FINCHforum

Hi,

I currently own a conure, which is very noisy. Finches look pretty cool and I would love to handtame one but I am leaving for college soon. I am pretty sure I would be able to sneak in one finch in a small cage and I would interact with it in my dorm room.

My only problem is the amount of noise they make. Are they loud? Do males or females make more noise? I would like a finch that does not make much noise.

My friend recommend a society finch and I think I might get that or a zebra. Also, what is the smallest size I could keep one finch in? I would plan to keep it out of the cage a lot so I don't want a huge cage.

Thanks.

Most finches are social birds, but with their own kind, not so much with people. A single finch will be lonely. Society males sing, but it is not a loud song--the females just chirp. Same thing with Zebras, though they are a bit louder than Societies--their chirp is more like a meep, meep. As far as cage size, finches want to fly, so the longer the cage, the better. The smallest cage I use is 24" long (wide) x 16" deep x 16" tall, and I really am not thrilled with that size. Better is 30" long (wide) x 18" deep x 18" tall. Some people let their finches out for free-flight time, but I don't have any experience with that. Also, some have hand-tamed finches--see the guest article on Finch Information Center about handfeeding finches.