Aussie Finch Forum

I have been ringing my finches for a few years with coloured split rings, that is hard enough but how do you do closed rings on something so small and what is the benefit, if not honesty? Anyone have a video?

Ken

Interesting. Cheers.

Usually done at 5-7 days old. Benefit is the permanent ID & sometimes confirmation of year of birth. Only suitable for domesticated species obviously.

But at 5-7 days old how do you do it on something so small as a finch? Can't imagine close ringing an orange breast. Would be near on micro surgery.The reason I am asking is because I found a gould chick hanging outside the nest box with its foot caught on material inside the box. It had been swinging for some time because there was blood on the area it had been swinging. The crop was full but had a bleeding injuiry on its chest,not a gash but just an abrasion. Placed it back in the nest, still full of energy, but I must say I have never seen gould chicks so large, so full of seed in the crops and yet not even pin feathers. They are at least 10 to 12 days old. Think I might just split ring it if survives with a different colour to the other chicks...... and keep it.

Ken.

The only viable options with finches would be Gouldians, Zebs, or Bengos (+canaries). I wouldn't entertain trying it on anything less domesticated than these.
Putting on: Hold the foot between thumb & index finger, put front 3 toes through the ring together followed by the ball of the foot then the hind toe pushing the ring past the end of the hind toe. Make sure the hind toe nail is pulled free of the ring & that the ring moves freely above the foot. If done prior to 5 days old it can easily slip off in the nest & if done after 7 days the foot is too big to fit the right sized closed ring.
The main difficulty is to carefully get the front 3 toes through without any of them folding back or slipping out. From then on it is not usually too challenging. May need glasses on if middle-aged or above.

Definitely need glasses! If I ntake my glasses off hi us tje resuly!

You can put rings on Finches the first week out the nest.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kjPTOWCZZ9M Its the same for Finches

nswchainsaw wrote:You can put rings on Finches the first week out the nest.

If you use a larger ring size.