Surviving Winter

Includes Species Profile
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desertbirds
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Posts: 1318
Joined: 21 Nov 2010, 09:13
Location: Alice Springs

It`s just a theory dano but what your photo suggests is a bonded pair and not much else.lol.If your hen bird is soft then i suggest retiring her to a mild climate to see out her days in comfort.The only real advice i received from locals that keep birds here is "dont buy birds from Queensland because they are soft".Thanks for confirming that one. I was hoping to find a new and informative species profile and stay open minded to all suggestions as i do.Advocating indoor aviaries and heating for southern states seems like a big step backwards given that this species is readily available, reasonably priced and bred in reasonable numbers ,far from your suggested ideal climate which is ? I wont be purchasing a fridge and a pair of Strawberry finches, i will just stick to my freezing cold mornings,other tropical /sub tropical species and prey they dont cop a slight breeze or draught. :thumbup:
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garymc
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Posts: 246
Joined: 17 Feb 2010, 21:26
Location: Western Australia

Birds and icy cold weather are an interesting combination. After being fortunate enough to have to (didn't take much of an arm twist) travel to Johannesburg and then up to the southern Kalahari as a part of my work I found myself waking to a fine -6C morning - cold but very still (month of May). Out for a short stroll and I came across a flock or two of blue breasted waxbills and flocks of red-billed fires. Happily bouncing along the ground. The day warmed up to around 25 degrees. Next day was pretty much the same as were the days for the next week. The fact that the birds were there in numbers suggested that they could handle this extreme. I would imagine that in the middle of summer the daily temperatures would commonly exceed 40C. So birds which we consider to be soft can handle the extremes


I think where we can come unstuck is that we give them all the good stuff - which isn't around in the wild in times of extremes - which encourages them to want to nest in the less than ideal times of year. These wild birds may only rear one or two clutches a year (opportunistic) whereas in our aviaries we would be generally disappointed if we only got one or two clutches a year. I know I would.

Stress from trying to cope with temperature extremes, coupled with the stress of competition presented in aviaries, stress from trying to breed all add up and thats when problems may arise. So we as individual birdkeepers attempt to alleviate some of these
sources of stress. Cut out drafts, not overcrowding, not trying to breed in the colder or hotter months etc etc

Probably the most important thing to take away from my little rant is don't always take what you read as gospel otherwise we may never move the avicultural boundaries. We often read/listen but never really factore into account what sort of climate the info was
gathered for.
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BENSONSAN
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Posts: 778
Joined: 14 Aug 2009, 00:03
Location: Sydney N.S.W
Location: Sydney, Australia

Hey gary very well put. I take the best i can from all the info.
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amalan11
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Posts: 301
Joined: 27 Jul 2010, 21:11
Location: Sydney NSW
Location: Sydney NSW

dano,tried to message you to ask this but it wont let me. Do you think these birds are as delicate as say a gouldian? they look lovely but after reading your profile im worried they are not sutible for Sydney that gets down to 4c in winter.
I have breeding taninbars some say they are hard ,im thinking if I got strawberrys I may put them in with the tanninbars as there is room ..in the winter they could have a heat lamp
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desertbirds
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Posts: 1318
Joined: 21 Nov 2010, 09:13
Location: Alice Springs

BENSONSAN wrote:Hey gary very well put. I take the best i can from all the info.
Some people do have a way with words, i got a bit carried away and i do apologise to Dano68 for the comments i made. Many species of finches can handle well below 0 deg overnight. We have had a few nights around -5 deg this winter and the birds coped ok. We dont have humidity and very many wet ,cold days in the desert so i shoudlnt have commented on keeping finches other than the climate im accustomed to.
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djb78
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Posts: 1097
Joined: 26 Apr 2011, 08:11
Location: melton vic

I have kept strawberries here in Vic during winter, as most people agree that a cold drafts can knock off an acclimatized birds this especially goes for non acclimatized birds/finches. With winters here in Vic being cold wet and with little sunlight I had to resort to a bit of heat from a heatlamp, only when I've noticed that they are struggling with the cold and only for a few hours (morning and at night about 2 hours each). With my strawberries I have found them to be a bit more robust compared to my ruddies but have also known old breeders where its the opposite. I would say the best way to know is to buy off a local breeder and ask them how they get their finches through winter and this works with all birds.
Danny
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