Waxbillman
07-01-2005, 07:03 PM
The strawberry finch (Amandave amandava) by Matthew Guest
The Strawberry finch is also known as the Red avadavat, Red munia, Tiger finch and in past the Bombay avadavat. it is around 10 cm in lengh, though there are about 3 sub-species all over which slightly differ in size.
2 of the sub-species are found through out southern parts of Asia, India and Pakistan, the other is found in parts of China though it is extremerly rare in aviculture today, though i have the plesure of owning a male of the sub-species (amandava a. flavidiventris) who is quite a large bird who has many more white spots, which are larger in size, and spreads over more of the body. the red is more pink in colour had he have more orange / yellow.
Red avadavsts are unique in the estridid family as the male goes through the eclipse plumage when out of condition and resembles some what like the female, though some birds will retains small patches of red.
both sexes are capable of singing though the males is far better and more often than the females.
when ing condition the malles are a brilliant red speckles with white spots, the female lack the bright red and have just a few small spots on her wing's. the female being overall she is a dull olive brown colour.
due to avian flu, the importation has been totally stopped which meansthat they are very few birds about in Britain, and in the USA there is more but spread out widely. prices in the UK are £30 to £45 a pair and this will probabily stay for many years to come. in the USA i have seen some crazy prices, from about $75 to $125 a pair.
my advice to anyone wanting to start up with these birds is join a specialist waxbill/finch society as there a few member to my knowledge keeping and breeding these birds, myself included.
Strawberries will breed happily once sexually mature in both large cages and planted aviaries. In my experience they are quite a peaceful bird and so ideal to go in mixed collections with birds such as Gold-breasts, and Black-crowns. its not recommended to house more than 1 pr of red birds (be them Strwberries or be them firefinches) however this is somewhat debatable.
Strawberries are tough birds but they still require some extra heating and lighting during the winter months, i prefer to lock all my birds in indoor quarters for the winter as this method is far safer.
feed them a good quality foriegn finch mix with added wild-seed., cuttlefish bone and oyster shell grit should be provided at all times. when breeding occurs they should have an ample supply of livefoods in the form of buffalo worms and fruit flies, as well as fresh, clean seeding grasses and soaked seed if you use the stuff.
my birds have always built they own messy nests out of long grasses and coconut fibre, but i do know many who breed them in those domed nesting pockets.
incubation days are about average for finches 12-14 days, and fledging occurs after 21 days, the chicks start to cloloure up after a month or two, but it will be some time before it is completed.
the forum especially for Strawberry finches is on the yahoo groups page, i think this is it http://groups.yahoo.com/group/StrawberryFinch/ there hasn't been much activity in weeks but all it takes is a new members to fire up the burners and it ill get it goin again i'm sure
matthew
The Strawberry finch is also known as the Red avadavat, Red munia, Tiger finch and in past the Bombay avadavat. it is around 10 cm in lengh, though there are about 3 sub-species all over which slightly differ in size.
2 of the sub-species are found through out southern parts of Asia, India and Pakistan, the other is found in parts of China though it is extremerly rare in aviculture today, though i have the plesure of owning a male of the sub-species (amandava a. flavidiventris) who is quite a large bird who has many more white spots, which are larger in size, and spreads over more of the body. the red is more pink in colour had he have more orange / yellow.
Red avadavsts are unique in the estridid family as the male goes through the eclipse plumage when out of condition and resembles some what like the female, though some birds will retains small patches of red.
both sexes are capable of singing though the males is far better and more often than the females.
when ing condition the malles are a brilliant red speckles with white spots, the female lack the bright red and have just a few small spots on her wing's. the female being overall she is a dull olive brown colour.
due to avian flu, the importation has been totally stopped which meansthat they are very few birds about in Britain, and in the USA there is more but spread out widely. prices in the UK are £30 to £45 a pair and this will probabily stay for many years to come. in the USA i have seen some crazy prices, from about $75 to $125 a pair.
my advice to anyone wanting to start up with these birds is join a specialist waxbill/finch society as there a few member to my knowledge keeping and breeding these birds, myself included.
Strawberries will breed happily once sexually mature in both large cages and planted aviaries. In my experience they are quite a peaceful bird and so ideal to go in mixed collections with birds such as Gold-breasts, and Black-crowns. its not recommended to house more than 1 pr of red birds (be them Strwberries or be them firefinches) however this is somewhat debatable.
Strawberries are tough birds but they still require some extra heating and lighting during the winter months, i prefer to lock all my birds in indoor quarters for the winter as this method is far safer.
feed them a good quality foriegn finch mix with added wild-seed., cuttlefish bone and oyster shell grit should be provided at all times. when breeding occurs they should have an ample supply of livefoods in the form of buffalo worms and fruit flies, as well as fresh, clean seeding grasses and soaked seed if you use the stuff.
my birds have always built they own messy nests out of long grasses and coconut fibre, but i do know many who breed them in those domed nesting pockets.
incubation days are about average for finches 12-14 days, and fledging occurs after 21 days, the chicks start to cloloure up after a month or two, but it will be some time before it is completed.
the forum especially for Strawberry finches is on the yahoo groups page, i think this is it http://groups.yahoo.com/group/StrawberryFinch/ there hasn't been much activity in weeks but all it takes is a new members to fire up the burners and it ill get it goin again i'm sure
matthew