Silverbills

[chris]

Hi all,

i have an odd silverbill, i've got no idea what species it is, or even what each species looks like (african/indian). i also have no idea on compatibility with other birds.. well actually i just have no idea whatsoever!:lol: :lol: :lol:

any help and advice with the care, diet and breeding of the this species would be really helpfull. also if anyone has some good clear photos of an african and indian silverbills that would be great to help me identify him/her. speaking of him/her any tips on sexing would be great also. the only thing i do know is that this chappy/chapette was paired to a bicheno finch for some time after it's mates kicked he bucket.. unfortunately it was mixed with african and indian silverbills also which doesn't help as i know not what he is

Chris:smile:

[PAUL HEARN]

Hi Chris,

The first obvious difference between African and Indian Silverbills is their rump colour, African Silverbills have a black rump, while Indian Silverbills have a white rump, secondly African Silverbills have a uniform fawn colour throughout, apart from the underparts, but Indian Silverbills have a clear whitish face as well as their underparts.

Sexing of either species is as simple as cocks sing and hens don't.

The other problem you may have is that the bird could be a hybrid between the two?

Good luck mate, Paul.:D

[chris]

HI Paul,

that pretty much confirms it then, i have an indian silverbill and i have yet to hear any singing but i'll wait a week or so before i could be almost certain.

cheers, Chris

[kenny]

hi chris
this is a nice link for silverbills and if you go to the bottom of the page it opens up another few pages about the different ones


ken http://www.finchinfo.com/species/silverbill.htm

[chris]

Hi Kenny,

thanks for the link, the more i read about these the more i start to like them

Chris;)

[kenny]

hi chris
they are a bit addictive so they tell me!


ken

[PAUL HEARN]

Hi Chris,

As I mentioned on FF3 you are welcome to some of my Indian Silverbills at the end of this year, it is up to you mate but it is quite likely that I will be selling the entire colony (the number depends on how further clutches go before the end of the year?), but if you only want some of the birds the rest will go to someone who also has a small colony.

If you are interested then we can arrange the number and price of birds via PM.

Paul.;-)

[chris]

Hi Paul,

out of interest what diet did you have your indian silverbills on while they were breeding? also what size clutches do they lay?

they're doing fine by the way, although it seems the red heads have taken of the nest baskets so i'll have to buy a few more of those and probably a few boxes when i'm back home.

the other thing is, i'm already thinking what species to bring down with me for next year. the chances are i'll end up with a cage in my flat (hopefully) with canaries in it, however if indian silverbills are likely to cage breed that will definately give me something to do next year, or the year after even!

Chris;)

[cooltom28]

does this mean one stage further in your canary project?

[chris]

Hi Tom,

nope i won't be going back to that just yet as i'd need a hell of a lot of cage space and a few spare avaries for a few pairs of greensingers as they quite clearly don't get on with much of anything! that won't be until i have my own house unless there's a developement regarding aviaries etc. in the meantime

Chris

[dave85]

hi chris,

i find all silverbills generally aviary birds as dont seem to settle enough to breed in cages unfortunately with nests of eggs being abandoned and having to be fostered out.

Thanks
Dave

[chris]

Hi Dave,

i assume you have tried cage breeding them then? if so what size cages did you use?, what nest recepticles were provided? any cover around the nest sites such as a few conifer branches etc.

just to give me an idea of what you did, hopefully i may be able to improve on it and breed mine in cages

Chris;-)

[PAUL HEARN]

Hello Chris,

Sorry for the delay in replying mate, I understand Daves reservations regarding cage breeding with the Silverbills, but lets face the continentals cage breed just about everything.:-D

I myself haven't cage bred Indian Silverbills, but if the continental breeders can do it then there is reason why you can't!
Yes the Indians are quite nervous birds but that doesnt mean that they wont settle down after a short while, I would suggest using a cage measuring 15-18 inches deep x 30-36 inches long x 15-18 inches high as a minimum size, and provide a slide to make nest inspections possible without the adult birds seeing what you are doing, obviously if you can provide a larger cage (the depth and length of the cage being most important) then this will provide more security for the birds.

I suggest you use a standard half open front nest box with a removable lid placed as high as possible at one end of the cage and screen off this end of the cage using the plastic mesh you see used on scaffolding or something similar, this will give the birds some added security but still allowing you to partially see through the mesh.

The diet for breeding them is quite simple they will feed their chicks soaked Foreign Finch mix, mini Mealworms and a little eggfood, also soaked Pannicum and Red Anjou Millet sprays are well appreciated.
The clutch size of my birds was quite small with three-four eggs being the normal size.

With the number of birds you have you can pick out a true pair for cage breeding, and if it doesn't work at least you have the rest of the birds at home in one of your aviaries.

All the best mate, Paul.:wink:

[chris]

Hi Paul,

cages around 30" x 18" x 18" would probably be as big as i can reasonably go. hopefully those flatpack cages come in a similar size. i was thinking of using an external nest box idea somehow, that way the nest can be as high up as possible while leaving it possible for me to gain access should i need it for ringing etc. pitty they don't make boxes for foreign that include the glass slides found in budgie boxes (unless ofcourse budgie boxes can be used for these chappies)

Chris:wink:

[kenny]

hi chris
you could always give it atry with the budgie boxes,most of my javas prefer them even though they had been used to other nesting boxes i changed them to budgie boxes as they were easier for me to access and they have taken to them okay!


ken

[PAUL HEARN]

Hi Chris,

There is nothing stopping you from building your own standard Foreign Finch nest boxes with a perspex slide for inspection purposes!
My Father designed similar nest boxes for me way before knowing the standard design of Budgie nest boxes when I was only eight years old.
The only difference being that the boxes he designed included hinged perspex back plates followed by a hinged wooden back plate.

Paul.

[chris]

Hi Paul,

i'll see what i can draw up tomorrow. the only problem i had with building nest boxes and cages is that i don't have one of those plywood staple guns, screws are too wide and nails are a bad idea also. glue is good if i have a vice around otherwise probably worse than the previous 2. in the past i've built a frame to build cages around and pin the plywood to, the problem with this was i couldn't put a drawer in after (although i think i can now...), however a frame for a small nest box is pointless as it'd take up too much space in itself

Chris

[PAUL HEARN]

Hi Chris,

I don't wish to be sarcastic mate but screws do come in different sizes.:lol:
Cage construction and nest box construction are two different things entirely, width of wood for both and size of screws do differ a great deal!

All the best mate, Paul.;)

[chris]

:lol: :lol: :lol:

i know, the problem is the smaller diameter screws i've seen for sale are all rather too short for what i need. the staples i mentioned would be ideal and a good investment for speeding the whole process up, if only i knew what they were called and where to buy them from.

i don't fany the screw idea as it's a lot of screws for a small box, and no doubt i'd build quite a few

Chris;-)

[Waxbillman]

hello Chris

its not impossible to knock a nail into a piece of plywood, just take a little care when doing it, and don't use the massive great nails or screws either.its goes without saying to drill a pilot hole first before you but the screw in.
use the right thickness ply wood an all.

or equally be lazy like me and buy them in for the time, effort and money it costs to make a piddley box you would be better just buying them at a £1 or 2

Matthew

[kenny]

hi chris
you can drill a pilot hole with a panel pin the same size as you are using just cut the head off and put it in the drill but only drill half the length so it will have some purchase...you could also use a slightly thicker peice of wood for the base and top then you would have something to nail into.....or you could buy a nailer/stapler from argos the make being rapesco just like mine :-D :-D :-D


chris this is my gun and worth every penny of £20

http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/7016341.htm

ken

[chris]

HI Kenny,

i think i'll get the gun, that's the one i was after and refering to earlier although it's the first time someone has pointed one out to me

Chris;-)

[kenny]

hi chris
it will also come in handy for your cage building .there is a cordless version but theis is the one i have and it fixes wire natting down also and the longest nails are 30mm and you can get them from b&q 4.99 a box and i have to say mine has never jammed and they give you a fubber foot for softer woods so you dont damage the surface go for it mate!

ken

[chris]

crap, and all this time i've been hammering in each pin/staple one by one:shock:

definately got to get one of those

Chris

[dave85]

looks like an ideal tool!

will get meself one soon too as ill be building new cages soon, so will come in handy

thanks keeny for posting link to it
Dave

[kenny]

hi dave /chris
have had mine about 3 years now,this is the full page of the staplers there is a heavy duty version of mine but i dont think its worth it as mine is a great tool

http://www.argos.co.uk/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Search?storeId=10001&catalogId=10001&langId=-1&searchTerms=staplers&go.x=13&go.y=14


ken

[chris]

Hi Kenny,

i think the heavy duty one might be better for me as i'm not too sure about using 14mm staples for holding ply together, 15 - 30mm seems a much safer bet

Chris:wink:

[chris]

Hi all,

i've lost 2 of the silverbills to date, one this week which appears to be the old duffer i have to start with, and since seeing the body of the one that died last week itwould appear to be an 05 bred bird, green leg ring. in both cases nothing apparently wrong with either bird just found dead on the aviary floor (indoors)

the good news is that there is still a definate pair among the remaing 4 and they are building a second nest outdoors now, the first was ina crap spot and abandond! no eggs yet but they have been mating so fingers crossed

regarding the staple gun mentioned in the previous post, i now have one, hand powered rather than electric but does a whole range of heavy duty staples and was damn usefull when i built my nest boxes this week!

Chris;-)

[kenny]

hi chris
bad news with the silverbills mate,but i am glad you have got yourself a good staple gun save on all those mashed fingers and split plywood:-o

ken

[chris]

Hi All,

some good news and some bad news.

the good news: i checked the nest basket today and there were 2 eggs in it :D

the bad news: one was cracked and stuck to the nesting material... upon removing it somehow i managed to crack the other one too :shock: :oops: :sad:

odd thing is i checked the same basket yesterday and could have swore there were no eggs in it, if this is the case then obviously 2 hens are laying in the same basket. not that it's a problem i hope anyway, the eggs should be fertile

[chris]

took the duff egg out today as they've laid another. now i know that my accident yesterday didn't put them off i'll leave them to it until i see babies popping their heads out of the nest

[chris]

dont know what these lot are up to, the egg mentioned in the previous post had vanished the next day and none were laid after it. 2 days ago they laid another egg in a different basket, yesterday none we added to it. today i find they've liad 2 eggs in the original basket. makes me wonder what they're playing at!

[kenny]

hi chris
the only thing i have on eggs is my border at the moment and the chances are they will be clear eggs

ken

[laurab]

....and the only thing I have on eggs are CPQ!

Good luck mate :-D

[dave85]

well chris,

you seem to have pain the arse silverbills

mine are doing good - i have at least 1 chick hatched from that nest we spoke about the other day, will check tomorrow see if it has any siblings.

other than that i have -

3 bengie nests - 2 with chicks, 1 with eggs
1 java nest - with 2 chicks - fawns

1 gloster canary - on 2nd round - 3eggs sitting tight
greenie pair built a nest
and possibly greenie x chaffy pair building

Thanks
Dave

[chris]

hi dave,

yeah a pain in the arse does just about cover them, i think they may be about to redeem themselves though....

[dave85]

hi chris,

hope you have better luck soon bud

well ive checked the nest today and for some reason only 1 has hatched and growing well - its a start.

also i know i mentioned i had 3 nests of bengies 2 with chicks and 1 with eggs
well after comparing the chicks of the older nest with the new silverbill chick they look identical! and not bengalese.

i did have them housed together before i segmented them, so looks like the silverbills have laid in a nest and now bengies have sat and hatched them :)

chuffed! would rather have silverbills than bengies reared although not intentional fostering will keep you posted on how they do.

Thanks
Dave

[chris]

Hi All,

had 3 chicks fledge a few weeks ago, another 3 fledged yesterday and today from the same pair, and we have chicks in one of the baskets in the outdoor aviary. so they have well and truely redeemed themselves since laying countless eggs in every nest site going!

hopefully they aren't quite finished yet, although if the one pair did leave it at that good enough for a first attempt

Chris

[kenny]

hi chris
well done mate,as i said in an earlier post it may have something to do with all the rain we have had,lots of people are reporting the same thing since the floods including me

ken

[Waxbillman]

well dobe Chris,

Ken i saw you thing in C&A, i noticed they also mentioned to do with rain improving breedings for various zoos and bird gardens

great minds think alike ey?

Matthew

[kenny]

hi matt
i think they must have read my letter,which was sent the same time as the pufffin letter and thought they would decide to expand on the subject i think most people who keep australian birds may have noticed a little surge in thier breeding programme.....the banana man included



ken