Aussie Finch Forum

Hi all
what are saints like to keep? do they have any specific dietary or breeding needs?
I have heard a bit about them from my friend who had a pair some time ago... but not any real proper data, as he never bred any.

Absolutely love them I have red and yellow. have bred a few. A bit allusive in a planted aviary very much like red brows in behaviour mine love live food when feeding young otherwise soaked seed and green seed heads.

Mine wouldn't breed unless they had termites, but you may be able to get them onto the softfoods around today, much more advanced than when I had them.

Ive been spying some Reds ...gawjus little bird but live food turns me offffffffffffffffffffffff.

saint helenas are a great bird to have in a mixed aviary, they have a very docile manner. Once they start to breed very hard to stop them. They require live food. They can build a few nests prior to the hen accepting one. I currently have a yellow beaked cock with a fawn hen. If I had to lower my numbers in the aviary I never consider removing them. I have bred yellow beaked fawns from the pair I have, and are a stunning looking bird. They have a high success rate in fertility and raising young. I have found that breeders love the mutations in these birds. I have found them to be hardy, the only finch of the top of my head that I would not put them with is a cutthroat. Jayburd not sure what mix you have but I highly recommend them. Dietary needs are similar to most foreign finches eat most everything but do require live food when breeding. They are popular with those who breed but for some reason one of the last birds people consider in an aviary. i think it is cause people think they are similar to a red brow which are half the price. Jayburd rate them highly.

St Helenas are a great little bird. One lesson i recently learned is that I can't put them into my cabinets. Put a few young ones in a week ago and found two of them had squeezed through the bars. As the others mentioned they do require livefood . I offer mine mealworms and termites and they seem to have a preference for mealworms. I've been watching a pair of mine recently that are feeding young at the moment and they always eat their mealworms in the same spot. They fly to the feed tray to get one, back out into the flight area on the floor and eat it, always in the exact same spot which I find rather funny. A couple of other important food items are seeding grasses and cucumber. If you can make sure none of these run out, you will be blessed with large clutches one after another.

Another advantage is these guys colour up quickly, so they can be sold at around 3 months old.

Its looking more and more likely I will be looking for a pair of these, would they be ok with pair each of fire finch, gouldians, BFPF, emblema and ob?

Yes they pretty much keep together don't fight very underrated bird.

We keep & breed quite a few Saint Helenas.They are used as the hoste specie for the Pintailed Whydah.
I do not know if we have bred out the need for live food but our two flocks are rarely if ever seen at the live food tray.
I guess its what they were reared on, possibly the same as birds reared on Termites take awhile to accept other forms of live food.
Recently we cleared out an aviary of this seasons young and from originally putting 10 pair up 48 young were taken out and several more were left in as they were too young to be removed.They also reared some Pintails as well.Over the years I have often thrown a single pair in an aviary and they have done very well and often have big clutches of 5+.I am sure if I put the 10 pair in seperate aviaries they would produce a bigger % but they are there to be a hoste.
They are an excellent aviary specie for a mixed collection, the demand it seems is always there.They do not hassle anything, are easily sexed and like all waxbills quite attractive active birds.

sounds like a generally nice and peaceful species just what I wanted
Thanks everyone!!!