The finches I breed belong to the Estrildidae family and consist of the Lady gouldian finch, zebra finch, red throated parrot finch (also referred to as the red faced or red headed) and Goldbreast Waxbill.

Housing for these feathered friends:
Finches can be kept indoors in cages, flights, or bird rooms as well in outdoor aviaries. The larger the area the better for your finches as this will offer space for flight and excercise. Also more space per bird results in less squabbles.  In the Aviary Notes and Aviary Photo Section I have examples of many ways to keep these pets. I like to breed my gouldians as a single pair in a standard breeding cage. This make breeding for true mutations and accurate record keeping simple. Colony breeding for some of the species such as goldbreast seem to work well for them. I have found roomy flights the best for active breeding pairs such as parrot finches. It is best to offer flights to all species when not breeding as this will keep birds in optimal shape until the next breeding season. Many species bennifit from segregating the sexes during the resting period after breeding.

Diet for my Peep Keeps:

A good finch seed mix is the base for these grass finches. I personally use ABBA products but there are many good mixes out there in the market. Some people even like to mix thier own. I will add canary grass seed, sunflower chips sometimes to increase the protein. I also will add Higgins Fruit and Veggies at times. I also offer vitamin fortified pellets, ABBA, Roudy Bush,  and Zupreem.
I use Goldenfeast Australian Blend as an additive. I try to vary the diet depending on if the birds are breeding, moulting, or resting.
Other than seed they get Commercial eggfoods, boiled eggs, chopped fresh greens,carrots, broccoli, and dried insect mixes. I do raise mealworms but have weaned all the birds to boiled eggs shreded to loook like mealworms.
They also have minerals in the form of an oyster shell grit, mineral dust, cuttle bones and chrushed eggshells.  I rarely use vitamins in the water other than a calcium with vitamin D suppliment. This I will use for egg laying hens if necessary. The birds seem to do great on thier diets, breed and raise chicks that are healthy, live long lives and are in beautiful feather..... so it must be what they need.

I have natural products to address health concerns. Charcoal for stomach problems, kelp and iodine for feathering, bee pollen for immune system support, alfalfa for blood and liver cleansing, Herb Salad for other natural remedies.
Occaisionally problems do arise so I have some meds such as antibiotics, air sac mite treatments, wormer, etc. on hand because if a problem does come up it is best to have these things on hand already as many times, time is of the essence.

Health Issues:

I am not a vet and do not have an avian vet in my area so I have relied on many web sites of avian experts or keepers with much experience.  I will list the links that I find helpful in diagnosing health problems. 
I have also just invested in a really nice microscope with camera and discovered a great forum and books on  'Poopology' . I am on a study to detect any health issues in my flock that may be apparent in their feces. Early detection could prove to be a life saver. I do believe in striving to give my birds the best care that I can.


A helpful chart:
http://www.auspigeonco.com.au/Articles/commoncanary_finch3.html

Breeding:

I have a large flock of gouldians and have them breeding basically at 2 different times of the year. One set comes into breeding condition late fall through winter. The other gets started in the spring. I don't change their diet to bring about these changes as in the Austerity diet popular with many. However I do change the diet depending on what the bird is doing. If the birds are in the breeding mode I feed more high protein foods. Normally I will allow  2 to 4 clutches, decided by factors such as how many was in each clutch, the age and condition of the birds, and of course the results from the pair. After the chicks are weaned I discontinue the eggfoods and go to a seed diet with some greens. Usually the birds will begin thier molt or if they seem to still be energetic I seperate them into same sexed flights. The larger flights allow for plenty of exercise and seem to really cut down on the stress while birds replenish their bodies after the demands of raising chicks.
   I cage bred my gouldians with one pair to a cage. I find this gives better breeding results and makes record keeping accurate. I have tried once to colony 4 pair of red head gouldians and found it to be more trouble than it was worth. Some of the problems I experienced were crossbreeding with different mates, abandoning nest with eggs or chicks, male and females territorial squabbles, attacks on fledglings of other pairs, etc.  The four pair were in a large 16' x 18' floor to ceiling indoor aviary with at least 30 nest and still all these problems. I had maybe 16 chicks survive for the whole season. These numbers pale in comparison to cage breeding where one pair can produce that many. Coupled with the desire to keep genetic lineage records I have abandonded any colony breeding.  With the Goldbreast waxbills it is a completely different story. They thrive and breed beautifully in a same species colony setting. And I must say, they are a very stunning sight with so much gold. I currently have an aviary with around 30 goldbreast free flying and the vocals are very pleasing to the ear. I have other pairs in two other aviaries so that I can always gaurantee unrelated pairs.
    I like to pair the gouldians up that have a fondness for one another. As I collect the birds for breeding I will put a males in in breeding cages and add a nest within a few days. I will collect females and put them in their own cage placed around the male's cages. As soon  as it is apparent who the hen is looking at ...and sometimes hens will be looking at the same male. I will then pair what I think will make nice chicks with a strong genetic background. Sometimes this is not possible as the hen may be a sister, an uncompatible mutation, or possibly just not a good match in conformation. This is when I will step in and place the hen of my choice with the male. Most times they will accept each other. Though on a few occaisions I have relented and put the two that had eyes only for each other together as they would not settle down with another. Many times I will have 10 to 30 pairs set up at the same time and some tend to flirt with the girl next door. Closed cage breeding banks work best but a towel hung between the cages will help stop one from coveting the neighbor's hen.
    I try and offer the birds much privacy but I do nest checks if I suspect problems. I occaisionally will suppliment feed, I always replace tossed chicks the first time but if tossed again I will offer the tossed chick to my society pair if they are in the brooding mode. Most times I will handfeed and have become very successful at it. I find that most of my pairs are good parents raising their own chicks and this is how I think it should be. If a pair proves not to rear their own young I will seperate them and try again when they are more mature. I find that failure to bred and rear sucessfully is usually due to my errors like pairing birds that are not mature enough, pairing birds that are not in breeding condition or not in sinc with each others breeding cycle, or just not compatable pairs. It is rarely the birds fault with failure to rear a family.
    I have much patience with all my pairs as I feel they know what they are doing, how to do it, and when to do it........ and have been rewarded with many chicks over the years. A hatchling is a wonder to behold, I never tire of witnessing this miracle of life.