# Tribute to an ole'(old) Finch!!



## Nay (Feb 3, 2012)

I got into raising finches in about 1990.I studied up on care and housing and just dove into it. It had started with a pair of Strawberry finches that someone had to give up.Most people know the ''beep 'beep 'beep of the Zebra finches, but the Strawberrys have a song. Finches are closely related to canaries and the Strawberrys have a song that is a bit quieter, but none the less extremely beautiful. 
Anyway I found a breeder of many exotic ones in PA and ordered a few pairs. It got me soo hooked! Had hubby build these long flight cages, ordered all these special diets and away we go!! Some of these birds are so specific to breed they wouldn't even consider it unless they were eating live food! Who knew. Who also knew I would be then also breeding mealworms(easy). They had special lights, just like torts, on timers cause their egg laying coincided with lighting. Oh what fun!! 
Well, as much research as I did, I didn't really think things through and having 1 or 2 pairs of birds does not alot of babies to sell produce!! I then would feel wrong to sell a pair that were brother and sister and on to my trying to keep track of who was who!! I then had to get into banding and paperwork to know who not to sell with who! And the mess!! Maggie you think Bob is bad, well imagine the mess when you reach in to get a specific bird, and they are just about wild birds! Seed everywhere! Never mind these are all hand made cages, and our first time making them to boot! Although you can buy this tubing to put around all your cut edges, invariability there are some you can't cover, and having made them 8 feet long you they seem to get just where you really have to stretch and that sharp edges owhhhh. (I have more scratches from those cages than 25 years of handling cats!)
They would be outside untill the frost then brought it.Those summer months we would just sit out there and watch these beautiful exotic birds and all their beautiful songs. There were about 5 big cages full of birds.
We also had Pekingese that we would breed every couple years and always had at least 8 dogs around, living inside. And since we loved dogs and people would always have one that needed a home or needed to be babysat, we decided we would take one extra dog in at a time and find it a home.
It got to be a bit much when I had my son. I decided since I wasn't even at the break even mark with the birds, maybe it would be best to cut our losses and get out of it. We ended up keeping my 2 favorite pairs. The original Strawberry pair, she had given me some beautiful babies so we would let her be retired with her hubby. And a pair of Shafttails, oh so cool looking birds.These distinct markings and a long beautiful tail! After a couple bouts of egg binding, my poor little female Strawberry dies, and also I lost the female Shafttail. (They were probably 9-10 years old) We moved into a construction mess in 2006 and I had just the 2 males, in the same cage and thriving. We were still taking in a stray at a time and had this little male pitbull (Along with 5 pekes, and 2 big dogs) Two women came to look at him (Harley) and for some reason one of my cats picked that moment to leap onto the finch cage that was hanging. He slipped and his hind toe got caught between the bars. He was Screaming!! and Harley couldn't resist, I ran to get Cashmere off the cage and the bottom fell out, the 2 birds went flying and the pit was flying after the cat that I let go. These 2 girls were just watching in amazement at the antics. I had to catch the 2 birds cause now the cat is after the birds. I caught one in one hand and lucked out and caught the other in the other hand,funny what adrenal will do. Now I have these 2 birds and no hands, I told one of the girls to grab this gallon jug of food and I placed them inside. The girls decided to leave.After I put the cage together I went for the birds and the Shafttail looked bad, his leg was completely spun around. I actually debated if it would be kinder to just snap it off, (Ya I know!!) But his other leg was already compromised as when I got him he had been double banded, and one of the bands had slipped and his toes grew straight. (When you have a ton of birds sometimes you run out of color combos and have to put 2 on to keep track,and he was a baby so his feet were still growing, but he had done fine through the years,he was about 13 years old..) I could euthanize him,but no, I had to give him a chance, I put the leg kinda where it should be and gave him some soft hay and some food and water at the bottom of the cage. Wouldn't ya know it, he did great, about 3 weeks later, you would never know his leg had just about fallen off!
The girls never took the pit!
So why write this? I don't know. I could write abook on all our pet stories, but everytime I start I get overwhelmed writing, and lose track of where to go. So I decided to start with a simple nice one to tribute a bird no one would believe is older than my son. My son's birthday is 7-1-1995 and will be 17 this year. This bird, who by the way does not have a name, is older than him. He is still alive, but certainly showing his age. I did lose the Strawberry 2 years ago and couldn't think of stressing this old bird by adding another. He greets us every AM before I get up, and I do worry the day I don't hear it.
Here's to you little Shafttail!! You can see he looks alittle 'ruff' around the edges and you can see how he crunches down.The right side is the side he broke..Hope you enjoyed this story!!
Nay


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## Yvonne G (Feb 3, 2012)

That's amazing! I had no idea they would live that long. You must be doing something right!!!


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## ascott (Feb 3, 2012)

He is beautiful...and ruff around the edges just allows you to see character.....thanks for sharing


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