Chestnut Breasted Finches

[glen]

Hi All

Seeing that these occur wild in the Norther parts of Aus, I thought that some one could spare a bit of information on breeding and housing these finches/ manakins are they easily bred, are they compatabile with D/sparrows,Parsons,RH Parrots, Masked's and stars.

There are a few around here in RSA however many are crossed with other nuns and manakins and one finds true strains difficult to come buy , having purchased a few young birds and once they coloured up ther chests were blotched with patches of Black and white and were not solid brown, is this crosses or just diffrent coulouration??

Thanks

G...

[GregH]

I think that you are likely to have a hybrid given munias propenity to hybridize in captivity if kept together. That said there are different subspecies of Lonchura castinothorax in New Guinea but all have clean chestnut-coloured breasts. There are however related species there too like the snow mountan munia (L. montana) which might have made it into some European collections. Here is a picture that I "borrowed" from the internet bird collection http://ibc.lynxeds.com/photo/snow-mount ... adult-bush

[dano_68]

Hi Glen,

Under the right condition CB Manikins will breed like rabbits! Lol

I actually have small wild flocks living not far from me.

In the aviary they are a very docile and usually peaceful finch.

The may hybridise with your Masked Finches so that is something to keep in mind. However I think this would only be a problem if you had spare cockbirds / hens.

CB's really like tall grasses in the aviary and will literally hang around on them all day.

The hardest thing is getting a true pair as this species is monomorphic. However, like most species of the Lonchura family they like each other’s company so colony breeding is very successful.

They do not like small cages or flights. They can be spooked quite easily and therefore nervous and flighty.

You do not need live food to breed them however it may be beneficial. I have never had them take like food – mealworms, termites, maggots but I do know breeders who have them eat termites.

As for your dirty breast – lol – yep, I would say hybrids for sure which is a real shame. I would remove them before you put any CB's in there!

If you can, try and buy 3 pairs (if you have a big enough aviary) and keep them away from other Lonchura, Yellow Rumps and Pictorella finches.

Like I said, under the right conditions they would be breeding in no time.

I hate to tell you this, but there is a real glut of CB's in Brisbane this year. For some reason everyone that has them have bred hundreds - litterally and are now having trouble selling them. One guy I know sold 50 for AUD$10 pair only last week to a southern dealer (they normally go for $30 pr). I know another breeder in QFS who has 60 young ones and will be tying to sell them at this Sunday's bird sale!!

Good luck!

[glen]

Thanks Gents, much appreciated, seeing that we get 95% of our birds sexed via small procudere where by the vet takes a peak into the rump and then tatoos the right for Male and Left for Hen under the wing we need not worry to much about not getting true pairs, however we are currently paying around $100Aus with the exchange rate so I am guess for $10-20 a pair can you send me a few pairs ........ But then seeing that you are paying $1000 for Pintails that we have to get rid of around our averys due to thier aggression , I can arrange a swop or two

Thanks for the advice much appreciated, I was planning to put them with maskeds, so maybe not anymore, I think they might be better off with D/sparrow or Parsons.

Thanks

G

[Fincho162]

Glen,

saw your post and thought I'd throw a few things your way....if of any use.
Cock Chestnuts have a silvery top to their heads and the females are a brown colour.....also the hens head is narrower than the males.

Mine loved livefood in the form of maggots and mealworms.....in fact they loved it so mcuh they descended upon the bowl en-mass and none of the other birds (weavers included) never got a chance!!! The "colony" went from 5 originals to 22 in no short time!!!
Probably best kept as pairs and not as a colony for the sake of the finches they share their cages with.........and definately Parsons over Masks with them!!

They are really a stunning bird and think we Aussies are a bit blinkered to them because of their common status. Did see a Kiwi whom was filming inside the failed finch import attempt and he couldn't get the video off the chestnuts despite the heap of African finches in the importation mix!!...........of all the birds there he was most excitied about getting hold of some Bullies!!!

Have seen several chestnuts with the black on the front of the chest and they look quite striking and managed to get 6 for a mate out of a normal colony here but they just bred normal coloured Chestnuts.............so no closer to knowing whether it was a mutation or what............or "one of those avian things"!!

If you hang green seed heads from the roof of your aviary by a wire they will amuse you for hours running up and down the stems as it is the way they feed in the wild.

[glen]

Hi Fincho

Thanks for the info much appreciated, will let you know how it goes.

G

[finchbreeder]

Pity it's not possible to do those export/import swaps. Small scale only of course. Maybe the CB knew there was going to be floods and bred up big time to allow for the risk of drowning so the population was not in danger of extinction? Any chance of taking and posting pics of your blackish fronted CB's as that would make it easier to say if they are a colour difference or a hybrid. Or just get the discussion off on into a tizz.
LML

[Fincho162]

Will try but they are not hybrids - colour morph or summat but never a hybrid as they appeared in a colony of chestnuts and he did not keep any other Munia type finches.

[finchbreeder]

I was actually meaning Glen's birds. Photos's of.
LML

[glen]

I Will try and get a few up I am currently waiting for them to go through the final moult into the season and then will see the few that have already finished seem to have "lost" the little black feathers on the chest , could this just be a juvinal stage and once they are fully coloured up they loose those black patches ?? Any views??

Thanks

Glen...