STRAWBERRY FINCHES

I need information on strawberry finches, including breeding tips. Does the male have to be in full color to breed?

Strawberry Finches are delightful Asiatic waxbills measuring just 4 inches in length. The male's melodic song, which includes a series of clear, sweet, flute-like noises, makes this species fairly unique among waxbills, since few waxbills possess pleasing songs.

Another signature feature is that the male strawberry finch actually has two suits of clothing: During the breeding season, the male is dressed in nuptial plumage, consisting of rich, reddish feathers with white spots (prompting the strawberry name); but, in the nonbreeding season, the male dons eclipse plumage, consisting of more subdued, brownish feathers. (Males do not have to be in full color to breed, although my birds generally have at least part of their nuptial plumage while breeding.)

Strawberry finches are still primarily wild-caught birds, and they benefit from roomy enclosures. Select a cage at least 30 inches in length, or provides your strawberries with a flight or aviary, which they will appreciate even more. Strawberries can be kept in mixed flights, although they do defend -- sometimes vigorously -- the area around their nesting site, so they should be watched carefully during the breeding season. To minimize conflicts, house one pair of strawberries per flight, and avoid mixing strawberries with other red birds.

To make your strawberries feel at home, include some plant cover in the cage or flight. For example, my strawberries sleep together on a top stick behind a clump of dried grasses, where they enjoy privacy and security each night. Also add some natural tree branches, which provide comfortable perching spots and may help keep your waxbills' nails short (because of the rough surface of the branches). Under captive conditions, strawberries (and their close relatives, golden-breasted waxbills) usually need periodic nail trims, which protect the birds from injuries caused by overgrown nails. In the wild, of course, landing on a variety of rough surfaces, including the coarse stems of reeds, naturally wears down the nails.

Offer your birds a standard diet for small waxbills, starting with a seed mixture that contains a fair amount of small millet (also called yellow, golden or panicum millet) and some millet sprays, which my strawberries relish dry or soaked. Soft, ripening seeds on growing seedlings heads, such as crabgrass, will be appreciated, too. Add greens, such as spinach, romaine lettuce or chickweed, and commercial soft food supplements, including nestling foods, pelleted foods and egg food. My strawberries do not accept pelleted foods (or even feed pelleted foods to their nestlings), favoring types that are in the form of granules or crumbles. Also try a homemade hard-boiled egg mixture.

Strawberries also require cuttlebone, some finely ground mineral mixture or oyster shell, and a little grit. In addition, most strawberries benefit form small live foods, such as small mealworms (under one-half inch in length), aphids, white worms, fly larvae or termites. Live food is usually required for breeding strawberry finches, especially if you have wild-caught birds.

Strawberries generally prove to be free-breeding birds and, with a little encourage, will even raise young in a cage. Strawberries accept a variety of nests, including large, closed wicker basket and half-open nest boxes. My strawberries prefer to build their own nests, either in bushes in roomy aviary or, just recently, in a wire cockatiel bath with a plastic bottom measuring about 10 by 7 inches. Clearly, strawberries use dried grasses, coconut fibers, burlap, moss, plant down and feathers.

Provide a secure and undisturbed environment while the birds are nesting. Both sexes share in building the nest and in incubation and rearing the young. Hens usually lay four or five eggs, and incubating and rearing the young. Hens usually lay four or five eggs, and incubation takes approximately 12 days. Before the eggs hatch, begin offering fresh supplies and live food. Be sure to include live food, which may be essential to breeding success (particularly for wild caught parents). Seedling grasses or soaked seeds will also be used, especially toward the end of the nestling phase. My breeding strawberries also consume a fair amount of greens.

The young emerge from the nest after about 3 weeks. Easily distinguished youngsters have blackish beaks and drab, brownish plumage, with buff bars on their wings. By listening carefully, it is easy to hear the adults communicating with their fledged young through a series of soft call notes. For example, among my strawberries now breeding in a cage, I hear the adults entice their offspring back into the nest for the evening, and, during the day, I often hear the adults call their offspring to safety, if anything threatening is near the cage.

Easily recommended as cages or aviary birds, strawberries and hardy, attractive and long-lived songsters. Strawberries are also willing parents, making them ideal for beginners interested in learning to breed waxbills. Strawberries are also willing parents, making them ideal for beginners interested in learning to breed waxbills. Strawberry finches are not without problems, though; because they are prone to induced melanism, a loss or darkening of the bright colors of plumage, which particularly detracts from the appearance of the male's nuptial costume. The cause of melanism is unclear, but we do know that melanism rarely occurs in strawberries kept outside. To prevent melanism, it is best to provide adequate natural light (perhaps with full-spectrum bulbs) and a varied diet -- or, more simply, to provide conditions that are as close to nature as possible.