Aussie Finch Forum

Hi, do young pairs of TCPF gnerally take a while to get going??, two cluthches this year, first lot 5 eggs - all infertile, 2nd clutch looks like they've deserted, cant get a good look to see if any young. They look to be looking for nest site again.

No sure why they deserted, have had a few young come out in the last month (Dbars & stars), and was going to catch them all up when PF had hopefully fledged. Might be the cause?

Has been a funny year, very mixed results, stars & double bars, breeding no worries, masked - infertile ( 2 clutches), and TCPF, certainly having go but no luck as yet.

If they are first year breeders its not uncommon,nor is it uncommon with a young male older proven hen. At least they are bonded. It may be a silly question but are you sure they are a pair and not two hens. It can be hard to tell with young birds?

Hi Buzzard, definitie pair, I am guessing they are 12-18 months old, I have had them for about 10 months.
Male sings and chases and female is much more subtle version of him, hasnt got the brillaint blue colour.

It is hard to tell exactly when they actaully go down to sit, they seem to fluff around a bit (say week or so) when you think they might be or might not be on eggs.Once down though they are pretty tight sitters. this is what happened for their first clutch, I proabably let them sit for 3-4 weeks before suspecting eggs were clear, but they sat all the time.

Not much you can do but ensure the breeding diet is correct,plenty of material to line nest and wait and see. If no result next time your male may be infertile but its hard to write them off there are so many factors that can prevent eggs from hatching.

Been reading that they like fruit, orange, paw paw, apple and cucumber too. Worth a try.

Hey lardles, had similar experience. Had 3 pairs down 3 times all with no luck, only 1 fertile egg out of 9 clutches. i eventually sourced 2 new cockbirds and hey presto! nests of young. I believe my original cocks were overweight ,so have separated them and have put them on a seed only diet.

Yes I was also going to suggest the cockbird may be overweight - thus he cannot connect his cloacal protrusion with the hen. One way to tell is to catch him and blow on his vent. If it looks yellowish then this is probably a fat deposit.

Put him on a diet of 50/50 White french millet and Red Panicum millet ONLY for 6 weeks and check him again.

Thanks Dano & Silverfox, they have gone back down again, so will wait and see what happens with this clutch (3rd one for summer - if you can call VIC weather a summer this year), but have to catch young DB and stars up in next month or so, and will check TCPF cock then, would running two hens with the one cock keep him in shape?

The avairy is 5m x 2.5m, planted, so I would hope it is big enough for them to get enough exercise.

The last two clutches had different outcomes - they deserted the last clutch (2nd one), but it is too hard at the moment to have a squizz to see if their are any dead young??? (this is their first season ), as for their first clutch I think they would have sat and sat, only that I took the nest down after 3-4 weeks.

They are an interesting finch to keep, and quite hardy if they can survuvie Central Vic winters no probs - just keep the wind/draughts out.

Cheers, Lardles