baby goldfinch was either crushed, smothered by the canary hen or other.

Both goldfinches were mature but it was their first 6 months in captivity. The previously lived in the big aviary in the sky so I guess the nest and eggs was a win in itself.

I am going to let the goldfinches attempt to rear their next lot of eggs and I am going to thin out the aviary before they lay to make it as quiet as possible.

Worse case ill foster again if need be but swap out the canary eggs. at least in the worse case the canary will raise the goldfinch and if the goldfinches neglect the canary eggs it wont be such a massive hit.

So close yet so far. Looking at the dead little one was probably one of the disappointments of 2014 for me (bird breeding wise) and I have bred and lost blue goulds!

It has been a good learning experience and I hope to improve my success over the next few years with a few more species of cup nester.

Hopefully my next update will contain photos of young.

How is your goldfinch breeding program progressing this year?

I had never bred them myself but in late August picked up a couple of pairs of wild caught birds from a guy locally. Took me 7 picks before I was convinced I had two hens.

Anyways one pair nested in late October, sat extremely tightly (couldn't get her off the nest) then a couple of days before they were due to hatch exhibited the exact same behaviour as your hen.

Thought I had lost the hen as I hadn't seen her for a couple of weeks but on Saturday morning she was flying about. Sat for a while and watched and noticed her
fly up to the brush and through the leaves she appeared to be feeding. Sure enough
she had chicks. Its been 4 days now and she continues to sit tightly so fingers crossed this time.

Interestingly they partake in a daily running battle with a pair of Euro Greenfinches.
This nest of goldfinches is less than 20cm from the Greens which also have young.

The second pair of Goldfinches have laid their first egg today.

Only cheapies, but a great challenge.

Elf,

I love goldfinches but not in the aviary. Do a bit of trout fishing down around Lake Eucubene and they are the most wonderful birds between them and skylarks. My family had roots in Canberra and remember the goldfinches nesting in the English type trees (oaks etc) around Ainslie when I was about 7 to 10 years old. That started the bird thing. They are lovely but I reckon you should try the fluff from your clothes dryer (soft as) if you have one.

Good luck, keep us informed,

Ken.

Dont have Goldfinches now, have had in the past. Beautiful singers. Good luck to those of you breeding them.
LML