Aussie Finch Forum

Does any one have any tips for getting my tri-coloureds to breed?

Just leave them be and they will go when they are ready. A young pair of mine finally built a nest after about 6 months together, 3 eggs 1 hatched but they had attacked it, i guess being young parents it spooked them other 2 we not fertile
Once they go dont stop them i have been told.

Hey AMCA26,
The parrot finches have packed a nest box full of grass and the females tail feathers look a bit ruffled. However they don't seem to spend much time in the nest box... Is this normal?

Mine in nest boxes seem to pack a tight nest and it sits right at the back and yes they dont spend any time in it at all until they start sitting, so they may not be too far off laying if they have built the nest. I need to get some myself but see if you can get your hands on Emu feathers they go wild for it to line the nest.

ok i will get onto the feathers.

do you feed yours live food? and is it essential for breeding them?

The breeder i bought mine from said that live food wasn't essential to get them to breed yet they were housed with blue-caps so they would've had a ready supply of livefood...

Any one had any luck breeding them in Cages ?

The general consensus seems to be not to keep parrot finches in breeding cages as they are very active birds and are prone to suffer from obesity.

My pair are now sitting on eggs. They are very easily disturbed... if i make too much noise replacing their daily foods they leave the nest. However they usually return quickly after.

hmm, good luck with them!

Yeah, I would never even consider housing parrot finches in a cage for more than hospital/quarentine. they need a large space to survive, as they are so active.

I regularly breed my parrot finches in cabinets. I would consider them amongst the best candidates for cabinets. I personally haven't had any obesity issues. I feel that it is just commonsense not to overfeed egg food and mealworms etc unless rearing young and once the breeding has finished I put them into seperate sexes holding aviaries. I haven't bred Tri-colours in cabinets yet but I see no reason why they would be any different to red or blue faced.

Hey guys,

The parrotfinches have been on their eggs for nearly 2 weeks now so hopefully I have some babies soon.

I was wondering what types of low temperatures they can handle once the parents stop brooding them?
I was reading the article on http://www.finchsociety.org/cfa/tanimbar/tanimbar.htm, where he suggests providing heating. He also says he gets winter chills of below zero, don't think i'll have that problem in brisbane.