Aussie Finch Forum

Hi Everyone,

I am a little confused as to what level of experience Yellow-Rumped Mannakins are suited for. Marcus Pollard's article on finch selection for beginners states it as a likely candidate for 'next-level' birds, being supposedly easy to breed. birdcare.com.au says that they are extremely hard to breed and should be kept by either Advanced or Specialist Breeders. Russell Kingston's book, on the other hand, describes the Yellow-Rump as being of "medium" difficulty to keep and breed. What do you guys think on the suitability of these birds?

Thanks,
Aidan

I thought the big issue with yellow rumps was sexing them.

If you get a group of 6-10 birds (3-5 males and 3-5 females) and let them pair off naturally, you can breed virtually any Australian finch without any real problems. Just provide them with a clean safe dry environment, good food, cuttlebone, mineral grit, nests, and lot of green grass seeds.

No harder to breed than most other munias . . Easier than Pictorellas

Can be a bit skittish in smaller aviaries

A colony in a larger aviary, well planted with Green Panic/ Guinea Grass, will thrive

Cock on left, hen on right.

The should be right with you Aidan, you have a good setup and a good diet so I would say you should give them a go

Thanks Noah, I'm thinking of these as another project after the Plumheads, as I would like to keep and breed a few of the rarer but easier to breed "little brown birds", I'm also thinking of silverbills as they are said to breed like mice but there aren't many available and I'm a bit concerned the most of the "Silverbills" currently on the market are hybrids between African and Indian.

That'll be good mate, keep a couple of the little brown fellas going
Yeah unfortunately mate the silverbills we have today are hybrids, but the Indian silverbill genes have been outcrossed to such an extent in my opinion that they should just be regarded as plain old African silverbills
Collect up a few different blood lines of Silverbills and just plonk them together to make a flock, and then you will be right from there and I can show you how to vent sex young birds when you get some young out onto the perch

Thanks Noah. I think I’ll go for the silverbills, as they seem quite easy to breed and I believe they are going to become aviculturally extinct much faster than other Little Brown Birds.

QFS had a Silverbill breeding program going, I thought?
LML