The diminutive finches and waxbills can be a delight in either cage or aviary. This diverse group of birds can be found all over the world and the variety of challenges they bring to the bird keeper can be enormous.

Long time domesticated species like zebras, bengalese (societies) and Java sparrows to the more recenetly popular gouldians and parrot finches are now available in a variety of colour mutations.

Others prefer the challenge of breeding rarer varieties and the waxbills with their reliance of livefoods for chick rearing. For these birds Insect Essentials can be very valuable as a live food gut loader or to dust livefood prior to feeding to the birds.

We find all the finch and waxbill species respond well to quality dietary supplementation. Prolific breeders like zebra finches may rear clutches of up to nine chicks with no problems when the food quality is right! The more exotic birds will also show substantial improvements in breeding performance.

Recently there have been some very positive reports about the use of full spectrum and UV lighting in the finch and waxbill scene in the UK. The Americans have been using this technology for many years. We now sell Arcadia lights click here to read about them.

The main issues with these small birds are:
1. Getting them to eat soft foods all year round. Many people are forced to use water soluble supplements because their birds are reluctant to eat soft foods except when they have chicks. Our American distributor, Carol Heesen, has some comments to make on this subject. And as one of that countries leading finch breeders her ideas are worth a try. This is a link to her article. For a better understanding of the benefits of on-food supplements over in-water ones take this link (this will take you out of the articles section of the site and into the products section)
2. Small birds die very quickly when they get sick. The preventative value of our supplements (Daily Essentials, Feast, Calcivet (CalciBoost) and Flourish) is critical to maintaining a healthy flock of these little gems. See Prevention or cure?. When even these techniques fail our sick bird products Poly-Aid (Survive) and Spark (Energise) are invaluable. See our article on sick bird management for more information.
Despite these natural(nutricine)  methods of health promotion there is probably still a role for appropriate use of anti-coccidial and worming drugs.