FINCHforum

I am looking at getting a pair of spice finches but I am not sure it would be right for my family. I really love them but I have a few things I have questions about and I need answered before I get them.

1. My husband is a Volunteer Fireman and his pager goes off at odd times, Day and Night, Its not consistant on when it goes off, I am most worried about the pager going off at night and disturbing the birds. Would this be too stressful to the birds?

2. Where is the best place to put thier cage? Agenst a wall? Near windows?I have a beutiful sunroom that keeps a nice temp, it has windows covering on two sides of the room and there is a spot next a window & backed by a wall that I could put the cage, would this be ok?

3. I own a dog is this a problem? She seems to get along good with the vets Zebra Finches so I think it might be ok but she is only around them for short time periods.

4. I really dont want to breed them but I know that there is no way to tell spice finches apart except for the singing, so is there a way to keep them breeding if I get a male and female?

Can any one help me? I really want some but I dont know if they are right for my family. Before I met my husband I rased 3 pairs champion Bantam Cochen chickens. I understand birds and love them but we live in town now so I cant have bantams.On the Finches, I just dont want to get them and have them misrable because of our life stile.

I'm a bit of a newbie, but I'll give you a little advice.
1. Would the pager be in the same room as the birds? if not then it shouldn't affect them. My b/f uses the computer late at night in the same room as my birds, we have a dark cover for their cage and they don't seem bothered by his late night activity.
2. The sunroom sounds good as long as part of their cage would have shade for them and the room isn't drafty. Birds need direct sunlight for vitamin D production so a sun room would be a nice spot for them.
3. If you're worried about the dog hang the birds out of dog height. I'm sure the birds won't mind the dog as long as she doesn't sit and bark at them or anything silly like that. My cat actively stalked my birds for the first week or so that I had them, he even tried to jump at their cage even though it's hanging from the ceiling, and they were ok.
4. If you don't want babies don't give them a nest. If they have no where to sit on their eggs the eggs won't hatch.
Wow bantam chickens, those are the really small ones aren't they? That's neat! It's nice that you're taking the time to find out about finches before you get them. I'm sure you'll have happy finches you seem to really care about them and you don't even have any yet!

Welcome to the forum.

I second what Thalia said. You are smart to research before getting the birds. Most people don't unfortunately. Spices are lovely birds. You will enjoy them.

It's best to put your cage against a wall near one of the windows. That way you get the benefit of the sunlight from the windows as well as give the finches a sense of security by having the wall at their backs. Warning - glass from the windows filter out most of the good stuff, so you may want to still add a full-spectrum light over the cage. Thalia's right about the nest. Nest = chicks, and No Nest = No Chicks. I enjoy my spices, so I'm sure you'll love yours!

Thank You to all who replied!
It really helped me out. I'm sorry I did not respond sooner but I had internet problems and so couldn't respond.

So, what did you decide.. did you get birds or not?