Breeding the Black-cheeked Waxbill

Abstract

Recently I have had some success breeding a fairly difficult species, the Black-cheeked Waxbill, Estrilda charmosyna. The Black-cheeked Waxbill is from the East African countries of Tanzania, Uganda and Kenya (Goodwin, 1982). They are found in areas of hot, dry thornscrub.

Cocks are a warm smoky gray on back with fine barring, black masked and tailed, underneath a reddish-gray chest with a black belly. Hens are a little duller all over with a red to pinkish belly. They don't have much of a song but more than make up for it in personality.

Black-cheeks are extremely active and acrobatic little birds that love to hang upside down to pick at the millet. If a moth or spider appears the birds hunt it down with an intensity that is surprising. They watch me move about in the birdroom and are quick to snatch up newly molted mealworms when they are offered.

I acquired three pairs of Blackcheeks in the fall of 1994 from Siggie's Imports. After a suitable period of quarantine two pair were set up into separate breeding cages 30 inches long by 18 inches high by 18 inches deep. A large sized wicker nest basket was placed in one corner at the back of the cage. Phragmites plumes were placed through the cage bars from the inside so the birds would have some cover and thus feel safer in their new quarters. Phragmites is an invasive European exotic that is growing all over the midwest. It sends out 3 - 6 foot tall blades of grass then shoots out a plume that looks like Pampas grass. It's bad for the environment but our foreign finches love the plume for nesting material.

After a couple weeks it looked like I was going to have early success as two pairs went to nest. I soon rediscovered the old axiom "if it was that easy, everyone would be doing it!" They refused to sit for more than three days. Hmmmmm, maybe I'll try fostering for a couple clutches-that's always worked before.

Whenever I try fostering with a species new to me I always use virgin Society Finches for foster parents. That way when chicks hatch underneath them the Societies think, "Babies-I'll feed them." If they have raised any other chicks they might go, "Babies, why are you not like the other babies I've raised? You must be defective so I'll let you starve."

After setting up two pairs of virgin Societies and supplying them with Black-cheek eggs I waited for them to hatch ... and waited .. and waited .... you guessed it-infertile eggs. I soon found that about the only time I could get them to lay fertile eggs was during the summer months and then generally only from pairs that were in outdoor cages.

From about the summer of 1995 to July of 1997 I pulled 10 to 15 fertile clutches of Black-cheek eggs that hatched under Societies. Time and again the same thing happenedbabies hatched, fosters feed for one to five days, then chicks died. Baby Black-cheeks are born totally black with the edge of the beak outlined in white. I had never actually heard them beg. It seemed to me that their crops were empty most of the time. I let the same three pairs of Societies attempt to foster every time figuring that they would eventually get it right-they never did. I shuffled the Black-cheeks into the Owl Finch foster program in which, I am happy to report, they are all doing well.

During the summer of 1997 I set up one pair of Black-cheeks in a 40 inch long by 36 inch high by 36 inch deep cage outside on my deck. This cage had a black soil floor that I covered with bird seed a week or so before the birds were introduced so as to give them places to "hunt" in. I also placed two variegated Schifflera on opposite ends of the flight for cover. Up against the sides all along the upper corners of the cage I tied small bundles ofSwitchgrass, Panacium tergatum. I firmly believe that if I have any "secret" to breeding exotic finches, Switchgrass is it. Switchgrass is a native American perennial. It's a grassy clump that grows to about two to three feet tall then sends out an "umbrella" of fine tiny seeds. I cut off the top 12 inches of seed heads and dry the clump out for about three days before tying them into a bundle. Most of my finches shun nest baskets and boxes and weave their own nests within the Switchgrass thicket. They use it for cover, for display material, as nesting grass and for the value of the seed as a conditioning food.

The second pair was set up again in the cage first described in this article but with only one variegated Schifflera and plenty of Switchgrass. The third pair was released in a 30 foot long by 8 foot high by 15 foot deep outdoor planted flight. There were about 12 other finch pairs of mixed species in this flight. The first two pairs of Blackcheeks stuffed great quantities of Switchgrass into large wicker nest baskets. They have a peculiar habit of weaving the grasses so as to form a four to six inch entrance tube leading into the nest. The first pair (outside on my deck) also built a cock nest on top on the nest basket. The third pair (in the large outdoor aviary) was unsuccessful for the third year in a row. This was probably due to too much competition for nest sites, food, etc. I really feel that this species needs to feel secluded and hidden to feel comfortable enough to reproduce.

I took two clutches of eggs from pair two and placed them under Societies that had only fostered Purple Grenadiers, Uraeginthus ianthinogaster. Purple Grenadier chicks are born very dark and they don't beg very loudly so I figured if anyone would raise Black-cheeks these fosters would.

When hatching day came close I started giving the foster parents my eggfood mixture with about 25 large mealworms cut up on top of it. This way, when the chicks hatch, the fosters feed the food item with the heaviest concentration of protein first. In the wild, most waxbills feed nothing but fresh insects for the first week or so. Chopping up mealworms on top of the mixture prevents the mealworms from crawling away as well as making it more appealing to the fosters as a nestling food item.