Oriental Green Finches...my experience!Jayburd wrote:I've just got an email back form Russell Kingston about a species suitable to canberra for my finch club to sponsor - among the birds listed was the Oriental Greenfinch.
Can anyone help me with a bit of info? how much do they cost? are they good in a mixed aviary? can they be kept as 2pr in the same aviary? are they free breeders? that sort of stuff
Thanks!
How much do they cost?
The current cost in QLD is $200 a pair. I have seen them advertised on Petlink for $160 in VIC and $120 in NSW. However, when I called the NSW breeder he was nervous about answering questions like – are the aviary bred? Pure strain? Related? He mentioned he also kept Green Finches so that was enough for me to hang up. Now do you get why they were so cheap? Hmmmmm
Are they good in a mixed aviary?
I have only ever kept them in a mixed aviary. For the most part they are fine, however I did have a young cock bird a few months ago that took a dislike to my Cordons. In fact, the OGF pick a Cordon up by the scruff of the neck and gave him a good shake. Now before you start feeling sorry for the Cordon, those little buggers ask for everything they get! Lol They would annoy and torment the OGF until he snapped! Other than that I have never seen them attack another species. The only time they get agro is at roosting time, with each other.
Can they be kept as 2pr in the same aviary?
I had 2 pair in one aviary 2m x 1.8m x 1.8m with a few other birds. Each night they have the annoying habit of sleeping on the wire (much like Siskins do). For some reason they would bicker and fight over the same bit of wire to sleep on – they only had 6 sq metres of mesh to choose from, but they always wanted the same bit…sheeesh…anyway, these little dust ups could get quite agro. So much so I ended up separating the pairs. So in short, yes, 1 pair per aviary and they should be fine in a mixed collection so long as they are not cramped in.
Are they free breeders?
I would say no. They seem to have a fairly regimented breeding season – June/July – January. Mine have tried many times to build a nest in the brush, however they usually fail. So I feel sorry for them and put a couple of canary cup nests in and bang, they will go down in a week! You can tell when they are ready to nest because the cockbird will start to feed the hen on the perch. Usually a week or 2 later they are on eggs.
I normally get 3 eggs and fledge 3 chicks. Live food is not that important but lots of greens are! We have a type of lawn grass up here called nut grass. Anyway, when the shoots are just coming up you can pull them and the middle comes out. You have a nice white shoot – anyway, I give these every day during the breeding season and the OGF eat nearly all of these and no other green food! Even though I give wild panic, chickweed, milk thistle and dandelion they tend to go for the grass shoots. Another favourite is Safflower seeds. These seeds are normally too big for other finches but the OGF’s love them. Not sure if they can crack them, but they love to suck and chew on one for ages. They look like old men chewing tobacco lol. I was feeding my birds Greens and Grains until the source dried up!! Grrrrrr…anyway, the OGF would rarely eat any other seed mixes or single seeds but the Greens and grains. I actually got really worried when I couldn’t buy it any more, but they have moved on. I have replicated the g&g best I can and they eat this ok. I think it is the Barnyard Grass they like. Oh, but they also like the QFS tonic mix – occasionally.
Other Observations
OGF are very flighty birds. You could even call them nervous types at times. Whenever you go near the aviary they will go nuts. If I hadn’t bred them myself I would have thought they were wild caught birds! Other finches just fly to the other end, where these maniacs will bang from one side to the other. But they also play this game at dusk by themselves, and I really get the impression they like doing it.
They trill/chatter all day long and when courting the cockbirds will sing a beautiful song not dissimilar to a canary.
For most part they stick to themselves and don’t really even acknowledge the other finches in the aviary. Even though they are bigger than all of the Estrildids, they are easy intimidated by say, a Golden Song Sparrow (Passer luteus) cock – half their size!
I love watching OGF fly. The waft like a butterfly and the brilliant flashes of yellow in their wings are stunning.
If you want something completely different to most Estrildid finches then these birds are great. I really enjoy them and will probably always keep them. They have a unique personality and their subtle grey black head cap, yellow wing flashes and happy song make a wonderful addition to any aviary.
They are getting harder to find these days which is a real shame. I have also had 2 enquires from down south to buy hens from me to cross with Himalayan Green Finches (Cardeulis spinoides). HGF are even rarer now and these idiots are trying to make a quick buck by crossing them with OGF. I will NEVER be a party to this kind of thing. In fact, I always give them a blast down the line for even calling me!
One last thing – never mix them with Himalayan Greenfinch or European Greenfinch (Carduelis chloris) – they will hybridize. However, I have kept them with European Goldfinches (Carduelis carduelis) for years and they never even look at each other.
So that’s my story – I love them!
