Aussie Finch Forum

Which ones are easier to keep and breed and generally more robust? I'm pulling my hair out over the Gouldians at the moment and wondering if I should give the Parrot Finches a try. Problem is they are very expensive here in Adelaide. Try $100 for a pair of blue faced.

The parrot finches are hard, inexpensive, pretty, and easy to care for. they do need lots of greenfood, they are very active, and will devour mealworm,s though they aren't essential.

Gouldians, though plainly beautiful, are far less hardy, also inexpensive, and need also lots of green food.

myself, I'd choose parrot finches any day, but then there's no accounting for taste

Do parrot finches use nest boxes like Gouldians or do they have other ways of making a nest?

yup, they use nest boxes, and they also build they're own if you have enough brush, and they get a bit of privacy.

I can solve this in a way which won't help at all - Gouldians ARE a Parrotfinch! Never having kept either in cabinets my opinion would be that Gouldians are a lot less trouble given that you can easily sex them, you can tell when the female is in breeding condition, they tolerate nest inspections and the young don't require live food. - no other parrotfinch species have all these going for them. As for being delicate no parrotfinches (including Gouldians) have down feathers and so are all prone to chills but still Gouldians have a reputation of inexplicably dropping dead but are cheaper to replace because they are easier to breed.If you're after a profit got for gouldians and if you're up for the challange start with the next easiest - the Blue-faced Parrotfinch and work your way up the scale of difficulty if you dare to the Red-faced and Tri-colour but don't even try the more difficult ones like Bamboos or Pin-tails if they still exist in Australia. I think most actually prefer nest boxes over building their own but that's much more likely in an aviary than a cabinet.

Hi, I have never had Gouldians as a friend of mine has them and watching his heartache everytime he loses one. Last winter he lost alot in his outdoor aviary, maybe next year after winter I would like to own some. I do have Red Parrot finches and find them a joy to own, everytime I come out the back door they come to the wire as they know I have mealy worms. I find them a very entertaining finch very inquisive and I have had good breeding results. Mine make nest in the boxes and also hollow logs I have in the aviary.

Thanks guys. All very informative posts you have made. I might have to look into getting me a few pairs of parrot finches.

just to be correct, greg, gouldians WERE a parrot finch, not ARE.

Now they are classified in a genus of their own, Chloebia

The taxonomic status of the genus Chloebia is very contentious. I'm a lumper not a splitter when it comes to taxonomy so to "correct" me is a matter of opinion. If you go back and look at the classification of Gouldian they were originally three species (Poephila mirabilis with red head, P.gouldiae with black head and P. armitiana with a yellow head). I think it was Gould who first lumped them all into Amindina gouldie in 1840 and later revised this to Chloebia gouldiae. Since there wasn't the flow of information we have now it was unknown that Swainson had described the genus Erythura in 1837 and it is there that most biologists place the Gouldian and all the other parrotfinches. If pushed perhaps I could allot it to a sub-genus but it's all just semantics.

I have both blue faced pfs and red faced pfs. I would say my blues seem to be the most flighty. The red while more flighty than a gouldian are not as turbo charged as my blues seem to be. The blues are on eggs I think, I dare not even glance in that direction, so its eyes forward on entering the aviary
The red faced cant seem to decide on which nest to choose, Ive seen their over-building skills poking out of at least three nest boxes! The gouldians must be happy, they now have their own personal building team, and very well insulated nest boxes.