THE DIETARY REQUIREMENTS OF CAPTIVE WAXBILLS

by

Ian Hinze, Whitefield, Manchester, England. 

[This article is the copyrighted work of Ian Hinze, who has graciously
consented to its publication on Finchworld. Ian Hinze is the Finch Expert for Bird Talk Magazine. I hope you enjoy this
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I have penned the following from a British perspective, i.e. allowing the
seasons experienced in my country to determine how I go about feeding my
birds. Nevertheless, the American aviculturist will be able to adapt my
recommendations to suit his own climatic conditions. 


The equilateral triangle 

It is essential to provide our captive birds with an environment as near
as possible to that they would have encountered in the wild, for this is
the surest way of keeping them healthy, increasing their longevity and
having regular breeding successes. The fact that so many keepers fail in
this matter is proof enough that observations in the wild are frequently
going unheeded.


I have written many times of the necessity of keeping waxbills in a warm,
draught-free environment of at least 15 degrees Celsius for most species
(and even higher for others) and also the importance of providing them
with a minimum of 12 hours of "daylight" (via a dimmer unit). These two
commodities go hand in hand with a third one of extreme importance -
correct feeding. Together they should be viewed as the sides of an
equilateral triangle with the base, say, labelled "Feeding", the left side
labelled "Temperature" and the right side labelled "Lighting" (inside the
triangle we could write "Equals correct husbandry"). Take just one of
these sides away, or have one weakened in some way, and the whole
structure will eventually collapse. All are completely dependent on one
another and this should never be forgotten .

Assuming that the reader does provide his birds with the correct
temperature and lighting, I would like to concentrate on the base of our
triangle, "Feeding". Waxbills, excluding the avadavats of Asia, all hail
from Africa and, being estrildid finches, are closely related to the
grassfinches of Australia. Indeed, for the purpose of this article, it
would help if we were to consider all the waxbills encountered in American
aviculture as "African grassfinches", for therein lies the biggest clue to
their dietary requirements.


Grass dependency

Waxbills are heavily dependent on grass. They deliberately seek it out to
feed from it (the seeds and young succulent shoots), they hide in it
(feeding off seeds that have fallen to the ground means they are often at
liberty to eat while camouflaged from many potential predators) and the
long leaves of grass are used in nest construction. If there were no
grass, there would be no (typical) waxbills!


The grass family is one of the largest in the plant kingdom and contains
about 10,000 different species. Fundamental to the grass’s growth is good
light, it cannot survive in the deep shade of a forest. Some species of
waxbill live on the forest edge, so they can retreat into the trees at the
first sign of danger, and even breed in them, but, like their cousins who
prefer/have to feed in the open, they, too, need the grass’s seeds to
survive.


One of the reasons finches, and I use the term in its collective sense
thereby including the waxbills and grassfinches, are so popular in
aviculture is that they are easy to feed. After all, one only needs to go
down to the local pet-store, or order from a specialist supplier if
preferred, to receive a bag or sack of a mixed collection of grass seeds
of varying sizes which, we are reliably informed, are essential for our
birds’ well-being - and I’ve just stated how much waxbills are heavily
tied to the grass and its seeds. Field-guides too, in the main, are quick
to point out that these types of birds are regularly observed feeding
primarily on grass seeds. But is this really all there is to it? Let’s
take a deeper look!


Grasses do not only spread themselves by means of seeds. They put out
horizontal stems along the surface of the ground and each joint is able to
sprout leaves and roots. These roots are fibrous and grow so thick that a
matted tangle is created, extending for several centimetres below the
surface, which prevents the plant from blowing away. When rain eventually
falls green leaves are produced in only a day or so. Why is this of
importance to waxbills? Well, for one thing it means that, not only is
there always a regular supply of seeds to be had, but also, and of vital
importance at breeding time, the miniature jungle created by the tangled
roots, matted stems and clumps of growing leaves harbors its own community
of tiny inhabitants - aphids, bugs and beetles!


To survive, however, the grass and its tiny animal community need water,
and this comes with the rains. As aviculturists we don’t need to know at
what times of the year these rains occur in Africa, but we should note the
effect they have on the wild populations of waxbills because its all
connected with the base of our triangle again - "Feeding".


The grass undergoes a remarkable transition immediately during and after
rainfall. Shoots sprout forth in no time, followed by fresh ripe and
half-ripe seeds abounding everywhere. Insects are stirred into action -
and so are the waxbills. The waxbills choose just after the rains to
breed. Instinct tells them that the grass is now pliable, nests won’t be
washed out - and food of the right kind is abundant!


The hard seeds (these are unlikely ever to be as hard as the commercial
kiln-dried type) are neglected, instead, for the ripe and half-ripe ones.
The insects, also stirred into breeding action, are everywhere and easy
pickings for a growing family of hungry nestlings. Protein is essential
for the rapid healthy growth of the chicks and so the parents take it in
the quick and easily assimilated form that only a soft-bodied insect can
provide, and which they can regurgitate into their offspring within an
extremely short time for optimum results. What’s more, the chicks are in
fact getting two meals for the price of one - because in the insect’s gut
will inevitably be some undigested plant matter. 


Seasonal dietary requirements

What we learn from all of this is that there are really two different
types of dietary requirements for our waxbills (which can be applied to
all finches in actual fact) - an existence or daily staple diet (sometimes
written of as an austere diet) and a richer breeding diet. Ordinarily
these diets, due to the rainy seasons, would always be separate for the
wild bird, but in aviculture there is a tendency to prolong the breeding
period artificially and thereby reap the benefits of more young being
bred. While I can see that these "benefits" are certainly most welcome to
the aviculturist, what about the birds themselves?! Our aim should be to
produce healthy breeding stock from other healthy breeding stock and not
have them continually perpetuating to such an extent that our reward for
their generosity is to allow them to die of exhaustion!


A nutritionist could take all the different foods that I am going to
recommend, analyze them, and then say whether or not they are deficient in
a certain mineral or trace element, etc., and which foods - or supplements
- help to counter-balance this deficiency. However, as a good avian
chemist friend is quick to tell me, the provision of vitamins and
proteins, etc., through supplements, is not an exact science. New findings
are frequent, or so they seem, and the so-called experts cannot always
agree among themselves as to the best doses to supply. Therefore, what
should be done is that which I referred to right at the outset of this
article - read, and continue to read, all you can on the environment that
the wild bird is found in. By doing this one comes to understand the real
dietary requirements of those we possess in captivity.

Yes, the bag or sack of seeds one regularly acquires for one’s birds is
essential. But this staple fare must be of the highest quality. I
invariably find that the cheaper seeds (usually sold in pet-stores, at
least in Britain) are of a grossly inferior quality to those one orders
from the large established seed merchants that are concerned solely with
birds, either wild or captive but usually catering for both. Such seed is
quality controlled to a high standard with all the dust and other
potentially harmful elements being mechanically removed.


A quality staple seed mixture should consist of, primarily, mixed white,
yellow, panicum and Japanese millets and small canary seed. This is
usually weighed out in equal parts before being bagged by the supplier
which means, rightly, that the millets combined outweigh the canary seed.
This is obvious, of course, but I point it out to question why some
mixtures may have rather too much canary seed in them! 


Like Derek Goodwin, in his monumental and unsurpassed classic work
Estrildid finches of the world, I, too, am perplexed as to why so many
seed suppliers put red millet in their mixtures for waxbills.
Unfortunately, such mixtures are sold as ‘Foreign Finch Seed’, thereby
inferring that the contents are suitable for all foreign finches -
whereas, in reality, neither Goodwin or myself, nor a legion of other
waxbill enthusiasts, have ever seen a single waxbill eat it. Unless one
purchases one’s seeds separately to mix together later then one is paying
over the odds, because the red millet is nothing but unnecessary ballast
(and may even be positively harmful)! 


As can be deduced by what we know of the wild waxbill, or rather the
terrain in which it lives, some insects are likely (but not always) to be
taken and, likewise, throughout the year livefood should always be
provided. This can be by way of a few small white-skinned mealworms,
waxworms, whiteworm (Enchytreae), bloodworm (Tubifex), baby woodlice and
fruit-flies and their larvae. If one has access to termites and the larvae
of ants and their eggs (the pupae actually), then by all means supply
these.


The staple seed mixture, a little livefood and eggfood, plus an occasional
offering of greenfood, i.e. grated carrot, broccoli, Brussells sprouts,
cabbage, etc., is the only food I provide my birds with throughout the
non-breeding season (some breeders call this the "rest season", which is
probably a better phrase if it encourages keepers to give their birds a
rest!) which, for my birds, runs from around January to March/April. To
aid in the digestion of their food I provide baked poultry egg-shells,
limestone, oystershell and cuttlefish, all crushed and mixed together. I
do not provide mineralized grit which can be positively lethal. 


Around March/April (spring), with the longer and warmer hours of natural
daylight filtering through the birdroom windows, I don’t have to do
anything to the diet to see that the birds are keen to breed. However, for
a successful outcome to all the courtship endeavours, the diet has to be
changed considerably. Taking note of what happens after the rains in
Africa, here in England I go hunting - for grass seeds! Top of my list is
annual meadow grass (Poa annua). It is a native annual commonly found
throughout Britain on wasteland, roadsides, fields, gardens and even
cracks in pavements. It is also found in lawns where it continually
re-seeds itself. It reaches up to 30 cm in height and flowers all year
round. Other favourites are rough meadow grass (P. trivialis),
narrow-leaved meadow grass (P. angustifolia), smooth meadow grass (P.
pratensis), common knot-grass (Polygonum aviculare), and perennial rye
grass (Lolium perrene). Besides these seeding grasses, a list which is by
no means complete, I am always on the look-out for the aviculturist’s
favourite weed, chickweed (Stellaria media).


I collect handfuls of the above seeds on the stalk and place them on the
birdroom floor, stand them upright in the corners, or hang them in bunches
from the ceiling. At the same time I increase the livefood daily. While I
still continue feeding the staple seeds every day along with the eggfood,
it is the increase in livefood, and particularly the increase in the wild
seeding grasses, that acts as the catalyst to getting the birds to go down
to breed!


The dexterity with which the typical Estrilda waxbills, especially,
perform in order to extricate the fresh milky green seeds is a sight to
behold. Only the tit family, plus, to a lesser extent, the likes of the
goldfinch (Carduelis carduelis), which frequently holds its food
underfoot, can match their agility.


Summary

We have seen how the wild waxbill is very much dependent on grass in all
aspects of its life and that we can utilize this knowledge by providing
our birds, when in season, with some of the many different native wild
seeds that we may formerly have taken for granted. We have also learnt the
importance of certain livefood for our birds, substitutes for the type of
insects that the waxbills would seek out in the grass. Providing one does
their utmost to create a similar environment and feeding regimen to that
of the wild counterpart then there may be no need to use vitamin
supplements. The vitamins, minerals and trace elements found in the
natural foods under consideration, not to mention the extra amounts in
commercialised eggfood, should prove to be all that is required. If one
still feels the need to use a supplement, then at least use it sparingly.
Above all, remember the equilateral triangle and the interdependency of
all of its sides. The dietary requirements of waxbills, and indeed that of
all birds for that matter, is only one aspect of it. 

Copyright 1999-2000 Ian Hinze.