The last few times I have driven my daughter to Basketball I have noticed a little old house which seemed unlived in with a little cage on the verandah. Upon a closer look I saw hardly any food and yukky water and a few little lethargic finches in the cage. I have had finches before so I know how "hoppity" they usually are.

 

The last time I went there I slipped a little note in the lock of the cage saying that I was wondering if they were thinking of selling any finches. It has been four days and I was getting worried due to the fact the weather is just getting hotter and they have no shelte. The phone rang at dinner and it was an elderly lady saying that it was her husbands sisters house and she had been hospitalised 2 months previous and now has had to go into permanent care in a nursing home. They had just taken two kittens to the petshop and were still searching for one more cat on the property to take to the R*PCA.

 

She said she has spoken with the lady and that they would love a new home for the finches and the cage if I wanted it and to just make an offer. She said thee were 7 finches in total. I did not want to rip them off, but also had no idea of how much I should pay considering I didnt really want finches. The neighbor had supposedly been feeding and watering them but the water was bright red and almost made me vomit at the smell so I think it had never been changed since she was hospitalised! I offered $50 and she said that the lady would be more than happy with that, I arranged to go and get them tomorrow but sitting there to my dinner began to think about the poor little guys and rang to arrange it straight away.

 

Hubby asked me "what do you wnat them for haven't you got enought birds?" I said that they were giving me them because she couldnt care for them and slipped the lady the $50 whilst he was emptying the stinky water bowl and putting them in the van. Times are a little tough at the moment but I needed to help the little things. The lady told me they are Bengalese finches and that her sister in law only started with 5 so there must be 2 extras from them breeding, its a wonder they did considering the living conditions! It was too dark to count by the time I got them home and they had squashed themselves into their little nest so I just gave them a huge bowl of fresh food and a nice big bowl of crystal clear water and I will see them in the morning!

 

A good end for them and my kids have taken to them so that is nice. I now need to find out how to discourage them breeding so I can feed them up and make them well. They have little nests in there but this is where they sleep not just lay eggs so if I take it out they have no where to sleep? I thought I could seperate males and females but I cant tell them apart. Maybe someone on here knows more about them? I'll take some photo's tomorrow but for now I'd better get to bed! Night all!

Good news Trish, glad you were able to help them out of a tough situation and able to give the finches a home.

Does anyone here know much about Bengalese finches? :question:

Glad you save those little birds Trish, sounds like they wouldn't last much longer.

you did a great thing, :question:

 

Here is a forum that might help

 

http://www.finchforum.com/

Edited November 27, 200816 yr by **Liv**

Good on you Trish. What a lovely person you are.

 

Maybe the finches bred before the lady was hospitalised.

Great job Trish :question: Take the nests out. They dont need them to sleep in. My finches just perch to sleep and yours will get used to doing that too. Give them some twiggy type branches like a shrub with no leaves to perch in and they will love it.

So I just looked and have 5 rung finches and two babies in the nest unrung....cute! I guess for the moment I wont be able to take the nest out. I have babies woo hoo!

Edited November 28, 200816 yr by **Liv**

Poor old lady was sure she only had 5 finches but just found the other two are rung and I dont think that these finches rung themselves. It would be handy I am sure!

 

 

 

I think I'd better get a better cage

Nests are out. In the middle of all this I rescued a Long Billed Corella that had been hit by a car and also my 10 year old daughter had a knife held to her throat yesterday at school...it has been such a shocking couple of days

Edited November 28, 200816 yr by maesie

My goodness! That is shocking about your daughter. I hope everything that can be done will be done, both in terms of her safety and dealing with the person who did it and giving her the support she needs to deal with the shock.

 

Well done with the finches, that is a lovely thing to do and hopefully will be very rewarding for you.

The child in question is not allowed back to school until his mother agrees to a full psychological evaluation and at present he is suspended indefinitely. Today my daughter went to school in "Casual clothes" ie: no uniform, today is Jump Rope for Heart Day, and seems happy, he is not there today and I trust the principal will take this matter very seriously. She will enjoy tonight as Casterton has its "Light up night" where everyone turns on their Christmas lights and there are fireworks and rides, it should be a wonderful night!

The cage isn't too bad, if you gave it a good wash down and scrubbed the rust off with a wire brush it should come up nice I would hazard a guess that the males are the ones with the black on their head and wings

The cage isn't too bad, if you gave it a good wash down and scrubbed the rust off with a wire brush it should come up nice I would hazard a guess that the males are the ones with the black on their head and wings

 

 

Last night they slept in their nest~ all 7 in 1! So I put it back in and when they are sleeping tonight I'll gently move it into another cage, so I can give this one a good scrubbing. Will I need to paint with vinegar after the wire brush do you think? I was also wondering how strong should a bleach solution be?

I use a 50% vinegar solution as a disinfectant, no bleach but that's just me

Excellent , thanks MB am going to pick up kids from school and get some vinegar and a wire brush!

If you can put it in the sun to dry that is ideal

Oh Trish that is horrible to hear about your daughter. I hope she is okay. Best wishes from us any way.

The cage is quite large. I expected it to be tiny or something.

Show us your corella!

They were obviously well loved birds when their original owner cared for them, how sad for the poor old lady

Show us your corella!

 

 

Unfortunately the Corella was too far gone and had to be euthanased. It had a broken/dislocated foot, broken wing with compound fracture and serious internal injuries. At least I tried and did not leave it for the foxes. On the good side I have now found an animal shelter near me that I am going to volunteer for as a carer and if anything happens again I know where they are and if I find an animal in future (no doubt i will) I know where to bring it. I do have another Corella that I rescued last year that is still with me as it cant fly, here it is:

 

 

Also my daughter is fine and looking forward to the Christmas night tonight! Thankyou for asking

Oh Trish that is horrible about your daughter, I'm so glad she is alright.

for your daughter... poor girl!

 

and

 

for you for rescuing the birds. You have an awesome heart and will do well at the rescue center. Good luck with the cage and I look forward to seeing it all 'new'. I'm sure they'll love some nice big native branches too :rofl:

Oh that's unfortunate about the corella. Your other one is a cutey though.

Can non-australian animals have australian native plants? Because they always go on about eucalypts being less than ideal for animals to eat.

Go for poplar or apple tree branches they are good for non-australian animals.

My indain ringnecks love tearing apart gum branches.

But I mean, is it safe for them? Could they be getting minimally poisoned each time??? I don't know. Isn't Eucalyptus oil poisonous?

Edited November 28, 200816 yr by Sailorwolf

Sw what comes out of the leaves when they are squeezed and pressed - ..... oil :rofl: