Pet Punter

Posts Tagged ‘finch’

Certain finches, notably male weavers and whydahs, undergo a dramatic change in appearance during the breeding period when they become much more colorful. Their breeding requirements differ quite markedly from other finches as well, with male weavers building ornate nests and needing to be kept in harems comprising a single cock and perhaps 3 or 4 hens. Male whydahs have an elaborate display dance, while the hens will deposit their eggs in the nests of waxbills, rather than incubating them themselves.

The typical breeding behavior of weavers and whydahs may represent a challenge even for the experienced bird-keeper. However, other species of finch will breed readily, and will also make popular exhibition subjects as they have been developed in a wide range of attractive colors and feather types. The Bengalese Finch, which is better known in the United States as the society finch and the zebra finch are among the most widely kept finches for this reason.

Bird seed is deficient in number key ingredients, and you will need to supplement the bird’s diet to make up for these shortcomings. Some seed mixes contain vitamin and mineral supplements coated on to dehulled seeds, so that they will not be wasted as there is no husk for the bird to remove. Other mixes can contain added pellets of nutrients, although birds will often avoid eating these nuggets, choosing to eat only their regular seeds, and it will be less easy for you then to monitor their diet. Grit will supplement mineral requirements and will assist in the birds digestive process.

As an alternative, try a vitamin and mineral powder, which will stick well to damp greenstuff, or a similar product added to the drinking water. Feeding fresh natural foods, such as chickweed, dandelion and seeding grasses can also help to compensate for any deficiency. Calcium is essential mineral and is particularly important for the hen during the breeding season as it is the main constituent of eggshells. Cuttlefish bone is a valuable source of calcium, and this will also help to keep the birds’ bills in trim as they peck at the powdery surface. Scrape a little off the surface at first to make it easier for them to start nibbling.

Zebra Finch: These birds rank among the most widely kept of all finches. Their name comes from the black and white striping usually seen on the chest of cook birds, although this feature may not be apparent in some of the color forms that have since been developed. Hens can be identified by the more orangish rather than red coloration of their bills. Zebra finches are likely little birds, and they are highly social by natures, living well in groups or as single pairs. They can be housed with waxbills and the other non-aggressive finches as part of a collection. Pairs are equally adaptable in breeding terms, using open-fronted finch nest boxes or nesting baskets for this purpose. Among the popular coloars are chest-flanked whites, which replace the grey coloration of the normal variety on the head, black and wings with white. Pieds with variable white and colored areas are also popular, although it is not possible to predict the markings of chicks, from those of their parents. Fawn, silver and cream varieties are equally well established, while among the newer variants is the black-breasted, with the barring on the chest of the cock replaced by solid black coloration. There is also a crested form.

Bengalese Finch: The origin of the Bengalese is mysterious – this finch does not occur in the wild, and is does not occur in the wild, and is thought to be the result of cross-breeding with the striated manikin. Bengalese finches are thought to have been developed at least 500 years ago, probably in China. Their colorations is shades of brown. The fawn of the species is pale compared to the darker chestnuts, while the chocolate color is regarded as the original form. These colors also exist in combination with white and the crested Bengalese, as they are known, are very popular. Visual sexing is impossible with these finches and it is only the cock’s songs that distinguish them.

Gouldian Finch: The stunning Gouldian finch is unusual in that it occurs in the wild in three different head colors – red, black and yellow. With domestication there have been other changes in color, including the introduction of white-breasted variants among others. Gouldians are delicate birds must be given heated accommodation, certainly through the winter. They can be bred either on a colony basis or, more commonly in breeding cages. The bills of a cock birds take on a cherry-colored tip as they come into breeding condition.