How to Keep and Breed Finches

eileen | Dec 21, 2009 |

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This can be a very rewarding and interesting hobby or you could breed them professionally. With care and good selection of birds you should be able to breed a variety of finches in your own back yard aviary. The only problem is that once you start you become so happy with the process that you end up building more aviaries.

SELECTING YOUR FINCHES

Always buy your birds for breeding from different breeders. Buy the male from one and the female from another breeder, this will eliminate any interbreeding. If you visit breeders with birds already paired up and there is only one pair in the breeder's aviary then you can assume that the young birds are related. They will be brother and sister.

Choose birds that are lively with clear eyes and have no signs of discharge on his vent. You need strong healthy birds not a finch that is sitting sullen on the perch with his feathers fluffed up.

Birds caught in a net and moved to a strange house will cause enough stress a weak finch would not survive this trauma. Buy your bird in the morning and have it housed as soon as possible. Never put a bird into a new home in the afternoon, as all birds need hours to familiarise themselves in new surroundings. They could fly into the wire and kill themselves or damage their wings when put into new surroundings.

TOXIC PLANTS TO AVOID IN AVIARY

Azalea Elephants ear
Iris Ivy
Larkspur Oleander
Poinsettia Beans
Bird of paradise Boxwood
Daffodils Snow drop
Sweet pea Wisteria

FEEDING

Avoid malnutrition in your finches by giving them a variety of seeds. Most seed diets contain levels of fat and are deficient in vitamins and minerals.

You can prolong or shorten your bird's life with the type of food you feed them. Never allow their diets to become boring.

Finches like all birds need more than just seeds, offer them green food, half ripened grass seed heads, Dandelion and Chickweed, or vegetables such as silver beet, lettuce, thistles, and flower heads are very nutritious. Make sure the green food you give them is free from any chemicals. Good clean food is essential to a healthy bird.

During the breeding season live food can be added to their diet. I prefer to feed mine meal worms, which can be bought from your local distributor or you may choose to breed meal worms yourself, which is what I do. You could also give them maggots and breed these from the larvae of the blowfly, personally this idea has never appealed to me.

It is important to provide birds with plenty of fine grit or Cuttlefish where possible; this can be collected from your local beach.

Never place food or water under perches, as it will become contaminated from their droppings.

BREEDING

Males usually court females until mating takes place. They are fun to watch as they perform a bobbing dance on the perch to attract the female. She will often crouch on a perch moving her tail if she accepts his advances.

Some finches reach maturity by 9 months, although I prefer to wait until they are a year old before breeding with them.

Most lay between 4-6 white eggs (10m x 15mm). Incubation period is approximately 13 days. The young usually leave their nest after 21 days. In captivity, young birds should not be removed from their parents until about 4 weeks after leaving their nest or until you are sure they are feeding themselves.

MANAGEMENT

If you buy your birds locally, then quarantine or acclimatization isn't necessary.

Be very careful when you introduce a new bird to an aviary. Some birds won't accept the mate you have chosen for them. It is a good idea to put them into adjoining cages, until they settle down.

Quarantining basically means keeping the birds isolated and under close observation. Signs of stress and shock from catching and shifting the birds can cause serious illness or even death. Finches are a lot frailer than the small parrots or similar birds.

The catching of birds alone can cause them stress, never put birds into a strange aviary after midday as they need time to settle and locate a roosting site before dark. Flying into the wire of an unfamiliar aviary can result in instant death.

Ensure that enough shelter and cover is adequate; never upset birds during the breeding season if it can be avoided.

If a new bird does show signs of ailment, then warmth and peace and quiet are essential. Catching a sick bird must be done quickly and calmly so it doesn't die from exhaustion. Place the sick bird if possible into a hospital cage or a small bird cage or box with a low voltage light in it or use an infrared lamp, this will give them the warmth they need. Constantly check on them, making sure they aren't in any drafts; eliminate them if there is.

Always handle any birds with care holding its head between the first two fingers and the body in the palm of your hand. This will help prevent them from biting you too.

The need to keep a cage or aviary scrupulously clean cannot be over emphasized. Water must be freshened daily as most birds love to bathe in their water.

A small fine spray gun can be used to spray the birds if they become too hot.

KEEPING RECORDS

Always keep precise records of your birds, once birds of similar varieties have left the nest it is very hard to distinguish which bird came from which nest. After leaving the nest, it's even harder to tell the young from the parent once it is fully colored.

Plastic leg Rings are the best way to make sure, then you can tell at a glance which bird is from which parent, without having to catch them causing unnecessary stress. Personally, I ring each of my parent birds, then I can distinguish them at a glance from their babies if left in same aviary until they color up.

I never sell any of my finches after one o'clock in the afternoon, making sure the new buyer has time to settle the bird into its new home no later than three o'clock.

If you follow these suggestions then you should have good healthy finches, giving you many years of pleasure.