Berry Meter

[Millet]

Have you tried picking hawthorn berries, i picked half a carrier bag full last week for my Bullfinches and my hands felt like i had been playing volley ball with a Hedgehog.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Have you tried picking hawthorn berries, i picked half a carrier bag full last week for my Bullfinches and my hands felt like i had been playing volley ball with a Hedgehog.

Why can't the Bullfinches pick their own? Ours do

 

[Millet]

Why can't the Bullfinches pick their own? Ours do

I would have to give mine a pair of wire cutters if they wanted to pick there own as they are in a big Aviary..

 

[Erichalfbee]

OK
I'll bite.
I presume you breed them.
Can I ask why?
NO agenda....just curious

 

[Millet]

I have kept and bred Bullfinches and Goldfinches for a good while now, i have two Aviaries, one is 18ft x 8ft x 8ft the other is 23ft x 8ft x 8ft, they are my two favorite British birds, they are all legally registered and i ring all the chicks from four to seven days of age, any un rung ones can not be sold.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Ok. I didn't realise anybody was allowed to cage our native finches let alone breed them and sell them on. I love watching them on our feeders and on the thistles in the fields. The goldfinches squabble all the time like sparrows and the Bullfinches take a lot of blossom in the spring but I don't mind. I love that flash of white when I'm out walking in the fields around here and a red breast to die for. Marvellous. I can't quite imagine the same pleasure in looking at them in cages.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Ok. I didn't realise anybody was allowed to cage our native finches let alone breed them and sell them on. I love watching them on our feeders and on the thistles in the fields. The goldfinches squabble all the time like sparrows and the Bullfinches take a lot of blossom in the spring but I don't mind. I love that flash of white when I'm out walking in the fields around here and a red breast to die for. Marvellous. I can't quite imagine the same pleasure in looking at them in cages.

ignore that. I'm in a bad mood today best I look in tomorrow

 

[Millet]

ignore that. I'm in a bad mood today best I look in tomorrow

No worries Erica however they are not in cages, they are in pretty big Aviaries, i would never dream of keeping birds in cages myself and to add to that they are all captive bred so they do not know any different and they get along fine.

 

[MartinL]

I have kept and bred Bullfinches and Goldfinches for a good while now,. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . I ring all the chicks from four to seven days of age, any un rung ones can not be sold.

Is this a "Northern Power-house" thing, (they're too small for the local takeaway) who buys them?
How tame are they?

Do you release any?
How to you avoid inbreeding?

 

[Millet]

Is this a "Northern Power-house" thing, (they're too small for the local takeaway) who buys them?
How tame are they?

Do you release any?
How to you avoid inbreeding?

Who buys them... Other folk into the hobby around the country, Bullfinch hens and nicely coloured healthy Goldfinches are in big demand, the harder they are too breed the higher the price, bullfinches are notoriously hard to breed as 50% of the time the hen throws the chick out the nest once the closed ring is put on.

How tame are they... They are pretty tame but they will not sit on your finger like a budgie, unless they are hand reared.

Do you release any... No, however i raised two x one day old house Sparrows that had fallen from the nest a couple of years back under some Goldfinch mules, i rung them with split rings and they hung around the aviary for several weeks after release trying to get back inside for all the good food.

How to avoid inbreeding... I have unrelated pairs/trios in separate aviaries, i ring one aviary's young with a coloured split rings so i know who to pair with who from the other aviary.

 

[MartinL]

We hand reared a Thrush few years ago, emptied the wormery! Wife buried worms in a seed tray, then fed it slugs, (disgusting).

It was very tame, we whistled for it and it would fly across to sit on your finger.

Took it a mile from the house to release it. Took 15 mins for it to fly away.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . bullfinches are notoriously hard to breed as 50% of the time the hen throws the chick out the nest once the closed ring is put on. . . . . . . . . . . .

Surely that's because they've been handled??

Can't they be hand reared when rejected?

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Is this a "Northern Power-house" thing,

No, quite a few around here breed them

 

[MartinL]

So kind of like rural Pidgeon fanciers?

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Not as many pigeon fanciers now as there were - same for cagebird fanciers really. Being a mining community people had a kind of affinity for cagebirds. The late John canaries down the road (he gave me a few of his birds once years ago) bred all the mining canaries for the South West Wales coalfield., My uncle David John kept both canaries and British finches, in fact way back in his youth (sort of Great War time) he used to catch wild ones. He let me have his calling bird cages to carry my birds around but wouldn't give me his call bird trap (a beautifully made thing) although I did find all his silk clap nets in a pile of kit he gave me.
Quite a few of my family and acquaintances kept birds - all miners funnily enough

 

[Millet]

We hand reared a Thrush few years ago, emptied the wormery! Wife buried worms in a seed tray, then fed it slugs, (disgusting).

It was very tame, we whistled for it and it would fly across to sit on your finger.

Took it a mile from the house to release it. Took 15 mins for it to fly away.



Surely that's because they've been handled??

Can't they be hand reared when rejected?

It is not the handling of them it is the ring on the leg that has to be legally put on, some hens are ok but some spot the ring and try to remove it from the nest, they sometimes also chew the leg from the chick, the ones that do get flung out of the nest are usually dead or not far from it when found.

Another thing that makes them hard to breed is the Cock Bullfinch has the smallest testicles of all the finches, so fertilizing the eggs can be hit and miss.

 

[Tremyfro]

Tremyfro, have you ever tasted this jelly? We have got a lot more hawthorn berries than honey, maybe I should go into production!

We made a mixed hedgerow jelly that had sloes in once, it was not great.

Yes...it's lovely...with lamb, turkey, duck...yummy. Sloes are very bitter whereas the haws are slightly sweet.
I haven't used it for lowering blood pressure ....how did you take it Ericalfbee?
I was thinking of using the apple cider vinegar recipe....or did you chew the berries?

 

[Erichalfbee]

Yes...it's lovely...with lamb, turkey, duck...yummy. Sloes are very bitter whereas the haws are slightly sweet.
I haven't used it for lowering blood pressure ....how did you take it Ericalfbee?
I was thinking of using the apple cider vinegar recipe....or did you chew the berries?

Syrup or alcoholic tincture.
"Hedgerow Medicine" on amazon

 

[MartinL]

It is not the handling of them it is the ring on the leg that has to be legally put on, . . . . . . . . . sometimes also chew the leg from the chick.

So can't it be ringed later?
Hasn't any experimentation been done with ring colours/materials?
Is it always the same hens/bloodline?

If something similar was to occur at work there would be investigations into root-cause to eliminate the waste.
Just think your nonchalant acceptance of mortality is missing a trick, (oh yes the bees swarm but it's just something that can happen in July).

 

[Millet]

So can't it be ringed later?
Hasn't any experimentation been done with ring colours/materials?
Is it always the same hens/bloodline?

If something similar was to occur at work there would be investigations into root-cause to eliminate the waste.
Just think your nonchalant acceptance of mortality is missing a trick, (oh yes the bees swarm but it's just something that can happen in July).

Unfortunately you only have a small amount of time to ring them, around about the four to seven day mark, after that the ring will not go over the foot joint, some folk put black tape or a small black rubber band over the rings but it is still a gamble.

 

[Tremyfro]

Syrup or alcoholic tincture.
"Hedgerow Medicine" on amazon

I read somewhere that a lady filled a jar with the berries and topped it off with cider vinegar...took a spoonful per day and it kept her BP under control. I've a good mind to try that...whilst monitoring my BP. These days you can go to the surgery and use their electronic BP machine for free!