redbrows, double bars or diamonds?

A place to ask about Australian Finches in general.
For example: Questions about more than a single species.
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Jayburd
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sorry for the kate reply guys,
VR1Ton wrote:Work your way through, start with the Doublies, then The Diamonds, then the Red-Heads, easiest to hardest (so I think).
:thumbup: sounds good to me.
BENSONSAN wrote:Also weren't diamies your original plan? u still want longtails aswell jay? No matter what you choose tho there all great birds Aussie finches rule!
diamonds mainly depended on my finch club's decision to "sponsor" them like for example the riverina club and the white headed nun.
I'll get to the longtails in a sec ;)
desertbirds wrote:How many pairs are you going to put in your new aviary Jayburd ,and what would like to actully breed ?? Before you buy too many birds remeber you have winter coming along soon.
DB. I have looked through hundreds of magazines, books, etc. I have chosen birds with a compatibility rating of 8. 9. or 10. I will list those:

Rating: 8
pictorella
yellow-rump
saints
jacarini
tri-nun
tri coloured parrot finch

Rating: 9
Double Bar
Painted
Red brow
Gouldian (in general)
Orange Breast

Rating: 10
Plum head
Star

other birds I may have wanted, I.e. cordons (6), longtails (5), diamonds (5), and ruddies (7), will just have to wait until I have bigger and/or more aviaries in the future. I can't afford to have fighting with the limited space I have.

In answer to your other question, I believe 10ft (1m) square per pair is... satisfactory for eating, breeding, flying etc. therefore my square-meterage is 8.05m. therefore 7-8 pairs.

I will give the zebs a go, simply because I have them and they have never caused a problem for me, but should I find they are making trouble or stopping the other birds from breeding, out they go.

Yep, I know, I am not getting my saints/other parrot finch/button quail until july (still early but hopefully past the worst) and nothing else before that :).
natamambo wrote:Redbrows - they're so cute! Easy to keep, never cause trouble and waaay easier to sex than double bars ;) .
You need several pairs in a well planted aviary to get them to breed though.
I would like redbrows, but I think I'll start with double bars, an old favourite and see how we go from there. Redbrows are also more expensive around here nowadays :(
Julian

Birdwatcher and finch-keeper.

Feel free to check out my photos here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/lewinsrail/
And my birding antics here: http://worthtwointhebushbirding.blogspot.com.au/
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Jayburd
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EDIT:
Jayburd wrote:DB. I have looked through hundreds of magazines, books, etc. I have chosen birds with a compatibility rating of 8. 9. or 10. I will list those:
I don't plan to keep all of them :lol: :shock: no just the ones I can choose from ;)
mum has already put a very definite cross next to painted, jacarini and star :lol: can't say I disagree, apart from with the painteds :P
Julian

Birdwatcher and finch-keeper.

Feel free to check out my photos here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/lewinsrail/
And my birding antics here: http://worthtwointhebushbirding.blogspot.com.au/
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spanna
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jay, if you like the diamonds i have found they only ever bicker with their own species. i have never seen one have a go at any other bird, i've even had a pair of painteds nest on top of a diamonds nest, with not a single argument between them. so if you get 3 unrelated young birds, see which ones pair up, then remove the extra, you should be fine with diamonds on your aviary.
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Jayburd
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OK thanks spanna :D
so here's my basic plan:
plumheads: 1pr
parrot finches 1pr
saints 1-2pr
diamonds/double bars 2pr depending
gouldians 1pr
tri nuns 1pr

if I decide on diamonds I'll have 1pr and get 1pr of masked doves instead.
Julian

Birdwatcher and finch-keeper.

Feel free to check out my photos here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/lewinsrail/
And my birding antics here: http://worthtwointhebushbirding.blogspot.com.au/
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spanna
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:thumbup:
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jusdeb
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Jayburd said ....sorry for the kate reply guys,

So whos Kate ? and what species is she ? :lol:
Accept that some days you are the pigeon, and some days you are the statue.
David Brent
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E Orix
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Jayburd get your aviary finished first.
But keep on planning. With one aviary you will have to really think about what you want to keep.
As mentioned before you can fill your aviary to the max then as soon as young start fledging you get into real trouble
with over stocking.If you over stock at first it solves the problem as you will have few young to over crowd in the future.
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desertbirds
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E Orix wrote:Jayburd get your aviary finished first.If you over stock at first it solves the problem as you will have few young to over crowd in the future.
You can read a hundred more books and sharpen your pencil on that list, but there it is in black and white.Do you want to keep finches or breed some ?
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Jayburd
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desertbirds wrote:Do you want to keep finches or breed some ?
breed as many as possible.
now before you go off and say that in my size aviary to get proper breeding results I should only have 4 pairs etc. etc., think about this.
There's a guy in Canberra who has an aviary 2m x 1m x 1.5m. he keeps 7 pairs in it. he has so far bred 2 jacarinis, 4 or 5 cubans, bengalese, zebras, quail and his ruddies are on eggs. this aviary has only a little tiny sprig of brush up in a corner, no real nest boxes to speak of, only a few baskets, and the birds get no live food.
something to think about.
E Orix wrote:As mentioned before you can fill your aviary to the max then as soon as young start fledging you get into real trouble
with over stocking.If you over stock at first it solves the problem as you will have few young to over crowd in the future.
how long do fledgling finches of various species take to become independent? I am going to ask around some nearby aviaries about the same size as mine and see what their stocking rates are... one in particular comes to mind, and he breeds quite a lot of birds, usually having a large amount of plumheads, jacarinis, cubans, melbas etc. at bird sales from his breeding...
Julian

Birdwatcher and finch-keeper.

Feel free to check out my photos here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/lewinsrail/
And my birding antics here: http://worthtwointhebushbirding.blogspot.com.au/
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Buzzard-1
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As you know there is no hard rule determining numbers, the more room the better the breeding results even you can't argue with that. I know when I reduced number of pairs per aviary my breeding results were a lot better :thumbup:
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