I enjoy keeping several species of finches, including shafttail finches and silverbill finches like the ones above. This shafttail baby hatched in a friend's aviary then found itself alone on the floor when it was 10 or 12 days old. I have thoroughly enjoyed hand-raising the little kid, and today, at 36 days of age, it finally put beak to dish and contemplated weaning.
I have enjoyed hand-raising other finches (zebra finches, silverbill waxbills, Bengalese) but this shafttail appears to be the most interested in being my friend. It often sits on my computer desk watching me, then hops over and snuggles into my hand when it's nap time.
Babies hatched here include several color varieties of Zebra finches: normal grey, pied, white, fawn, chestnut flanked white, black cheek, black cheek fawn, black face, black breast and some interesting hens that look like normal greys but have buff-colored cheeks. My friend Michal and I thought they were males so we set them up with normal grey females. When we got nothing but clear eggs, Michal DNA tested the birds and it turns out they were all females. We tried pairing them with normal grey males and still got nothing, so apparently they are infertile. They're pretty, though.
My friend Michal Prochazka, MD, owns Pet DNA Services of Arizona. http://www.PetDNAServicesAZ.com
In addition to avian DNA sexing, he does equine DNA color/coat testing as well.
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