New House, New Bird Room, New Finches!

Casper (right) ~ A handsome new addition to the aviary. He is a BH YB PB Gouldian Finch. (TWFA 2014)

Well after a hellacious time with our previous landlord, I’m finally free in a bigger, more beautiful new house! Everything happens for a reason, and after an incredibly negative experience my main goal for the new house was to find a better landlord (and house) altogether which I definitely accomplished. If you’d like to see photos of the new house, visit my Facebook page or add my personal profile here. I won’t be posting specific bird room photos on my public site any more for security reasons. I just couldn’t help myself last time!

I’m absolutely in love with this new house! With very kind landlords to boot, it just makes the whole ordeal perfect. There’s also lots of space and windows, much more so than in the last house. This also means that my Zebra Finch pairs are getting back into their breeding groove, some immediately and some are still getting used to the change. The Gouldians will have to wait until I build them their nest boxes in the next week or two.

Changes to Permanent Residents
As you may have noticed if you’ve visited recently, I’ve taken the opportunity during the house move hiatus to make lots of changes! There have been some individuals that were completely uninterested in breeding while others seem to never get along with anyone. Because I do breed regularly and have a limited space for the pairs I keep as personal pets, I’m always keeping an eye out for non-breeding homes where these types may retire without any kind of breeding stimulants or pressure in that aspect. Since moving to WA state where there are many more finch enthusiasts than anywhere else I’ve ever lived, I’ve found plenty of candidates and offers for such an occasion. When it comes down to it the highest concern should always be quality of life, and for some breeding pairs I purchase and bring into the aviary they’re just not happy breeding. Some I will keep as my own permanent pets (we’re up to 3 pairs now), while others will be sent to homes where the flock size is smaller and they don’t have any breeding stimulants. While I do have room for everyone here, it’s more important to make sure my finches and buyers are 100% happy. Sometimes that means changing my plans up a bit. This includes our sweet girl Sweetart who was previously a mate for Miles – she has not been happy since his passing and became overly aggressive to anyone I placed with her. Now she is living in a walk-in aviary down south where she can do whatever she likes with whatever male catches her eye.

For a complete list of my current breeding pairs to see what other changes I’ve made, visit the My Finches page which includes photos and detailed information. I’m still working on this page so it may come up as “under construction” as I gather new photos and information.

My newest addition, a YH GB LB Gouldian male with a goofy personality. He has molted out to a tangerine-ish head color. (TWFA 2014)

New Arias in the Aviary
As you may have read in a previous post, we’ve made some changes to the Gouldian flock also in the way of some new additions. The most handsome of which is our new male Casper! He is a BH YB PB so his head color is a solid white, hence his nickname. He came to me from Meg @ Whidbey Birds who I also received the rest of the Gould flock from, with the exception of my YH GB LB male who is also a newbie from Finches, Canaries & Beyond (he is one of the 2 finches I brought home from the WCZS show). I also received some juveniles from Meg as well, some of which I kept and others I re-homed to trusted hobbyists. Again you can find detailed info including which Gouldians I’ll be breeding on the My Finches page.

I also acquired a Bronze-Winged Mannikin male by accident, as well as a Spice Finch pair. Will I be breeding these species in separate cages in the future? I honestly can’t say at this point. What I’ve decided for certain is that they’ll be staying with me as my permanent pet pairs. I’ll have to do some shuffling and purchasing cages, etc. before I decide if they’ll be breeding. I definitely won’t be jumping into those 2 species other than the single pairs I plan to keep. Then again I said the same about Zebra Finches years ago! 🙂

As always thanks so much for following TWFA and our updates!! It’s been a long haul getting everybirdie moved and set up again but it’s finally over and we can get back to life as usual. There will definitely be lots of photo and video updates as things develop. Don’t forget to follow my Facebook page for more updates and photos/videos! Can’t wait for more offspring to be born soon. Gouldian babies will be very exciting!!