Mike started his talk by saying that he was not covering the aviary breeding side, as Russell Kingston had already covered this topic.

Parrot Finches are found in a large area from the Malaysian Peninsula through to the South Pacific Islands. Their habitat varies from the upper canopy of the jungle to open grasslands, from mountaintop to sea level, in arid areas as well as high rainfall areas and in temperatures ranging from minus 2 degrees to 30 degrees Celsius. Because they live in such a diversity of habitat, it stands to reason that their diet requirements vary considerably. Mike related how he had spent days traipsing through all sorts of difficult terrain in search of the Peale’s Parrot Finch, only to find them, back in the city from which he started. Those delegates that attended the Conference were privileged to see the only video in existence, showing the Royal Parrot Finch.

The Parrot Finch Family consists of the following species

Royal Peale’s Pink Billed Bamboo

Papuan Manila Mt Katanglad Tricolored

Red Faced Blue Faced Pintail

The management of each of these families is very different due to the habitat in which they live.

TRI COLOURED PARROT FINCH:
Occurs on the tropical island of Timor, frequenting the semi-arid, scrub savanna areas. Their nest is constructed of closely woven grasses. This bird cannot stand low temperatures, and nestlings succumb to the cold as the adults stop brooding the young early.. The Tricolor does not do well in a mixed specie aviary, nor if housed with more than one pair per cage. Best results are obtained when breeding with one pair per flight. This variety of Parrot Finch is one of the dumbest birds Mike has ever come across, because, if moved, they cannot find their food and water. It is advisable to place food and water stations all over the new aviary so that the bird cannot miss it. This bird is the easiest of all the Parrot Finches to pick up weight. By checking for the yellow fat on the abdomen and keel, this can be observed. Fat birds tend to be infertile or will not breed at all, therefore it is best to ration their soft and live foods.

RED FACED PARROT FINCH:
Found in the Sub-Tropical area of New Caledonia, which is wet, volcanic with rain forest Frequents the forest edge, allowing a wider diet consisting of both forest and grassland foods. In captivity, they can be kept in either a mixed collection or a single specie aviary, but the best breeding results will be from those housed as single pairs on an enriched diet.

Fig.2. Male Red-face	Fig.3. Female Red-face	Fig.4. Female Red-face

BLUE FACED PARROT FINCH:
Is spread across a wide range of habitats and climates and is one of the easiest of the Parrot Finches to keep and breed.

PIN TAILED PARROT FINCH:
Distribution from the Malay Peninsula through Indonesia where they were thriving in the constantly high 36-degree temperatures and 96% humidity. Unfortunately, this bird was considered a pest because of their predation of the rice crops and has been poisoned, almost out of existence. Now, they are found in only one small pockets.

Mike does not know of anyone other than himself who has consistently and constantly bred the Pin Tailed Parrot finch year after year. Requiring a high vitamin C content in their diet, they breed best in a colony situation, nesting low down in the aviary.

PEALE’S PARROT FINCH:
Found in Fiji.. Their diet requirements are the same as for the Blue Faced Parrot Finch, which is as mixed and varied as possible. Juveniles have a blue head changing to the normal red after moulting. This is one Parrot Finch that should not be inbred, as this causes a high rate of infertility.
 

GENERAL MANAGEMENT:
A 6 to 8 week austerity period prevents hormone confusion and improves breeding results. This austerity period is essential, as gonads and ovaries shrink in the non-breeding season because food is scarce. This season occurs in winter in the Europe and South Africa, whereas in Australia it is the dry season. All fat build up in the birds is burnt off. Once this period is over, reintroduce the enriched breeding diet, and 3 weeks later, both the cocks and hens will be ready to start breeding.

Parrot Finches require a varied diet, but no live food is needed if a good soft food is provided.

Mike showed us a cross section of the Parrot Finch gut with a comparison to a normal finch.

The shape of the gut gives the Parrot Finch a larger surface area. This allows greater and faster absorption of food making them prone to fat.

A standard diet would be:

A good seed mix.
Sprouted seed.
A good soft food.
A mix of herb seed.
Cucumber.

A controlled environment is ideal for keeping these birds, as temperatures in general should not fall below 10 degrees (12 degrees for Tri Colours). The austere diet starts the moult, whereas increasing the temperature and humidity will drive them through the moult quicker.

Gouldians in the wild can withstand temperatures ranging from zero to 40 degrees. At 40 degrees they start suffering heat stress and tend to seek the cooler creek beds or the tops of the bluffs. When temperatures drop to 0 degrees at night, Mike has observed both adults and chicks returning to the nest where it is obviously warmer.

PARASITE TREATMENT:
Mikes medicinal programme is administered four monthly for 2 days and consists of the following: -

Moxidectin+ kills all worms and mites except Protozoan’s.

Praziquantel

Toltauric for Coccidia and other Protozoan’s.

Mike adds all three of these medications together at the recommended dosages.
To check he has got the dose right, he then tests it on a Bengalese for seven days. The next step is to test it on a pair of Bengalese with chicks for seven days.If all is well, he then moves on to a single Gouldian for five days and only then does he move on to dosing the flock.

CUCUMBER:
This is one food source that has been sadly neglected in South Africa. It is rich in trace minerals and vitamins. Cucumber is a claimed to be an aphrodisiac and is nearest to the fig nutritionally, this makes it a vegetable that should not be overlooked as food source for your charges.

With this bit of sound advice, Mike closed his most informative talk.