Blue-capped Waxbill - foster or parent rearing


Blue Capped Cordon Bleu Waxbills (Blue capped Waxbills/ Blue headed Waxbills/ Cordon Bleu Waxbills) Rearing chicks - foster versus parent rear - Bengalese or Zebras
Right now due to the import ban it's a no brainer foster to get numbers of captive reared Waxbills up then - we can learn successful parent rearing knowing there is a viable UK population in my first season the only parent-rearing success was from a captive-reared hen in only 3 months of fostering there are a number of chicks from different pairs of wild-caught Cordon Bleu parents
Pluses and minuses of Parent Rearing Blue Capped Waxbills
Positives natural generally Cordon Bleus are good sitters occupies the parents proves husbandry is very good	Negatives variable live-food requirement between Blue Capped pairs young birds can lose many clutches while they learn to 'parent' ejection of chicks if parents overly 'fit' chicks abandoned if development isn't 'right' parent-rearing with wild caught can be very problematic can't monitor chicks to move smaller ones to other nests very hard to access nest to close ring chicks get less used to 'our food' than when fostered chicks 'wilder' than when fostered - unused to small cages overall low ratio of eggs to fledged chicks
Fosters vary
good fosters - all fledglings lack any tufts of head down OK fosters - some fledglings have tufts of head down poor fosters (or old/ unfit parents) - 1 or more chicks fledge incompletely feathered or even can' fly try again with eggs from other another Blue-Capped pair same result? use such Bengalese to foster rear eggs from good foster Bengalese
Cock trios versus true pairs
cock trios every time can induce cock trios to go clucky in 4 days - 1 china egg added to the nest each morning for 4 consecutive days so start them going clucky when you know you have a Waxbill nest no cycles - no distracting extra eggs laid ie is that a Bengie or a Waxbill egg? BETTER FEEDERS the photo below shows two nests which hatched on the same day & had exactly the same food/ regimen/ cage the trio's chicks are bigger, better developed and better feathered than the pair's chicks the trio's chicks have already started moving around the nest what goes in comes out - much, much more droppings in the trio's 3 chick versus the pair's 2 chick nest trio's chicks crop's were invariably much fuller one cock and two hens? - no - the hens compete for the eggs - fewer are consistently brooded so fewer hatch hen trio - why even go there? so - cock trios every time
Bursting
better if you can stop peeking at the chicks as they near full feather - days 13 or 14 onwards otherwise you might induce a 'burst' & the weakest/ youngest could suffer if you see fewer waxbills to the perch than when you last inspected prior to fledging try not to look in the nest the smallest/ weakest will 'burst' and an extra day in the nest can be the difference between surviving or not
Fledging - reducing chances of imprinting
Blue Capped Waxbills don't all necessarily fledge on the same day - 1 might be early or 1 might be late (usually all within 2 days though - fits with the egg hatching times - 1 nest was 4 days) fledge at about days 18 - 20 the waxbill chicks return to the foster nest for the first few days during the day and especially at night faced with a small, not fully feathered fledgling I turn the heater up to 20°C (70°F) for 2 days (don't know whether that helps but makes me feel I am trying) if only one chick (or perhaps two) fledge(s) so there are more Society Finches than Cordon Bleus have you got one or two older Blue Capped Waxbills to transfer for 3 or 4 weeks which are steady in small foster cages? if you can it means at least youngsters see behaviour and socialise with other Cordon Bleu Finches
Weaning - minimise the stress
waxbills may be weaned at 2 weeks but I like to leave them with the fosters for at least 3/ 4weeks when weaned - try not to transfer from a small foster cage to an aviary in one giant leap (try an intermediate week or two in a flight cage) even when going to a flight cage transfer one or two Bengalese as well just for 2 or 3 days the young waxbills will be more comfortable (and the adventurous Bengalese will find the seed and water soonest) (useless info.) - the beak changes from black to 'pink' a month after fledging
Bengalese (Society Finches) or Zebra Finches as Cordon Bleu Fosters
Not tried myself but some people advocate using Zebras to foster Why? Bengalese are wonderfuly steady and controllable A 'trio' of cocks can be made clucky within 3 - 4 days but some Bengalese wont feed Blue-Capped Waxbill chicks the skin colour and/ or the heavy down may contribute Zebra Finches Not as controllable and must have a pair breeding 'in sync' but photo shows dark and light skin colour in same nest plus quite a lot of down AND Zebras don't settle down to roost as early as Bengalese in winter early roosting limits feeding time and extends 'night'
	Zebra Finch chicks - same nest, same parents different skin colour, down & varying sizes

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