Protein Supplements Malaysia
Spice Finches Make Wonderful Pets for Beginners
Living in small groups, Spice finches prove to be among the more social finches around. When fully grown these tiny birds reach the length of 4-3/4 inches from their beak to their tail. Because they have no distinguishing gender markings it is not easy to identify male and female birds.
The Spice finch’s head and throat are a reddish brown while the sides of the neck can be described almost as a chocolate brown coloration. Whitish shaft lines cover the back and wings. The belly is white with brown edges and feathers form a scallop pattern across the breast. Gender determination is hard but not impossible to do. Males make the most noise, singing constantly. The silent females are the ones laying eggs. Careful observation should reveal gender.
Spice finches live in areas of wild growth in the wild. Weeds and grasses provide a perfect home. They also tend to choose the edges of villages near rice paddies in Ceylon, India, Indochina, southern China, Formosa, Luzon, Palawan, Malaysia, Sumatra, Bali and other islands in the Pacific.
These sociable birds live in small groupings all year long; they even will mix with finches of related species. Their diet consists mainly of grass seeds they forage from the ground. They are also known to pick maturing rice kernels right off the plants. Carrying their socialability to the extreme, they often build apartment style nests in available dense bushes from palm leaves and soft grasses. The use dried grass straw and bamboo leaves to build the nest. Spice finches raise four to seven nestlings while feeding them a diet of green seeds and insect protein.
Requirements in Captivity
Along with Zebra finches and Society finches, Spice finches make the perfect birds for the beginner. They adjust quite well to cage life or aviary life. They tend to be hardy, making few demands and are reasonably peaceful. If you keep your spice finches in cages, however, it is unlikely that they will breed successfully. In either case, you should provide some leafy branches or a thick bush for nesting purposes and some tall grass for them to climb. Fair warning…You should be totally aware that Spice finch claws tend to grow long so you will need to clip their nails from time to time.
Basic seed diets that are supplemented with vitamins and minerals are ideal. I suggest that you try both prepared finch diets and prepared parakeet diets with somewhat larger seeds. It seems that some Spice finches like the larger seeds that come in the parakeet mixture. See which seed mix disappears first and stick with it. Like most finches, Spice finches are omnivores; supplement their seed diet with green, leafy vegetables, chopped up boiled eggs and mealworms or ant pupae.
If you are breeding spice finches then provide them with coconut fibers, broad leaved grass and even some straw to build their nests. It is also good to have more than two or three pairs of males and females so they can choose their own partner. Provide plenty of insect protein until the hatchlings reach independence as well as a standard seed diet.
About the Author
Gregg Bowers is a finch expert. He raises and breeds Zebra finches for fun and profit. He shares his knowledge of finches, including Spice finches, with you on his website at www.RaisingFinches.com where he is offering his 16 lesson mini-course, A Step-by-Step Guide to Raising Happy, Healthy Finches, as a free gift to you just for the asking. Learn some of Gregg’s secrets for free starting today.
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