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Adding new images to the site in general. Building the gallery with links to our images, sound files, video clips. Adding new wallpapers to the gallery. Posting some free finch web graphics that can be downloaded and used for free on your own website. Adding a gift shop offering items such as calendars, mugs, coasters, or the like. |
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What's New8/21/2006 4/19/2006 11/16/2005 10/3/2005 7/3/2005 6/21/2005 5/18/2005 3/2/2005 2/8/2005
- 2005 Update
First, sadly, we had to say goodbye to a few of our residents. Unfortunately, as the aviary grows older, we must prepare for the passing of some birds. Last year we said goodbye to our remaining masked grassfinch, our pair of button quail, and our canary. Our original birds have now been in our care for five years, and many were not young birds when we acquired them. Therefore, the aviary is getting older and age is beginning to take a toll on a few of the birds. But we will continue to provide them with a loving home, good care, and lots of flight space for as long as we have the honor of their company. In addition to the losses listed above, our new Gouldian finches developed an ailment approximately nine days after we acquired them. The ailment began with a swollen eye and progressed to respiratory problems and fluffiness very quickly. Despite prompt and extensive treatment from our avian veterinarian that included eye ointments, antibiotics, hospitalization at the vet, and nebulization, the male Gouldian finch passed away. The female's future looked grim, but to everyone's surprise, including the vet's, she made a remarkable and sudden recovery. She remains in quarantine, just in case her illness is chronic. However, it has been nine months and the symptoms have not returned. If she continues to be fine for a year, I will consider trying to find her a mate, as I hate to think of her living her life alone in a cage. While this was a very trying and depressing experience, we are very glad we follow a strict quarantine procedure. Because the illness occured during quarantine, none of our other birds were exposed. Please, please, please, always remember to quarantine new birds. On a happier note, we do have some new additions to the aviary. In October, I was fortunate enough to be allowed to adopt a Strawberry Finch and a Goldbreasted Waxbill from my local bird club. The Goldbreast is missing some feathers around the neck, but I am hoping that with the proper diet, full spectrum lighting, and a fresh molt, he will recover the missing feathers. If not, he would not be the first plucked bird to find a home in my aviary. The strawberry finch has fit right in with the other strawberries. I will be looking for a mate for the goldbreast sometime this year. I also purchased an American Singer canary. I found the aviary was not quite the same without a canary in the collection, so I was compelled to find myself a new one. He is very happy and sings up a storm. During the second half of 2004, I haven't had time to provide any significant updates to the site. This is because I had a lot going on - much of it related to birds. First, I became involved with the Greater Chicago Cage Bird Club. I took over as webmaster for their website, and spent a lot of time redesigning it from the ground up. The new format is up and running, so while it will be my responsibility to keep it up-to-date, I will have a lot of time back for working on FinchAviary.com. Please feel welcome to visit the GCCBC website here.
Secondly, I became involved in showing birds. I attended three shows: The Great Lakes Avicultural Society show in Grand Rapids, MI; the Greater Chicago Cage Bird Club Annual Show in Arlington Heights, IL; and the National Institute of Red Orange Canaries show (they also have a finch division), also in Arlington Heights. I am happy to report that I benched three birds at GLAS (my male society finch took 3rd), and one bird at GCCBC and NIROC (one of my male strawberry finches took 2nd at GCCBC). I was fortunate enough to have been mentored by Darla Dandre, and soon I will be posting an article on showing finches for novices. Now for 2005! EXCITING NEWS! I have decided to build a bird room in my basement. We have walled off a section of our basement (18 ft by 12 ft). Along one wall I will build 4 walk-in aviaries 4 ft x 6 ft x ceiling height. Along the other I will either have breeding cages or tall and long but shallow flights. I will be trying my hand at breeding waxbills. I chose waxbills because I love their size, colors, song, behavior, and demeanor, but also because they can be a challenge. I love a good challenge, and if they are not very prolific, I am okay with that - less work for me finding suitable homes. They can also be housed and bred in a mixed aviary consisting of other waxbills. Since I prefer keeping birds in aviaries and large flights over breeding cages, this seemed to be a perfect fit. I will not be breeding for numbers and profit, but rather for show quality. It is my goal to breed selectively for color, conformation, and demeanor, as well as for parenting skills and vitality. That is the goal, at least. Time will tell how successful I become. While it is not my goal to produce large numbers of birds for sale, if I am successful, I will probably have birds for sale from time to time. Experience breeding birds will allow me to make this site even more informative than it is now. I will be adding a subdomain to cover my bird room and breeding efforts. This site will remain in the existing format, focusing on keeping finches as pets in a non-breeding indoor aviary setting. Our aviary will continue to house Australian grassfinches as well as waxbills. But you will be free to visit the bird room subdomain for more advanced topics and issues, most likely specific to keeping and breeding waxbills. The subdomain will go up when my bird room is ready, sometime later in 2005. Keep checking in - I will be sure to let you know when it is up and running. So, that about covers it for now. I will be updating the site shortly with new articles, pictures, and up-to-date information. 5/11/2004 5/8/2004
4/13/2004 4/7/2004 3/27/2004 3/26/2004 3/15/2004 3/09/2004 2/03/2004 1/31/2004 I've
added another Zebra Finch wallpaper to the Gallery. 1/24/2004 1/23/2004 1/20/2004 The Add-a-Link page has been redesigned. All the spam links have been removed. You now must e-mail me with your links to get them added. If any of your links were removed by mistake, please resubmit them and I will be sure to reinstate them. 1/19/2004 1/18/2004 |
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