Abstract
The Painted comes from the arid inland areas of central Australia which extends through the Kimberley to the coast of northwestern Australia.
There are three other members in this family: Red-eared Firetail (Emblema ocutata) which comes from the bottom tip of southwestern Australia, the Beautiful Firetail (Emblema bella) which comes from the bottom part of southeastern Australia to Tasmania, and the Diamond Firetail (Emblema guttata) which ranges from southeast out from Queensland down to the coastal areas of southwest Australia.
Painted Finches in the wild nest in clumps of tussock grass, dense shrub and spinifex close to the ground.
They breed in small groups but have some distance between nests. Sometimes males chase each other around without doing any harm to eachother. Their long, tapered bills help them get small seeds from between the rocks and crannies. Globularshaped nests are built on small, flat areas and are made of grasses, twigs, bark, small stones, and lined with soft grasses and feathers. Three to four eggs are usually layed in one clutch. They breed throughout most of the year. They normally produce more males than females but sometimes I have had up to four females in one clutch. Painted Finches can withstand cooler weather; outside aviaries are fine as long as they are sheltered from the cold wind and rain. The incubation period is around 14 days. One can start to see whether one has a male or female at about 35 days of age. They are also weaned around this time.
I have quite a few pairs set up in 6' x 6' x 4' flights. The sides and back are closed off to each other and the roof comes out four feet. The aviary floor is covered with sand, small stones plus lots of soft bark, grasses and feathers. Nest boxes should be placed at different levels. They have bred successfully in a base of a bushy plant and also in finch nest boxes.
The soft food consists of whole wheat bread, egg (blended), chopped up bok-choy, finely chopped broccoli (top part), Vionate vitamin powder, a little calcium (D-ca-Fos) and a natural bone ash with vitamin D3 supplement. I then add to this mixture small mealworms, ant eggs, rice, bran, fish meal, molasses, dry skim milk, ground corn, soybean meal, wheat germ oil, white proso, German and Siberian millet, canary seed, plus a few oil seeds, niger, flax and rape. I make sure this mixture is quite dry. I can put 1/2 a cup of this soft food in my hand and squeeze it firmly; then after opening my hand it should all spring out and break up. Fresh, clean finch mix, cuttle bone and grit is always available, but changed every few weeks. My greatest concern is that cuttlebone sometimes has air pockets in which mold can build up very quickly. I grow millet spray and all the finches get a bunch each week. This is while it is in the milk stage.