Abstract
This is the second article dealing with the Blue-breasted Parrot Finch, the first being "The Blue-breasted Parrot Finch" which appeared in the January/February 1994 issue of the AFA Watchbird. A lot has developed since then, and we feel this information is important to Parrot Finch enthusiasts.
We first bred our Blue-breasted in April of 1993 with the clutch of two (there were only two eggs laid) hatching on April 11 and being successfully parent reared. Unlike the European approach, we found that our Bluebreasted breed well as a colony in a free-flying situation in our 12 x 24 ft. tropical indoor bird room. These birds do not behave as a true colony bird as in the case of the Pin-tailed Nonpareil Erythrura prasina, but rather as a loose collection of individuals, apparently encouraged by each other's presence.
The problem with the Blue-breasted is that they tend to become obese in captivity. The Europeans overcome this by giving them small amounts of seed per day, housing them in small cages for breeding, and keeping the sexes separate in large flights when not breeding. We believe there must be a better way. Due to its very active nature (the most active of all the Parrot Finches), with its great love of flying, if kept in a large enclosure this bird will easily burn off the excess fat. When compared with the other non-established Parrot Finches, such as the Bamboo Erythrura byperytbra and the Pin-tailed, this bird does, indeed, lend itself to ease of propagation and establishment in aviculture. With a simple diet of seed, Romaine lettuce, cucumber, oranges, calcium in the form of crushed, baked eggshells, eggfood and millet spray, the Blue-breasted (also known as the Forbes Parrot Finch) will very easily and readily raise its own young. An additional note: the Bluebreasted prefer juice oranges over the pulpier varieties and seeded cucumbers over the seedless kinds.
We strongly recommend that you use organically grown, untreated produce. We don't mean to cause alarm but we recently read an article where irradiated food is suspected of causing chromosome damage in India. The laws in this country are such that food may irradiated without informing the public. This, indeed, prolongs the shelf life as the food is not so readily attacked by bacteria, fungus, bugs, etc., but leaves the food hard and tasteless. After all. if insects and bacteria don't want to eat the food, there must be a reason.
In our free-flying situation these birds invariably nest in the rafters of the bird room ceiling. Unlike other estrildid finches, when juveniles fledge (at approximately three weeks of age) they come out fully feathered and with good flying ability. Fledglings of one day will fly from one end of the bird room to the other, landing securely on a perch. When catching a snooze, they will roost on the highest branches.
The nest is typically estrildid-a globular structure with a side entrance, either free-standing or built within a large wicker finch basket. Like other estrildids, these birds are opportunistic, using the burlap strands we provide for nesting material and "snitching" the straw bedding we provide for our caged birds.
Blue-breasted pairs make very good parents, surprisingly tolerant of people's comings and goings. Often, we do not even realize that another pair is nesting, it only becoming evident...