FINCHforum

Yesterday, while teaching my husband how to hold his finches, his lady zebra got loose in our bedroom (door closed, windows covered). He followed her around trying to gently catch her, before stopping once he realized she wasn't panicking, more like "oh this is an interesting cage; please stop trying to touch me human." It led to him asking me to bring sir zebra in as well, and everyone had a great time: the zebras did a lot of big circles and were very happy to see each other; and my husband got some great pictures! Thought I would share

Some people give their birds free flight time on a regular basis. As long as all the dangers are removed, it can be fun for the finches as well as their owners. Cute pictures!

And welcome to the forum! There's lots of good reading at the Finch Information Center, linked at left, and the members are always ready to help. If you put your general location in your profile, it helps to answer locale-specific questions later on.

Super cute photo's!!

Great pictures! And yes, welcome! My finches have flown free in the room they're in. One thing that became a real unexpected problem was a tall, very heavy book shelf that the finch flew behind and wouldn't/couldn't get out. He couldn't back out or spread his wings to fly up again. I thought I was smart and tipped the shelf forward to give him more room only to realize he might then hop under it. I couldn't hold the weight of the shelf any longer as it was over 200lbs and had to scream for my husband as I couldn't put it down. He held it while I got a broom handle and coaxed the bird out. It was no easy task! Birds can do the darndest things!

Boomslang

Off topic, but I see you are from Portland, OR. The AFA convention (American Federation of Aviculture) will be held in Portland this summer. It is a bit expensive to do the whole thing, but I think you can go just one day if you wanted (check on that to be sure). They have some great speakers, and it is an opportunity to meet some of the experts.

I went several years ago when it was in San Antonio, and I did find that much of the convention is aimed more at hookbills than finches, but there are some speakers this year concentrating on finches.

http://www.afabirds.org/convention_index.shtml

So far, luckily, our finches have avoided trouble; all six of them have been let free in the bedroom; our cutthroat (Rupert) and chocolate pied society (Sky Captain) seem to LOVE it the most; but in general they're all agreeable and enjoy themselves. My husband added a food and water dish, along with a nest to the chandelier that they all love to hang out on. We've been keeping a close eye on them; but they're aren't a ton of places they can get stuck in. So far Skeksy, our white society, has had the worst go of it, not having the wing strength to fly up to the chandelier in one go.

Including more pictures!

Sally, thank you SO MUCH for the info! My birthday is July 28th; I think I know what I'll be asking for! I'm a huge bird enthusiast in general: I've helped rehabilitate native finches, sparrows, swallows, and a crow; as well as breeding pigeons for my high school years. This convention sounds like a ton of informative fun!

My two Java Sparrows Henry and Michael (actually a m/f pair) just love to come out and I give them a few hours of free-flight every afternoon. Their cage is in my room and I just shut the door and by now once I clip open the little door they both burst out and fly in joyous laps a few times before hopping around and checking everything out, visiting the society finches, and eventually going to sit overtop the society's cozy warm light fixture. Once they started getting to play outside they got much more tame and comfortable with people - but now they demand their play time and bang on the cage whenever they see me come by. xD I have my windows uncovered, and both took a decent bump into them the very first time they came out, but never again and they love to perch in the windowsill when I open the screens and watch the sparrows outdoors.

I don't normally let my societies out though, because they are so small and flighty and tend to fall behind the bed and other dark places or get scared and fly into the mirror, etc.