Aussie Finch Forum

I have two pairs of longtails that are supposedly split for pearl Would like to try and establish a line of the mutation just for the fun of it (I actually prefer the normals but the nevertheless the pearls are pretty). Has anyone had success with longtails in breeding cages, if so that would make my job so much easier as otherwise I'll have to have one pair each in the Gouldian colonies and I'd rather they didn't fight over nests or "space".

Bump. 34 reads, no answers. Anyone able to help?

Not one for recommending Any bird going into a breeding cage let alone Longtails which generally need alot of space to be happy..
If you dont have the room u shouldnt have em I say.

What about in your aviary mixed? Should go ok and they dont upset others so much in pairs if given plenty of nesting material

Aviary space not an issue, I just want to control the genetics of the mutation offspring to help build up the new mutation. However, I did find that I couldn't have them in with my Gouldians, too much fighting over the same nests even thought there were 8 choices for 3 pairs in the flight. No dramas in my redbrows flight.

I prefer aviary bred for normals, I don't like mixing up normal's blood lines though. They'll be in a flight the rest of the year.

natamambo wrote:I did find that I couldn't have them in with my Gouldians, too much fighting over the same nests

It seems that is the same result in the wild too. With the Longtails winning.

I'd say a pair of longtails in a colony of gouldians is unlikely to be an issue. I've had longtails and gouldians together and never had an issue. Mind you this was in my 8m by 3m planted aviary with plenty of nestboxes and many of the adults were bred in this aviary so were used to each other. The gouldians seemed to hold their own against the longtails. My longtails sometimes use a nestbox but usually build in a shrub or brush. I've now removed the gouldians from this cage, but only to get some space so I could add other species.

Yea to answer your first question they would breed very freely in a breeding cabinet. Not hard to breed and if your only putting them in there for a few weeks to breed i see no issue with it at all. Wont jump down your throat for doing it. Nothing wrong with selectively breeding them.

Like sam said aswell about the gouldians...mine are in with gouldians and there realy no issue. No one gets hurt and as long as theres plenty of nesting spots a space alls good. Fledged young from both species in the same aviary.