John... I had 2 Pekin Robins when I was a teenager and a young adult. In French, we call them Rossignols du Japon (Japanese Nightingale). They were fantastic birds. They were in a fairly large cage (4 ft x 4 ft x 2 1/2 )but unfotunatly I never had any babies from them...
Did your Pekin Robins ever hatch?
Did you know the species is now on CITES?
No, the Robins never did breed. They need a VERY large, planted aviary and lots of privacy and an endless supply of just the right bugs to feed the babies. They'd do well in a large....say 10' x 30' (overgrown), aviary outside in the summer. Even so, apparently, you can only house one pair per aviary if you want them to breed. At breeding time, they are highly territorial and they won't tolerate other Robins in the area. I found out later that my Robins never did even attempt to breed because I had 6 birds in the greenhouse. If I'd only had one pair, they would've likely tried. However, I have spoken to a breeder who successfully bred them every summer by putting them into a large outdoor flight and supplementing their diet with huge numbers of mealworms. The problem with that is it's a high maintenance thing. The babies cannot eat the mealworms that have a hard outer shell. As the worms grow, they moult now and then. In the few hours after they moult, they are white and soft and juicy. Yum yum for baby birds. But, once they redevelop a hard outer shell, they are no good as baby food. So, in order to have enough mealworms at the right stage of growth at all times for the babies, you need to have many colonies of mealworms on the go at the same time. You end up being a bug breeder with a few birds on the side! Non breeding Peking Robins will eat special softbill food that you can buy in any decent pet shop. However, that adult food is not suitable for feeding to babies. The parents just won't do it.
As for CITES, well....isn't everything on CITES now? Not long ago, Peking Robins were imported and they were common. Now, you only see them at bird shows if a breeder is attending. And if you want to buy some, you'll likely be told "No". The breeders are not keen on releasing any of their birds to just anyone that they don't know. I think they are all very aware that if any birds are wasted and not set up properly for successful breeding, the species will disappear from aviculture forever. So, the people with the birds now are very choosy about who gets to have some of their stock. The captive gene pool is very small and they don't want it to get any smaller.
David, My favourite Zebra Finches are the normals, the pieds and the dark eyed, pure whites. Is it just me, or does the male's song sound like an old car turing over; but, not starting? Very comical song!
I once bought a pair of dark eyed, pure whites from my local pet shop. About a week later, I happened to be visiting a Gouldian breeder who had a nest of 4 eggs from a red headed, white breasted, yellow bodied female and a red headed, while breasted, double factor yellow bodied male. She had just put the pair back into the flights for a break and she was going to toss the eggs. The babies from those eggs were going to be spectacular...especially the double factor, deep yellow males with red heads and pure white breasts! I must've looked heartbroken at the thought of those eggs going to waste. So, the breeder gave them to me. Although, I had no birds at all on a nest at the time.
The odds were so much against me; but, I went home and put the two white Zebras in a small cage and gave them a nest box with a nest that I'd made for them. I put in a few dummy eggs and changed their diet to include lots of deep green veggies and high protein foods like mashed hard boild egg and bits of hamburger meat, etc. I also used a hand pump mister and I sprayed the pair each morning with water to give them the sense that the rainy season had arrived! I kept the 4 Gouldian eggs at room temperature, in a dish of seeds (which provides great support when storing tiny finch eggs), in the dark and I turned them 2 or 3 times a day. After 3 days, the Zebra female laid an egg. I immediately removed it and put in the 4 Gouldian eggs.
Bam!!! Both Mom and Dad adopted the Gouldian eggs and began to incubate them! This pair of birds were like a gift from the bird Gods. They were perfect surrogate parents. 3 of the Gouldian eggs hatched and the Zebras raised them up into beautiful youngsters. I got two red headed, white breasted, yellow bodied females and one stunning red headed, white breasted, double factor yellow bodied male. I had not been able to afford that colour morph; but, now I had some. The Zebra Finches were remarkable in how well they cared for these eggs and babies. Plus, what was more astounding was that they'd only met each other just a few days before I gave them the Gouldian eggs to care for. It was really exciting for me to see that scenario work out so well. I really lucked out when I acquired that pair of Zebras.
