Are Cordon Bleu Finches hard to keep?

[awesomefowl]

I saw some at the pet store--man are they CUTE!!!

Are they hard to keep? I don't want zebra finches because they produce too many babies. Anyone have some?

 

[awesomefowl]

Anyone have finches?

 

[awesomefowl]

Iz a pet store a gud place to by dem? (sp wrong on purpose)

 

[Kelly G]

I had them...and they were pretty easy - but I did use Societys and Zebras to sit/raise them.

My first pair were from a pet store...after that I networked with other breeders in the area that I found through a publication called, "Finch and Canary World".

Good luck - they were lovely little birds.

 

[hippichick]

Quote:
Kelly, did you keep the Blues with the Societies and Zebras? I ask because I would like to get Blues. I would keep them all together, but was told by a couple of breeders that the Societies and Zebras were too aggressive to keep Blues with. Any idea?

 

[Renie'sPeeps]

I had a breeding pair in a small aviary with other social finches. The pair would breed, lay eggs, hatch the babies.. then toss them out of the nest. I never got them to raise any of the babies. I didnt even try to foster them with a Society finch since the books say the babies have to be fed live food such as fruit flies. So I find this very interesting that anyone else got them to live .

 

[thebirdguy]

Cordon bleus need a high protein diet.. I raised mine in a cage by themselves and supplement fed them young meal worms.. (don't use the old ones, too hard to digest especially for the chicks) and hard boiled eggs that I squeezed through a wire strainer (very small mesh) They did great for me and are beautiful birds..

IMHO- Most pet stores should be avoided when purchasing birds... I have seen a couple of stores in the last 30 years that had high quality healthy birds but most of them seem to end up with "bird mill" babies and culled breeders.. If you want to get good healthy birds I would recommend finding a good breeder that you can visit to check out their facilities and birds prior to purchasing... www.birdsnways.com is one site that has a breeder directory by state.. once you find a couple, they always know of others in the area..

Good luck!!

 

[RioLindoAz]

Would not buy from a pet store. Very overpriced and are never in proper health. Look into buying from a breeder. No doubt you'll see some at your local swap meet.

Finches in general are not difficult to maintain. Feed them small amounts of regular wild bird seed. Occasionally toss in some fresh greens and scrammed eggs.

 

[Renie'sPeeps]

TheBirdGuy,

I am thrilled to hear that you were able to raise the babies.. but sadden at the same time that I didn't try harder. I always kept crushed boiled egg mixed with protien 25 and mealworms... But stupid me only ordered the really big ones. I lived in Florida at the time...So I was able to keep fresh fruit in the cage and leave the garage door open all day which did attract fruitflies. Their flight cage was 6 ft x 3ft x 3 ft. It was built on 3 ft legs and I had a slider door in the middle so I could divide the cage in half anytime I wanted to. I know I kept it divided when my Goulds were breeding. It has been so long ago.. like 20 yrs.. but most likely the Cordons were breeding at the same time. It was awful to find the wee babies dieing on the bottom of the cage.

 

[Sumatra503]

That's where the society finches come in. Society finches will feed the babies of other pairs when they aren't doing very well. They often adopt the babies on the foor of the cage. They breed in large colonies in the wild and raise eachother's babies.

The key is to feed the societies the same types of foods the cordon's would be getting. This will help keep the babies with enough protien. Transfer the eggs over to the society nests and the societies will raise them.