Grenadier Weavers/Superb Wrens/Splendid Wrens

[Mickp]

Question time ( lots of )
to keep these species in an aviary what sort of things do I need to be aware of.
do they require different seed mixes, livefood, green food. what types of plants should I have in there for them.
what other finch species can they/could they be kept with, which species shouldnt be mixed with them.
the types of nests they prefer & materials they use to build them.
I know nothing about any of the three and need some input/guidance

[Jayburd]

Sorry to say, I don't keep any of the three mentioned.

However, from research you shouldn't house the wrens with blue birds (i.e. cordons) and the weavers are aggressive (however, see my last post in the 'bird man honoured' topic).

I'd recommend keeping all 3 if in doubt as to which ones to have!!!!

I hope someone (E orix and poitta maybe?) will be able to help you more, being experienced in the field, I believe...

jay

[Mickp]

Jay you've named the two who I am hoping will answer, I know poitta has wrens and from a couple of comments David has made I believe he has some knowledge with the grenadiers

[craigvdl]

Mick

On the wrens, you must only have one pair per aviary and you will need somewhere to move young shortly after they fledge. Wrens are very territorial and can be extremely aggressive, particularly when breeding, but in my mind they are one of the most delightful occupants of any aviary.

In a large planted aviary, they generally go OK with finches, but no guarantees - a young finch that strays too close to a nesting wren can very quickly meet its end. Although not essential, heavily planted aviaries works best, if only to keep them occupied looking for live food. They are voracious live food eaters - they eat almost nothing else. Mine get small crickets, small mealworms and fly pupae, and eat all day. They occasionally pick at a bit of soaked seed, bit very half heartedly.

They will nest in any sort of natural shrub you provide. Mine love bundles of teatree I have tied around the walls. Have also heard of them nesting in tall guinea grass plants and such like. There have been a couple of really good articles on them on the NZ Just Finches mag which you should track down. But best bet is to speak to some of the breeders who've done well with them who are on this site (guys, you know who you are!). Am sure you will get them to talk to you on the phone - once you've had wrens you can't help but want to talk about them! I am a complete fan now having started with them only six months ago.

As for grenadiers, E Orix is your man (hence his username!).
Craig

[Pete Sara]

mate where do i start..........those little wrens are one of gods beauties but they are temprementle little buggers.Remembering they are natural born killers I have the splendids and the white wings. the white wings are a bit smaller than the splendids and a bit more reclusive (thats my opinion) and also less agro . The bigger the aviary the better if you can go 4 m x 4m your on your way. As Craig said one pair per aviary and a space between pairs, you dont want the chance of escapies to the next cage as you will have your own little fight club, between my pairs i have a pair of cubans who hate blue but are not bothered by them. i keep the splendids alone most of the time with occaisionally a pair of redface parroties in there, the white wings are in with chats and finches with no probs . just nothing blue....no cordons or jacarinis, but i have seen them kept with blue face parrot finches but the aviary was about 10m long they are pretty easy to manage if you can raise cordons or cubans with no probs on live food you are 3 quarters the way there.

FEEDING every day at least once to twice depending if its breeding season,As for feeding i give mine mealies, maggots , small crickets,acid flies and anything that gets attracted to the black light, I also feed mine soft food in the from of passwells insectavore mix with spirulina added, of about a tea spoon a day per pair , but the finches go nuts on the stuff as well so it never goes to waste,i have seen both the wrens in the seed dish but that could be chasing weavles .

PLANTS Well in my aviaries there are lots of guinea grass they love building in this, a few different types of emu bush, ruby salt bush, robin gordan grevillia, red and white bottle brush,pit pit grass,barn yard grass,native wysteria(makes good nesting sites when growing up a wire trellis) small bamboos ,various ferns and iceberg roses.

NESTING.. lots and lots and lots and lots and lots(is this enough craig) of cobwebs fine grasses , white feathers , coconut fibre, White wings are partial to cotton wool but some dont recommend this as it can tangle around beaks causing a horrible death but so can half the above mentioned. plenty of nesting sites to choose from is a must other than the tall grasses they love nesting in tea tree thats wrapped in wire to bunch it up more.

hope this of some help if i have forgotten anything just keep asking....plus the superbs are pretty much the same as the above and can be more common over your but the two best to start with are the superbs and splendids.....the former postman known as .....pete

[arthur]

Any and all wrens . . . One pair only per aviary and NO other bird species at all . . . They might be fine for 6 months, they might be fine for 12 months, BUT one day for whatever reason they will become killers . . . one factor that will trigger this behaviour is a prolonged cold period (3 or 4 days) which will cause any "natural" insect life to go to ground thus prompting the wrens to decide that any opposition has to be dispensed with

If you think that this will not happen in your aviary (and I hope that it does not) . . one day you will say, "Well old Arthur may have been right after all!"

[Mickp]

sounds like I should be ok for aviary size then, mine are 9m x 6m and 8m x 4m, very heavily planted.
am getting rid of a few species st helenas, stars, orange breasts and keeping the gouldians to normals.
decided it is time for more of a challenge
as it is I have 5 nests of gouldian babies already, diamonds have young, red faced p/f are sitting. hoping the pictorellas & chestnuts join in

livefood is no problem here arthur, mealies & maggots already happening, maggots can be increased anytime.
couple of moth traps set up as well

[Pete Sara]

arthur is right on the one pair by themselves. the rule of what may work for me, doesn't mean it would work for you....it may take a few seasons to get it right,its taken me four years to get young splendids ( didnt help moving house) only one for the white wings ,try to buy young birds they may take a few years for the male to colour up fully . as for this year i have lost a hen splendid due to mice/ cats after they fledged there young just as she was getting ready to re nest, this year the white wing eggs dont seem to be fertile doesnt help when she has two nests on the go..the chats just keep bickering this should of been there first season old enough to breed but the buggers keep fighting, i have to try and find another pair that are not related to mine to split them up for next year, dont forget to ask lots of questions from who you by them from......pete

[finchbreeder]

You did say you were taking a jaunt to my neck of the woods with some St. Helena's in your back pocket didn't you Mick.
Good luck with the Wren's they are beautiful, but need too much space for me.
LML

[Mickp]

was given this link today in regard to the grenadier weavers
Feathered Flyer
my thanks to the author