Red-Cheeked Cordon Bleu Finches

We first saw a Cordon Bleu at a local exotic petstore named The Pet Connection in the middle of little Havana, and were immediately sold.  It was a lone female that, even in the poor flourescent lighting, had a gorgeous sky blue and earthy tan coloration.  Originally, when we brought her home, her only company in the cage was our original pair of Zebra's and it was obvious she was gonna need a partner.  After a bit of searching we located a huge selection of beautiful red cheeked males at another local store and found what we thought was her perfect match.  Initially, it looked like we were wrong.  She started off as downright mean to him, resulting in a bald male bird in just a few days.  We considered the possibility of separating them for good, when things started to look up.  A few times we noticed them allopreening without any removal of feathers, and then witnessed the beautiful Cordon mating routine.  He would sing to her hourly with a song that to this day reminds me of a high pitched dial up internet connection sound and then start his little dance with a blade of grass in his mouth and some hop in his step.  They tried unsuccessfully the first time, laying eggs that were infertile, but after another attempt in a nest high up in thick vegetation at the top of the cage they successfully hatched their first chicks.  The nest they used is a tube like structure of coconut fiber placed in the cage simply as nest material, but they found it perfect.  They loaded it with cotton balls and dried grass, and blocked off both ends to form little tunnels as the only access.  From that point you would see only one of them at a time as one faithful parent would always be 'home' babysitting the kids.  We made sure to provide plenty of mini-mealworms every morning as I read that Cordon's are famous for tossing their chicks if they don't get bugs.  Soon we could hear the quiet begging of the chicks which has steadily increased over the past few weeks.  As of today they have been hatched for 3 weeks and already appear fully covered in dark feathers.  I have heard how hard Cordon's are to breed, but I must say that we have had no problems at all with our pair.  We follow the Bleu rules religously (give bugs and never peek in the nest) and are expecting the arrival any day of a couple new not so blue colored babies.

I have read that Cordon's are very monogamous and pair bond quite tightly, and from my experience this is very true.  They are rarely apart and allopreen more often than any of my other birds.  They rarely bother or are bothered by any of the other finches except the few times that someone tried to peek inside their nest.  When this happens you hear the famous high pitched Cordon Bleu warning chatter, and if the would be intruder does not vacate the area, they are quickly ushered away with a dive bomb.  Other than this, they simply go about the cage like there is no other bird in sight.  They are very active birds, but seem to suffer no ills from their 36 square feet limitations.  They are also lightning fast fliers that go from the ground to 6 feet up in a blur.

Rating Score: perfect 10/10  (one of only seven finch types to get a perfect 10)
   Mixed with other finches: 5 out of 5
   Thrive/Breed in cage: 5 out of 5

Now to the pictures:

Moe: Named for his tendency to flash a mohawk, however at the beginning he was picked of all his hair and was unable to live up to his name.

Moe and Blue: Fortunately, their relationship quickly improved to the point of being a model for bird faithfulness.  Here they close sit and allopreen, an almost hourly activity for them.

Virtually never apart, feeding, sleeping and bathing together every day.  Gloriously beautiful little bundles of energy.

Moe's reaction to the almost constant song of the Zebra is to do a little dance.

The design of the Cordon Bleu was not just for beauty but quite intelligent if you think about it.  Any predator looking up at one would see their blue underbelly matching the sky background, and any looking down would see the earthy brown that matched the earth beneath.  Sneaky and quite brilliant.

Moe was quite persistent with his grass dance, though it did take a few tries to win Blue over.

When he did perfect it she was his for good.

Rated NC-17: Bleu's are all for privacy when they have chicks, but have no problem mating right out in the open for all to see.

It looks as if Moe is trying to cover a little bit from the peeping tom Black Rumped Waxbill audience.

A good sign that breeding is going good is when the parents start to consume crazy numbers of mealworms and insects.  I would buy cans of mini's that would be used up in two days.  I added the dried insect mixes they sell on good bird websites, but they were never relished like the nice plump and juicy mealies.

The nest initially had two cottonball plugs at the ends with a tunnel on each side and a large center cavity where the chicks were raised.   

One of our first views of the new nestlings and they are quite far along.  The private nature of the Cordon Bleu nest made it virtually impossible to see anything prior to this point, and I was certainly not going to break one of the Bleu rules (no peeking!)

20 days after hatching and starting to appear more curious about that mysterious outside world.  The parents recently removed the cotton plugs on either side of the nest to expand room I presume.  I am glad they did as we now can see what has been going on for the past few weeks.

But beware the Bleu!  Get too close and you are likely to get an earfull from a protective mama.  

Or the ever watchful dad.  All in all, a fantastic finch to own and not too shabby looking either ;-)

Gouldian Finches

Two of our first finches were Lady Gouldians and we never regretted getting them for a second.  Unfortunately, the day after they laid their first egg, our male Shasta would suddenly die (air sac mites).  Fortunately, we had a couple female societies finches that gladly raised the lone egg till the baby was self sufficient.   We would then replace Shasta with another Redhead named Crush.  And that's not all...

Gouldians are popular for many reasons beside their beautiful colors.  They have gorgeous yet quiet songs, are quite friendly and inquisitive, and are very peaceful in a mixed colony of small seedeaters.  They also have complex genetics that make them quite interesting when it comes to breeding.  While many call them fragile, and my only finch death so far was their founding member in my group, I still believe they are hardier birds then they get credit for.  They are just not the perfect bird for the casual bird owner who wants to throw some seeds in every few days and forget about their birds.  They need decent weather, varied fresh seeds and greens, and a good regimen of prophylactic treatments against worms and the gouldian killer air-sac mites.  But if you are willing to spend some time with them every day and willing to buy some S76 air sac mite treatment you may find they have some great qualities as well.  They are fairly easy to breed and will do so willingly in even the smaller cages out there and produce such variety of colors in their offspring that they alone will make a spectacular collection of exotic finches.

They get along very well with other finches in a mixed collection aviary and also among themselves, as long as there are no eggs to guard.  When they are breeding they can be fairly protective of the immediate area around their nest, chasing other male Gouldians away, though nothing more than a lost feather or two usually results.  But I would say, at a minimum, place potential nests away from popular hang out areas of the cage.  They are not quite as active as waxbills or parrot finches and do quite well in a flight cage, as oppossed to an aviary.

Rating Score: 9/10

   Mixed with other finches: 4 out of 5 (can be a bit testy and protective when nesting)

   Thrive/Breed in cage: 5 out of 5

The Matriarch Gouldian: Sprite, a Green/black head/white breast female.  Initially mated with Shasta and had one baby before he died named Splash.  She is now mating with Crush with eggs currently in the nest.  She is the sweetest finch you have ever seen and comes right up to you when you approach the cage at the time when most of the others run for cover.

RIP: Shasta, our first male gouldian (dilute, purple chest, red head) and father of Splash, taken right before he died.  He was such a lovely finch as well and he is missed :-(

Our first baby gouldian: Splash.  Sprite did not seem to be incubating her lone egg after Shasta died, so we put the egg in with the society finches, and what fine parents our two ladies turned out to be.  They doted on her with such attention that she grew fast and strong.  She was still blind at this point and showing the glowing mouth beads and partial yolk sac that baby gouldians show.

Beads and Feathers looking vibrant and as usual, her mouth is open showing off her beak markings and begging for some food from the overworked societies.

Our beautiful girl Splash today.  Not yet colored, but is flying around strongly and growing every day.  We are suspecting she will be a yellow (her dad was dilute) with Red face and purple breast (?).

Crush: Our completely normal gouldian finch and spectacularly colored

I can't get enough of the color explosions from Crush at various angles.

From the start he was wanting to go to nest.  He took a couple of months convincing Sprite but it seems to have worked.

As of 2 days ago he and Sprite started frequenting the old society nest.  What is he hiding?

Ahh...I can see at minimum 2 eggs and possibly/hopefully more.  I am going to watch closely to see that they are incubating properly as I have 2 proven gouldian nanny finches ready to take over should they be needed.

Tiger: Orange headed dilute male that has one of the most beautiful songs you have ever heard a bird sing.  All of the females seem enamored by his call even though he is still young enough to retain some pin feathers in his head.  He is gonna be a lady (gouldian) killer when he grows up.  Here he is doing his best puffed up song recital.

Tiger loves nothing better than to look out over Miami and the Ocean and sing for hours on end.  He is the one finch that will not budge, even when I put my hand into the cage, to the point that I can pet him.  

Stirling: Silver gouldian male.  Also still young and showing pin feathers, but is learning to sing better from Tiger.  They often sit side by side singing a duet it seems, which subsequently drives the girls crazy and gets Crush as irritated as a gouldian can get (which is not much as far as I have seen)

Topaz (left): Our Blue backed Lilac breasted female.  Spectacularly colored and sticks close by Stirling most of the time.  Likely to be a gorgeous pair when they get a bit older.

Topaz is also a very sweet finch that never causes any problems and adds a gorgeous tone to an already color overloaded crew.

Violet: Green Lilac breasted female, last but certainly not least.  She is the self elected Lady Gouldian in charge, as she likes to keep a quiet environment.  She puts up with a bit of commotion but if it gets out of hand she quickly puts an end to it.  She is also very inquisitive and is one of the first to explore any new treat I may add during the day.

Prologue

My introduction to aviculture started, ironically, while shopping at Petsmart for cat food. My girlfriend and I happened by the bird section and saw the little bundles of energy they call Zebra finches, and being the soft-hearted suckers that we are, we couldn't resist.

Our First Finches: Zebras- Simba and Nala

We did what all the books I have read since say not to do, which is don't buy till you are prepared to house and take care of your birds. We made some mistakes but we learned as we went along, and as our flock has grown, so has our knowledge of the do's and dont's of living with, and truly taking care of exotic finches.

This blog is my way of sharing some of those lessons as well as some of the beauty we see every day.

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