Java Sparrow breeders in Australia?

[norwichfinchman]

Does anybody know of any Java Sparrow keepers in Australia. I would like to share information reference breeding, mutations, feeding, sexing etc...
I write articles for the Java Sparrow Society Uk.
My email: [e-mail]

[lilfaery]

Hi Steve,
I keep one pair, which has had a clutch of 5 babies in my first year of having them. I still have the 5 bubs at this point too.

My pair are a white lightly pied cock and a normal colour pied female. They produced 5 young, one much like his father only more heavily pied white, and the other 4 are very close to their mother's colouring.

At this point, the only way I have sexed them is by watching them as the boys have learned to sing from their father. I think I have three cocks and two hens from the 5 bubs. All five bubs are bigger than their parents also.

Happy to swap info with you at any time as it can only enhance both our experiences of keeping these lovely birds.

Cheers, Shauna ;D

[norwichfinchman]

Hi Shauna,
It's great to speak to another java Sparrow keeper even if we are at different ends of the globe!
It great news that they had five chicks. Hope they are all well.
Our breeding season is from march to October. The normal coloured Javas always have more chicks then the Java of different mutations. The most chicks from one nest that I have had is seven. My fawns seem to breed only two chicks. My whites and pieds only four. My Silvers come from split pairs with normals and only get one silver per batch of chicks. This year I am pairing silver x silver and hoping to get mainly silver chicks?
Can you tell me please all the feed that you give your Java's. I am very interested in what you feed them on.
My Javas get Foriegn Finch Seed, Mixed Grit, paddy rice, 50x50 Budgie mix, plenty of millet spray and greens including lettuce, chickweed and dandelion heads. They also like seedling grass when in season. Also available is cuttlefish and mineral blocks and ever now and again I put a calcium solution in their water and sometimes apple cyder vinegar.

[lilfaery]

;DHi Steve,
nice to hear about your Java's mate.

I started with the one, a lovely white boy I was given as part of a package deal when I went to buy some Bourke's parakeets. The guy didn't want the Java, so he gave him to me. I had never seen one before, but I quickly fell in love with him, especially when he began singing his melodic little song.

He looked lonely in the aviary with the tiels and Bourkes, so I decided to look for a mate for him. I found a breeder closeby and organised to buy a hen from him. When I went to pick her up, he said he had caught one and caged it for me, hoping it would be ok. I thought she was beautiful, a very pretty pied wild colour - and I thought Jack would love her too. She is Jill, of course. ;D
She came from a big aviary full of Java's and IRN parrots, so she was quite nervy when I put her in my little aviary with the few birds in it. But she soon found her place and took interest in my Java boy. By the time August came around, they were ready and raring to go.

They laid 7 eggs and hatched 5. The other two were infertile. It was their first clutch together but I do not know if either of them had produced before. Once the bubs feathered up to their adult colourings, I realised Jack is also pied, and this is now evident as he has had his moult and is showing some dark spots and patches under the white feathers. Jill has little streaks of white on her black head and a pretty white and fawn pied chest. They make a lovely couple.

The progeny are four of the pieds like mum and one white boy like dad. I've seen three singing, so I think I have three boys and two girls.

They eat basically what I give the other birds to eat. I always have a big bowl of small parrot and budgerigar seed in the aviary, plus they get fresh greens and various fruits and such each day. I feed as good a variety as I can afford. They get:
bok choy, choy sum, kai lin, snow peas, shelled green peas and corn, apple, capsicum, corn on the cob, grain bread, celery, red lettuce (I don't feed iceberg - green lettuce), zucchini, cucumber, carrot, pear, grapes, sprouted seed, green grass and weeds from my garden (non-toxic and organic), and boiled egg halves. The birds all have access to cuttle bone all the time, as well as fresh water. They also enjoy a bath in the birdbath if it is a warm day. They get right into it. ;D

They get the morning sun on their aviary wire and they have access to sand on the floor and the occasional bug that runs across in front of them when they are sitting on the floor. They have enough room to get plenty of flight exercise too, as the hen needs good flight to be able to lay her eggs correctly (counts for any hen in preventing egg binding).

Well, that's about all I cant think of right now. If there is anything else you cant think of, let me know and I will do my best to answer.
Cheers Steve,
Shauna

[norwichfinchman]

Hi Shauna,
Do you have any photo's of your Java'? it would be great to see some photo's.
Yesterday I had three normal grey mutation fledge the nest and today I had four lovely saddleback Java's. They are white with a lovely silver back. I've been watching them this morning trying to fly they are wonderful!

[finchbreeder]

Have had them off and on over the years. Currently have what I thought was a slightly dirty white hen and a Normal male. However when they produced their first chick it is a heavily marked pied, so mum is obviously a double pied. e.g. so much pied that the colour is pieded out. Regretfully she is going milky on the eyes even though she is not particularly old (mum that is). Has anyone else had this problem? Feed standard finch mix. Fresh water always available on auto flush. Sand floors for grit, but add cuttlefish which I collect fresh locally. And whatever seasonal seeding grass is available. Very keen on that.
LML

[sporrin]

i purchased 2 pair at the cost of $20 pair and in 2 weeks of having them in a large breeding cage a black headded pair gave me 4young, 3 black headed and a fawn head, now she is sitting on 9 eggs, didnt know they bread redily like this. wow.

[sweetiebabby]

hi, I own a pair of java's and they have recently laid 8 eggs and te he is sitting on them. I am completely new to tis and have read your page. I am a little nervous cos I don't know how old my birds are? But the more I read about java's and breeding the happier I become because I am feeding them correctly and giving them fresh water for a bath twice a day (cos i love seeing water fly every where and hearing them chat away). I don't know what colour-type they are, they have black heads cute white cheese and are geyand brown chested, both of them. I think they're normal colour but then again i have no idea. I checked the eggs with a flashlight today and they look like all of the eggs have red vains, but i'm not really sure, any help or suggestions would be great. Thank you

[silverfernaviaries]

Hi mate
just wondering if u were still after information on java sparrows in Australia

[norwichfinchman]

Hi all. Yes im still after information from you Aussie breeders. My Java's have had a good start this year. They are all in outside flights and our weather has been really bad since christmas. We have had snow, plenty of rain, very cold days, windy days but hardly any sunshine. I have so far this year bred 25 Java Sparrows. 5 white's, 2 Fawns, 18 normals. Still not managed a Opel Isabel mutation as yet but I am really hopeful this year? I have also bred in 2011 3 B/H P/B Gouldians, 2 African SIlverbills, 6 Kakariki Parakeets.