- Our breeding pairs are in 30"L x 18"W x 18"H cages. Each cage is equipped with a "daylight" light bulb.
- Each cage has a minimum of two toys including swings, tug toys, rings, things with bells, etc.
- All cages have natural perches and a single cement perch for nail/beak conditioning.
- We are currently trying out several types of nest boxes with the plastic (5"x5"x6";) ones currently the most successful.
- We prefer not to foster our chicks, but will do so if the situation calls for it (ie. parents abandoned the nest and will not return).
Non-breeding
- In Guelph, the non-breeding finches are divided by sex into two separate flight cages. One is 6'L x 2'W x 5'H and the other is 6'L x 30"W x 30"H. Both are full of toys and natural perches.
- In Barrie, the finches are again divided by sex, but remain in the cages.
- Our Barrie and Guelph sites feed slightly differently due to different schedules, but the basics are the same. We both feed seed mixtures based on availability/cost at the time of buying. We feed Moore's Finch Mixture, Rainforest Exotics Canary & Finch, and Hagen Finch Seed combined.
- The breeding finches receive hardboiled egg with shell mashed up throughout the day. They randomly receive lettuce, broccoli, carrots, oranges, apples, grapes, kale, berries and whatever else we happen to pick up at the grocery store. They also occasionally get cooked food - either made for the parrots or finch specific (Beak Appetite).
- Cuttle bone is available at all times.
- The finches in Barrie get soaked seeds too.
- Non-breeding finches get the same as the breeding finches, but the egg food is on random rotation.
- Our finches receive vitamins (Ornalyte/Vitaflight), Iodine (human grade liquid iodine and powdered kelp), Calcium (calciboost/Calcilux) and Probiotics (Potent Brew) on a regular schedule.
-They also get mixtures of Orlux dry egg food mixed with kelp, F-Vite, Herb Salad, and occationally dried insects.
- The Cordon Bleu Waxbills also get large helpings of mini meal worms.