Golden Breasted Waxbill

Scientific Name: Estrada sub lava

Origin: West Africa

A neat and lively small waxbill, this bird can be kept with ease in a mixed collection of waxbills and small finches.

Description:

Size: 10 on (5 in)

COCK:

Body: olive grey and dark yellow. Sides: grey with fine yellow wavy lines. Eye-brows: red stripe. Legs: cream.

HEN:

The hen looks similar to the cock. The plumage color is paler underneath, slightly smaller in size and lacking red eyebrow stripes.

Diet: (Seedeater)

Mixed millets, plain canary seed, millet sprays and seeding grasses are enjoyed. Green food, a few mealworms or cleaned maggots, grit and cuttlefish bone should be provided.

Try to bring these birds indoors or provide a dry wart, shelter away from many draughts in cold weather.

Golden Breasted Waxbill Breeding:

The Golden-Breasted Waxbill may be intolerant, both of its own kind and of other species, when nesting. This shouldn’t normally amount to more than chasing the other birds away from the nest site. It does not interfere with other birds that are nesting.

The cock's mating song, a rather monotonous chirping, can be heard from early in the morning until dusk. He performs a dainty courtship dance. Globular wicker nest baskets and open-fronted nest boxes tray is pro-vided. A pair may also build their own nest using various materials, including hair, wool teasing and feathers. Plenty of plant cover is needed to encourage these birds to breed.

Three to five white eggs are laid which, if fertile, should hatch in 2 to 12 days. The hen may tend to lay eggs all year round but often the eggs prove to be infertile. Both parents take part in the process of incubation.

Breeding birds should be fed plenty of small live food, sprouted seeds, mashed hard-boiled egg yolk, fresh ants' eggs and fine grade insectile mix.

The young fledge with yellowish-grey body color, yellowish-red tail feathers and black beaks.

Information on Gold Breasted Waxbill

• The gold breasted waxbill is the smallest breed of finch that is captive raised. The bird is very delicate and should be kept with great care.
• Though small in size but the bird can be kept along with larger sized finches in an aviary. The bird is genetically very healthy and is able to make its own space for nesting in a community aviary.
• The bird has the habit of taking balanced diet food. It love to have small quantities of each food item introduced in the cage.
• The young gold breasted finch loves to feed themselves on Lafeber granules as they find difficulty in breaking seeds with their tiny beaks.
• Gold breasted waxbills thrives well in the cages of dimensions between 4’x3’x3’ and 6’x3’x3’.
• The bird is extremely fertile and 5 chicks are born at an average. But in many cases a clutch may get reduced in the number of chicks before their first molting session starts.