March 2010 Monthly Newsletter The Forum update caused a few problems and is the reason that we were offline for a couple of days, but I believe the changes were worth the downtime. A couple of the more visible changes include the Chat box returning and the inclusion of an Events Calendar on which we are able to list Sales and Auctions. The three months are up and the newsletter has been well received, so it will be continuing. One small change will be happening though, Bluebutterfly (Diane) will be the editor from now on, please give her the support that you have given me. Bird Photo s Pictorella Pekin Robin Page 1
Species Profile Chestnut-breasted munia Latin- Lonchura Castaneothorax Other names- Chestnut breasted manikin, Chestnut Description- Typical munia shape Mandible, being bluish grey. Chocolate and white coloured crown. Black with tan brown flecked face chestnut coloured breast (hence the name) with thick black bar underneath, separating a white coloured body/belly darker brown wings getting darker at the tail, with a black tail covert. With the legs being a dark grey colour and long toenails being typical of these birds. Sexing- I would class this finch as monomorphic. With sexing sometimes being difficult. My preferred way is to use the head size as an indicator, with the male being more bullish and the hen being slender. As with the mandible, the breast bar can be used as a diagnostic tool as well. With the male sometimes having a thicker black breast. I finally use the old needle trick, to back up what scientific evidence I have used up to this point. Once selected watch for the cock bird crowing to the hen. Keeping /Housing- These birds are often forgotten as aviary specimens, as they are not as colourful as some of our other finches available in Australia, and also are plenty full in Northern Australia from Sydney to Derby along the coast, where they are classed as pests in some areas. But they can be a good mix of colour in a collection of mixed species, so long as they are kept in low numbers and not kept with shy birds. If their numbers become too high they will strip the plants and can be a little boisterous. Mine are kept in a 1/3 open roofed aviary in Victoria, that should say enough about the weather conditions they can and do survive. They are fed the same as all my birds. A good quality seed mix, chitted seed, seeding grasses when available and clean fresh water. Charcoal, cuttlefish, egg shell and bio-cal are available at all times. Page 2
During winter a breeding aid and cod liver oil is added to the seed mix. Bush fly maggots are given as well. But I assure you these things listed are not a requirement in keeping this bird as they are quiet a hardy bird indeed. They also love to climb long grasses and sail in the wind. Breeding- The breeding season can be quite long if the conditions are right. With brush or wicker baskets being the preferred nesting site. 4 to 6 white eggs are usually laid with the incubation period being about 14 days, and fledging at around 21 days. As with any Australian finch I recommend they be left with their parents no less than 4 weeks after fledging. Hybrids- Should not be kept with any other munia or manikin. Summary: They can be hard to sex. They can strip plants in the aviary if allowed to breed into high numbers. Easy requirements to keep. Easy to breed once a true pair is established. They are usually one of the cheaper species to purchase. Written by Derek Burton This Months most popular Topics Traveling finches (freighting) Gouldians: To inspect or not to inspect Mixing Gouldian head colours Disturbing coopex Colourbond or Gal For Sale Western Australia Gouldian Mutations (Blue, Silver, Aust Yellow) Posted on Forum by Brad359 Victoria Zebra Mutations (Grey, Cream, Charcoal, Blue, Opal) Posted on Forum by AMCA26 South Australia (Parrot finches, diamonds, longtails, Painteds, Stars, Strawberries, Cut throats, Pink Ruddies, Auroras, Melbas) Posted on Forum by Grumpz Page 3
Members Aviary Bluebutterfly213 Page 4
My largest aviary is 5 meters wide, 2 meters deep and 2 meters high, it was made by my husband. It has a natural base as it was originally put over part of the lawn. It cost about $900 to build. There are some large leaved plants in pots inside along with branches. I love the natural look, and the birds seem to like it too, they are always fossicking around on the floor. This is the community aviary with Gouldian males, Ruddies, OB's, emblemas and Canaries. The smaller aviary is a commercially built one measuring 9ft x 5ft x 6ft with a safety cage. This one cost $858 delivered and arrived in panels. With in half an hour after delivery it was built. There are a couple of potted trees in this aviary. This aviary was put on paving. It does make it easier to keep clean. This aviary houses Gouldian hens, a seagreen parrot finch hen, and a blue faced parrot finch. Website links savethegouldian Wattle Aviaries Gouldians Galore - USA Canary & Cage Bird Federation of Australia Gouldian Genetic Forecaster Birdsrus - Home Page Wanted Western Australia Orange Breast, Plumheads Posted on Forum by Fincher Victoria Gouldian Hens Posted on Forum by Mactus New South Wales Cordon hen, Yellow Stars, Orange Gouldians Posted on Forum by Marty Page 5
A NEW WAY OF SPROUTING SEED Written by Mike Fidler One of the most exciting things to come out of the Gouldian Research Program sponsored by The Save The Gouldian Fund is a new SAFER way of sprouting seed. With a large number of birds to feed in our research station, it is important to develop management methods which are both quick and safe. Our problem was that in the warm and often humid climate of Australia it was difficult to sprout seed and guarantee that every time it was perfectly safe to feed, i.e. free from yeast, fungus, bacteria, etc. We were using the tried and tested method of bleaching that I introduced to aviculture a long time ago, however, to my surprise, we still had random batches 'go off'. We tried a number of the different safe disinfectants which were on the market, but none were any better than bleach. Most were worse! Back in the UK I had used Virkon S exclusively for all general bird room disinfection. Virkon S is a Bactericide, Fungicide and Viricide. In other words, it kills the lot! In Europe, I had a friend who was a commercial breeder, who until later years, did not have an automatic drinking water system and had to rely on using the traditional jumbo sized drinking fonts. With the number of birds they had, changing the drinking water every day was a huge job. Following a visit to a relative who had a chook farm, they began to add Virkon S to their drinking water. This meant that the water would remain uncontaminated by pathogens until it was drunk, anything up to a week. When I first saw them doing this I was ghast and convinced it would destroy thenatural flora of the gut, which would then lead to problems. Three months later I was convinced they, would have problems with the rare, difficult to breed nestlings. Three months after this I could not think of any other objection!! In other words, it turned out absolutely safe. One of the first things I did on arriving in Australia to live was try and find Virkon S, but was told it was definitely not available in the country. It was twelve months later, whilst talking to Avian vet Stacey Gellis that I discovered it was here but hard to get. The problem was delegated to our supplier, Birds R Us who, after a great deal of pain was able to locate it and now I am happy to say carries it in their stock. Once we had the Virkon S, the rest was easy. We added 5mls of Virkon S to 1kilo of seed and sprouted the two types of seed mix we use in our standard way [described below] and then just left it on the sink top to see what happened. Other than turning from sprout to green food, nothing happened! In other words, no fungus, no bad smell. The next test was to send it away to Dr Mark Simpson, the project vet for an independent laboratory for testing. After 4 days in an incubator, absolutely nothing. It took 11 days before there was enough yeast to start producing toxin. Even then not enough to kill a bird! Following this we experimented to see what the minimum volume of VirkonS could be used given our page 6
management system and eventually halved it to 2.5mls. So how do we do it? WHAT YOU WILL NEED: 2 plastic containers that fit inside each other & one lid. The container needs to be big enough to hold 1kg [1 litre] of sprouting seed. Make lots of small holes in the bottom and part way up the sides of one of the plastic containers. - 1/16th or in metric1.59mm Put in 1kg of sprouting seed into the container with holes [a 1 litre measure full] Put this container with seed inside the container without holes Add a minimum of 1/2 teaspoon of Virkon S Add approx 1.25 litres of water and stir to disperse the Virkon S Leave to soak for a minimum of 1½ hours to a maximum of 2 hours, soaking for longer makes it soggy, slower to dry & increase risk of pathogens. Separate the containers and leave the seed to drain, put the lid loosely on the top for about 12 hours to retain humidity & then remove so seed will start drying. Within 14-30 hours, dependant on the seed-mix type & ambient temperatures, the mix will have chitted. This is the correct stage to feed it at. A longer sprout means it has lost a lot of its nutrient value. DO NOT RINSE AT ANY TIME - THERE IS NO NEED YOU CAN FEED IT STRAIGHT TO THE BIRDS OR FREEZE TO BE USED LATER. SPROUTED SEED CAN BE KEPT IN THE FREEZER FOR UP TO ONE YEAR The only thing you need to remember if you are going to freeze your sprouted seed, is that it needs to be reasonably dry when you put it in the freezer otherwise it will come out as a solid block of ice! About half way through the sprouting process, I have the habit of raking the bottom to the top and leave the lid off, so that it will dry out a bit. It needs to be just moist, not wet and when it comes out of the freezer, if you have got the moisture content right, it will be nice and friable and easily crumble. Frozen seed may be fed directly to the birds or mixed in with you soft food, it does not need to be defrosted. WARNING: And finally let me add. This is a SAFER way, not a FOOLPROOF way to sprout seed. You should still not take liberties or take silly risks. There are a tremendous number of variables which could not be considered in our trials. How dirty is YOUR seed, what is YOUR local climate compared with mine, how clean are YOUR feed pots compared to ours etc, etc. To determine the optimum amount of VirkonS you should use under your conditions, we would suggest setting up a little experiment. Set up a container as explained above and add 2.5mls [1/2 teaspoon] of VirkonS, leave it on a bench top for 4 days and then take it to your local vet for analysis. If it fails the test, double the mount of VirkonS, do exactly the same as the first test. Page 7
If that one fails the test "I would eat my hat"! However, if it did, carry on increasing the amount until you reach optimum. In our management system, we make up a large batch of sprouted seed, enough to last approximately two months, and put it in the FREEZER [not fridge]. This is taken out and mixed into a batch of soft food once a week and again stored in the FREEZER ready for daily use. Each morning, the ready mixed soft food is taken out of the freezer and fed directly to each cage without first thawing. The birds are fed only enough to last them the day. The following morning, anything which is left in the feed pots is thrown away and the pots changed for clean ones which have been through the dishwasher and are therefore pathogen free. The only risk we take [and are getting away with! ] is that any surplus we have left after the mornings rounds goes back in the freezer, even though it is partially thawed. In the good old bleach days, we used to feed it to the wild birds. However, another WARNING, this may not be safe if you use a different brand of soft food to the one I use! Incidentally, in case you are wondering, why sprout seed anyway? Well the reason is that the sprouting process enhances the nutritional value of a seed by up to 300%! Furthermore, the process increases the amount of fructose and glucose creating a high energy package also making it easier for small nestlings to digest. We use two different sprouting mixes as both germinate at different speeds. The Black Mix consists of 'oily' seeds and is important as it provides the LIPID content of our diet. Why do we need lipids? Well the birds endocrine and hormone system will not work properly without, so this means, amongst other things, that they would not breed very successfully! The White Mix consists of a different range of seeds which contain micro nutrients and some of the carotenoids. Again all important in the maintenance of healthy, free breeding stock. To complete the diet supplement, we mix in a concentrated soft food which has all the items missing from the rest of the diet, at the ratio of 20% soft food to 20% Black Mix sprout and 60% White Mix sprout and feed 5ml per day to breeding birds - add lib once they have nestlings. Permission to use this article was obtained from Birdsrus Birdsrus - Home Page Page 8
Bird Sales & Shows New South Wales 6 th March 2010 Orange Orange Bird Society 14 th March 2010 Holder Canberra Finch Club Inc 14 th March 2010 Grafton Clarence River District Caged Bird Club 27 th March 2010 Wagga Wagga Riverina Bird Fanciers 27 th March 2010 Gunnedah Namoi Valley Aviculture Club Inc 11 th April 2010 Bateau Bay Central Coast Avicultural Society Victoria 11 th April 2010 Geelong ASA Geelong Branch 18 th April 2010 Swan Hill ASA Swan Hill Branch 18 th April 2010 Warragul ASA Gippsland Branch 24 th April 2010 Hamilton ASA Western District Branch 28 th April 2010 Melbourne ASA Melbourne Branch Queensland 1 st March 2010 Rockhampton Rockhampton Finch and Parrot Club 8 th March 2010 Cleveland Qld Bird Breeders Club Inc 28 th March 2010 Fortitude Valley 2010 Qld State Bird Fair & Expo 4 th April 2010 Tannum Sands Gladstone Annual Bird Sale South Australia 28 th March 2010 Willaston Gawler & Districts Bird Club 18 th April 2010 McLaren Vale Fleurieu Peninsula Cage Bird Society 24 th April 2010 Murray Bridge Lower Murray Bird Club Western Australia No Sales known of for February or March Tasmania No Sales known of for February or March Page 9