Gold breast waxbills - Amandava subflava

A very colourful tiny African Waxbill which can be easily sexed due to the cocks having a vivid red eye stripe and a bright orange or golden breast, general colouring is green brown with a red rump and whitish side barring, the hens lack the red eye stripes and are duller overall but do exhibit a fair amount of gold on their bellies and breasts.
Size: 3 and 1/2 inches.

Sexes: distinctly different in that the cocks have vivid red eye stripes and are generally brighter overall, the colour variation between different birds and even between siblings can be quite marked. Hens while being less brightly coloured can be quite colourful in their own right, the illustrations above have captured the differences quite well (bearing in mind the difference in ambient lighting between these photos). The cock is the father of the hen on the right, and she is one of five of his chicks from last years young. The other four (one cock and three hens) are quite varied in their intensity of colour.

General care: Feeding requirements - Being very small, these birds require a diet of small mixed millets, green foods of various kinds and especially during the breeding season - live food with as much variety as possible. Our birds have successfully reared a number of chicks on fruit flies, mini mealworms and buffalo worms, plus a large selection of aphids, arachnids (spiders) and small flies of other kinds. They will sample egg foods,insectivorous mixtures and other soft foods but are not yet adapted to rearing chicks without the extra proteins provided by insects and other live food stuffs.

Breeding: Nesting sites - Our Gold breasts have used both wicker nesting baskets and half open nest boxes to rear young in. Plenty of fine hay and white feathers or suitable safe white lining materials (they seem to really enjoy white materials) should be provided unrestricted. I have found to use nest boxes they prefer to have these packed full and a small entry hole made which they will then take over and adjust to suit themselves.Incubation takes 12 to 14 days and the chicks should fledge anywhere from 16 to 21 days later. The newly fledged chicks are reasonably good fliers but struggle with making good landings so a selection of extra thin to medium sized perches would be advisable to supply even if these are just to be temporary until the chicks learn how to get about their 'new' environment. Independence of the chicks will occur around day 21 after leaving the nest and the young will be getting around and feeding themselves very well by this time, already able to hover and catch fruit flies they soon adjust to looking after themselves.The moult: After around 6 or 7 weeks the newly fledged youngsters will enter their first moult which takes around 2 to 3 weeks to complete, after this time they will be almost indistinguishable from their parents and they will have reached adult size by the time they are 4 months old.

Nest roosting: These birds will generally only use a nest to rear young in (similar to orange cheeks) and both parents will take turns or incubate together, no two pairs behave alike in this respect and with some only the hen may sit on the eggs at night and some both parents will share or both do so. This tends to change once the chicks have fledged and the cocks will usually guide to chicks into the nest at night (or both parents) and for the first week to 10 or more nights both parents will sleep in the nest with them. After a 10 days or so the chicks may decide not to return to the nest at night or may have already decided to roost in a totally different nest to the one they were reared in. Birds are individuals and may change the cycle of rearing altogether, with the cocks spending more or less time doing the different aspects of chick rearing. All of the cocks we have, are very efficient parents and look after and feed their young without any fuss at all. They are also very protective of their young and will quickly chase off any perceived threats (be it a friendly Bicheno intent on a spot of mutual preening or an aggressive non related Gold breast).

Song: Both sexes enjoy sitting on a very visible perch and singing their quite loud song, this isn't a particularly melodic sweet song though, usually just a collection of high pitched utterances that carry for a long way, and is surprisingly loud and piercing considering their size.

Mating behaviour: Both sexes will also perform mating rituals, this usually consists of the cock adopting a head down position near his intended mate, fluffing the head feathers up to make his head seem larger and longer, warbling moving his head from side to side and possibly then standing more upright and fluffing his chest/belly feather up also. Then a variety of thing may happen, the cock may start taking little swipes or pecking quickly around the neck or chest area of his mate with the hen either adopting the same kind of posture and pecking back at him for a while or the hen immediately crouching and rapidly buzzing her tail up and down (her indication that she is ready to mate). The usual response out if the breeding season to this from the hens is a quick open beaked peck (or 10) and her flying off to a high perch to escape the amorous male! Reluctant males may find the hen performing the cocks role to the cock and they will even perform the warbling song also. Pair bonds tend to be strong but this doesn't stop either sex performing the mating ritual when out of eyesight or earshot of their true mates.

Sean Young