Aussie Finch Forum

Just wondering who uses what in regards to finch handraising mixes and what tools? Any good websites for finch handraising products? Thanks!!

kimberley breeder wrote:Just wondering who uses what in regards to finch handraising mixes and what tools? Any good websites for finch handraising products? Thanks!!

My wife handrasied a Gouldian on roudybush, she used a crop needle at first and then just a syringe later on.

I used Passwells Handrearing Food with a 1ml Tuberculin Syringe which I drilled the opening out to about 3mm so that you could suck the mixture up. The consistency of the mixture varies from the early days until weaning time but the size of the end of the syringe covers most of the time. In the extreme of tiny chicks you can use a small elastic tube over the end of the syringe to help because of the tiny size. Biggest thing is keeping every utensil you use sanitised and food that you feed over 70F. If you pull this on and succeed then I will take my hat off to you. I have tried and cried after thinking everything was good. Had chicks fly to the finger for a feed and start to eat hard food but just turn their toes up. Be aware that a hand reared bird takes a sh.t load longer to wean than a normal reared. Some one on the forum has mentioned that their hand reared Zebs took 10 weeks! Anyhow good luck.

There is this article on the hand raising of finches, its an American site so the food mentioned probably isnt available here but it give a good grounding on the method.
http://www.birdsnways.com/articles/spenser.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Kaytee Exact is available again here in Oz ...Very over rated and over priced .

Nutritionally much the same as any other handrearing mix .

I use Pretty Bird which I bulk buy from Priam on line , it comes in different protein % s , is not gritty and doesn't stink like some of the others .

Vetafarm neo care is my second choice.

sorry KB, don't know how i hadn't responded to your post earlier...

i used vetafarm neocare for the 3 i've successfully handreared. i've found they develop slower when hand rearing (take longer to fledge) but mine (2 painteds and one gouldian) have all weened themselves relatively on time. they all did it quite suddenly too... my painteds discovered the livefood bowlin the aviary they were in and chowed down on as many maggots i would supply, weened in 4 days
whereas my gouldian has only been in the aviary for a few hours while i was doing work out there and i just got him to eat seed by pushing it at him so he would pick it up and play with it, eventually learnt how to crack it and now he's my happy little inside bird

My goodness what was in your formula ? That bird is as big as your head .....just joshin but the photo does make him look big .


Oh love the dreadies

yeah he's a good size now. also, i'm assuming 'it' is a 'he', as 'it' has been caught whistling a lot like a male gouldian does, and as 'it' hasn't really had any exposure to any other gouldians i assume it is a boy who knows the song simply through instinct?? not sure, running my own kind of experiment to see how much a bird knows simply by instinct, and how much is learnt behaviour. he loves to sit on your shoulder though, and tells you off if you don't let him out often enough!!!

also (back on topic) i also used a 1mL tuberculin syringe to hand rear, with gouldians you can use this from day 2, other smaller birds may need a smaller fitting on the end, such as a large gauge needle which is trimmed down and filed for smoothness.

Hey spanna you know if you use shampoo all those knots will come out, just a little hint from an older gentleman.

Wish I could draw a characature ( spell check let me down on this one ) of the little Gouldian with dreadies .

Like father like ..............