The Spice Finch, also known as Spice Bird, Scaley Breasted Finch, Mascot Finch and Nutmeg Finch amongst others. There are 12 sub-species in all but the one which is most prevalent in aviculture is the species Lonchura punctulata punctulata but I will wait to be corrected.
The story goes that this species gets it's common name from the spice ships it was brought to Europe on, travelling from Australasian ports.
The sexes are identical (monomorphic) with the Spice finch. The male is identifiable by his virtually inaudible song which is a beautiful twirling hiss, a sound that had me completely captivated when I first heard it and had me waiting for ages for a repetition, simply because I couldn't believe that I actually heard it the first time. The cockbird will also stretch his neck and turn from side to side in a similar dance to that of the Zebra Finch whilst performing his courtship song. This is really the only reliable way there is to confirm the sex of a Spice Finch although those keepers with a lot of experience of sexing munias and mannikins will find that the usual rules apply - Males having slightly more swollen upper mandible, squarer heads and more vivid markings.
The Spice finch is probably my favourite species in the Lonchura family, only the Bengalese being easier to keep, they do not suffer with the manic flapping of some of the family, like the Fernando Po, yet still offer a little more of a challenge than the Bengalese. I have heard it said that it is not an easy species to breed indoors, but I must take exception as indeed this is where I have personally had best results. Whilst waiting for Spring to break I was keeping my first pair in a cool room (well the conservatory to be precise) in a box cage 3' x 2' x 18" when I noticed the hen struggling to reach the perch. I immediately recognised that she was struggling with a touch of egg-binding and added a heater to the room - eventually she happily laid four little eggs and ever since then I have always bred them indoors. They will do well in large outdoor flights, but given our unpredictable climate in the UK it is wise to keep their breeding activity to the warmer months, though I have heard of pairs happily raising young outside in the depth of Winter - this is not to be prescribed. Once you have a pair breeding, they are excellent parents even feeding the begging offspring of other species. Offspring are slow to mature taking 12 to 18 months to reach sexual maturity depending on the time of year they hatched out. Up until the juvenile moult, Spice young are a soft dark brown gradually the scales appear from top down. They will take a standard finch box with either a half open or hole entrance around 5" square. They may use a variety of nesting materials such as coarse grasses and hay, lining the nest with either fine grass or a few feathers. The clutches ranged from 4-8 eggs. Incubation is approximately 14 days. The dusky coloured young emerge from the nest after about 3 weeks eating whatever there parents may sample. I prefer to give plenty of soaked seed during this period until they are tough enough to cope with dry seed as I find this will aid weaning. They are independent maybe in 2-3 weeks after fledging.
Spice finches seem to thrive on a diet of foreign finch mix with occasional soaked seed, egg food, sunflower hearts (in moderation) and greens. Greens tend to consist of dandelion flowers and young leaves, half ripe seed and water cress. Depending upon the history of your birds some will devour mealworms and feed them to their young more consistently than egg food, but others may need a little encouragement to do so.
The Spice finch is a superb addition to a mixed collection and will get on great with most finches of a similar size, but do beware that they will hybridize with a number of different mannikins most notoriously the Bengalese, with often frequency.
Probably the hardest part of keeping Spice finches is keeping their ever growing nails in trim. All my dowelling perches are dipped in PVA glue and rolled in course sand, I also supply well washed fruit tree branches to give their feet some exercise. Even with all these additions I still find that I do have to trim their nails about once a year, this may be twice a year without. This is a tiny inconvenience in comparison to the complete joy of having such a great little bird though. If you want to get into mannikins and munias and are wondering where to start, look no further than the Spice Finch.
Thanks to all the Feathered Flyer Message Board Breeders who contributed their experience and help.
Feel free to get in touch with any further questions. You can contact me via the FF Forum my username is 'Laus'.
