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The Red Siskin - Carduelis
cucullata
Red siskins are very unique little birds in many
ways. As beautiful as any bird we keep, with fairly specialised requirements if
regular breeding is to be achieved.
Wild stocks originate from isolated pockets of Northern South America where the
species is now regarded as highly endangered. This rarity in the wild has been
largely brought about by past trapping for the caged bird trade - a shameful
blight on aviculture in general. The species has suffered in this way because
of its beauty and close genetic relationship to the domestic canary. It is in
canary-like conditions where most of the imported specimens were kept in Europe
and the U.S. Red siskin-canary crosses were used in early stages of the
development of red-factor canaries and to this day some canary breeders continue
to defile this beautiful bird by intentionally crossing them with canaries for
reasons which escape my comprehension. They will readily cross with the Hooded
Yellow Siskin which also should be discouraged. Any of the Gold finches, Green
finches, Singers or Serins are other hybrid possibilities so should not share
breeding quarters with Red Siskins. To ensure purity of stock, always select for
small size and strong natural orange/red colour in both sexes. There is marked
individual variation within the species in certain traits, most notably the
depth of colour on males but also the shape of the black hood. Some specimens
have a rounded boundary to the black area around the chin and others have a
small black vee under the chin. In hens there is considerable variation in the
intensity and area of the frontal red areas. If young hens are bred late in the
season they may not attain their full area and depth of colour until their
second season. However, a reliable indicator of such hens which will show strong
frontal colour is the brightness of the orange wing flash. Ones with a bright
wing flash at the first moult will mostly turn out to have strong frontal
colour.
Red siskins look fantastic when viewed in natural sunlight in large planted
outdoor aviaries. In fact, if they don’t receive direct sunlight they are unable
to naturally maintain strong body colour. In large aviaries they generally make
themselves visible to the observer as they clearly dislike going down to the
ground for any reason and like to feed, roost, court and nest well up above the
ground. This is an important consideration for setting up a suitable aviary for
them. I provide their dry seed in raised feeding stations or shelves, I peg up
any greens or seed heads at head-height and provide nest sites and nesting
materials in the higher parts of the aviary.
I find them to be, by far, the most placid of any cardueline or serinus
(cup-nesting) species I have kept. They are entirely suitable for mixing with
other placid or timid species. Because their dietary and nesting requirements
are so different from estrildid species, they don’t seem to compete for the same
resources within the aviary and harmony most often prevails as long as breeding
aviaries are stocked very lightly. They have been kept and bred as single pairs,
trios, and small colonies with varying degrees of success. I favour single pairs
and prefer to not house them in adjoining aviaries with wire mesh petitions as
they can be highly disruptive and distracting to neighbouring pairs. For me,
single pairs in every second aviary works best.
Their dietary requirements are very specific. In a nutshell, dry seed wants and
needs are niger and sunflower kernels. Very little else outside of these two
will even get a sideways glance. Some of the other oil seeds such as maw, rape
and linseed will get an occasional pick but niger and sunflower kernels are the
staple dry seed diet. It sounds terribly oily and fattening but these guys just
seem to have the metabolism to handle it without any obesity issues.
Any traditional finch mix of millets, etc is generally ignored altogether. If
someone suggests that their Red Siskins eat alot of canary seed or egg food
then this is a classic alarm bell that their birds may have been fostered under
canaries.
I have recently noticed some of my pairs regularly taking sprouted oilseeds out
of my sprouted seed mix. Of these, they particularly favour sprouted niger,
safflower and rape. Niger and safflower are very quick and easy to sprout
compared to most other seeds.
Dry cuttlebone is the favoured calcium source. Siskins seem to prefer picking at
larger pieces rather than smaller crushed particles.
The other essential component for true contentment and absolute necessity for
successful breeding is regular greens of all types. Weeds, grass heads, broadleaf veges and herbs are all relished. The green component of the diet is crucial to
strong natural body colour and as the primary rearing food. Particular favourites
are milk-thistle heads, white-french millet heads, rape seed pods, niger seed
pods, chicory and Yugoslav cabbage leaves, Lebanese cucumber, small-flowering
sunflower heads, broccoli heads or any other grass seed or green food that any
other finch eats. When pairs are feeding young, I especially seek those greens
which contain live aphids. These are the only kind of live food I have been able
to persuade my birds to take regularly. Aphids seem to particularly favour
thistle heads, any brassicas (rape, broccoli, kale, etc) and many seeding
grasses especially summer grass and white millet heads. It certainly pays to
have a weedy yard to cater for Red Siskins - that’s my excuse anyway.
Breeding activity is strictly seasonal from September to May. The beginning of
the season is heralded by enthusiastic singing by the males. Some are better
singers than others, but generally they are beautiful whistlers in canary-like
tones but not as loud or as sustained as canary song. If the hen is interested
she will solicit the male to feed her by quivering her wings.
They build a small cup-shaped nest preferring to build in dried tea-tree brush
attached to aviary walls, however they will at times build in small tins or
canary nest cups or sometimes even on flat corners on aviary frames. I find that
their first choice nest site is in the lower forks of dried brush at a site
which receives the first rays of morning sunshine. Nest materials I use are
coconut fibre, teased short lengths of hessian, and cotton waste. The hen is the
main nest builder from start to finish although cocks often pick at and carry
nest material at early stages, seemingly to entice the hen to build a nest.
Preferred nest height is from about 1.2m upwards tending to favour higher
sites.
My Red Siskins have always laid either 3 or 4 eggs per clutch. Fertility is
generally very good. I find it very unusual to have more than one infertile egg
in a clutch and most clutches are all fertile. What happens beyond the egg
laying stage is very much dependant on where you purchased your breeding stock.
The chronic over use of canaries as foster parents for young Red Siskins has had
seriously harmful effects on many pairs' ability to self-rear their own young.
Where this has been carried out over several generations, strains of birds have
been developed without the ability to rear their own young. This practice very
strongly selects against the vital trait of parenting ability. With such an
endangered and beautiful species, I find the practice of fostering to be highly
unethical. It produces very poor quality birds which are not capable of
sustaining their future population without adopting “laboratory rat” husbandry
techniques. Apart from the lack of sufficient parenting instincts, such birds
usually exhibit very poor natural colour. Naturally bright orange/red body
colour is a genetically inherited trait. When Red Siskins are raised in indoor
birdrooms without access to direct sunlight, they are physically incapable of
attaining their brightest natural colour. Any birds so produced, can only attain
acceptable and marketable colour levels when they have been colour-fed with
carotene supplements such as canary colour foods. When this occurs it is
impossible to select breeding birds strong in natural colour traits as they
cannot be physically identified. Any colour they exhibit is a complete con and
cannot be maintained beyond the next moult unless colour-fed again.
Naturally bright coloured birds from parent-reared aviary-bred strains are vastly
superior birds to canary-raised specimens. If your intention is to attempt to
have your pairs raise their own young, then I would avoid fostered birds like
the plague, irrespective of price. The best way to avoid purchasing such poor
stock is to not buy sight unseen from someone you don’t know or trust. If the
sellers collection contains canaries, be very suspicious.
In a good parent-rearing strain of Red Siskins, hens sit tightly and cocks will
drive the hen back onto the nest most times she leaves it. The cock will feed
the hen on the nest. Incubation lasts 13 days from when the hen sets.
After hatching, the parents demand for grass seeds, greens and aphids becomes
feverish. I feed these greens at least twice a day from hatching to
independence, ideally 3 times a day. To do so any less than twice a day usually
results in frustratingly high levels of infant mortality. There are two crucial
danger periods when losses are most likely to occur. The first few days after
hatching and again at the 9-10 day old mark seem to be the crucial times. The
early danger period is a test of the parents feeding ability and brooding
skills. Deaths at this time seem to occur mostly as a result of lack of food or
over-zealous brooding suffocating or squashing the delicate young. At 9-10 day
old stage the hen usually ceases brooding the young and this coincides with the
advanced pin feather to feather opening stage so young are mostly at risk of
exposure if night temperatures are low. Losses at this stage are less likely if
clutch size is greater than 2 as the young seem to benefit from the extra body
warmth. At this stage, some dedicated breeders make little woollen hoods to be
placed over the nest late afternoon and removed early next morning. This method
is very successful at reducing losses at this stage. Another cause of juvenile
mortality I have experienced comes from feeding seeding grasses with long sharp
seeds. I have had dead youngsters with their crop wall pierced by the whole seed
of rye grass and prairie grass, so I don’t feed these any more. The best
breeding pairs I have had are ones where the cock takes on a very active feeding
role once young have fledged allowing the hen to re-nest without corresponding
loss of condition in the fledged young. Generally speaking, if the parents are
good enough to get the young to the fledging stage, losses thereafter are most
uncommon.
Once Red Siskins attain mature plumage I have found them to be among the most
hardy and long-lived finches I have kept. Their arboreal nature significantly
minimises risk of coccidiosis, worm infestations, or many other bacterial or
fungal infections. Most of these proliferate on aviary floors, particularly damp
ones. Such areas are avoided by siskins most of the time. My siskins still
receive regular preventative worming and coccidia treatments aimed mostly at
more insectivorous ground-loving species which share their aviaries.
All in all, Red Siskins are fascinating aviary birds possessing beautiful plumage,
distinctive habits and character, and are a genuine challenge to achieve consistent
breeding results using self-rearing aviary stock. Thankfully, in Australia there
is a core of dedicated breeders using top quality self-rearing strains of this
species. These breeders are the only recommended source for worthwhile breeding
stock.
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