FINCHforum

Ok just wondering can you mix a parakeet in with your finches. Watch this video. And please tell me if you have any mixed ///Parakeet feeding Baby Finches

That is definitely the craziest example of fostering I have ever seen!

Wow, I really wouldn't have ever thought a parakeet would feed a finch, their biology is so different.

In general species like the turquoisines, bourke, and scarlet chested parakeets are compatible with finches in large cages or flights. Budgerigar parakeets usually are not. They can work out in large aviaries, and I've done this successfully with no conflicts, but it depends entirely on the budgies' personalities and some are too aggressive to be trusted. In general males are more compatible than females.

I have three male budgies now who have proven so gentle I would honestly trust them cages with finches, they've gotten along superbly in out-of-cage free flight and also regularly spend time in open cages and sharing food together, but I would consider them an exception, not a norm.

I would never house them together.

My parakeets have tried to bite the finches through their cage. I won't even keep them in the same area now and always have the finch room door closed. Parakeets could do some really bad harm to little finches and can be very aggressive.

Never ever... I raised English show budgies, had a good size collection at one time. Budgies can turn on a dime...they can be vicious to even their own species. I have had pairs happily raise clutches of babies then for no reason the hen destroys the babies to the point they are beyond recognition. One hen attacked her male just for looking in the nest box, she blooded his head right in front of me. This is a pair that had been together, raised babies for me for two years.

Small finches would not stand a chance with budgies, the toes, wings can be bitten off, they bite and do not let go easily.

The bird in the video is not a budgie it is a grasskeet, a Turquoisine. Totally different species and disposition than your American or English budgies. That would not be the norm with budgies and generally not the norm with grasskeets. The video gives the wrong impression that certain "keets" will be just fine with finches.... turquoisines are a delicate bird, the bird in the video looks overwhelmed (watch the body language of the grasskeet) and societies are relentless.

Bourkes, scarlets turqs can be mixed with certain finches but only in a large aviary, very large enclosure.

To answer your question about adding your budgies to a finch cage... I need to answer as a breeder of finches, grasskeets and budgies...absolutely not, I would not trust finches with budgies no matter how sweet they are.

flymouse

Only if you want one legged finches, with missing wings and possibly missing heads as well.

My answer would be: ABSOLUTELY NOT !!!

I only speak for my experience.

I think it should come down to everyone knowing their own animals.
I'd never recommend going out and buying a pair of budgie and a finch and expecting them to get along in a small cage.

Dylan, budgies I had and raised for years, perfectly sweet...you would think this is the norm...not so they can turn on a dime. Breeder recommendation why risk it... the finch in the long run will suffer or worse.

Cindy I don't cage my budgerigars with finches, I have no reason to, but I allow them to mingle on a daily basis and have for more than a year with zero issues. Finches are a lot faster than budgerigars and do not generally allow themselves to be put within biting range (exceptions being the Javas, they would sleep alongside the parakeets on a nightly basis), though I still have never had a parakeet in my care express aggression towards another bird. Not that I couldn't, but I've spent every day for a year getting to know these birds. I really don't see them doing that. I trust them. They've given me no reason not to. A dog could kill a cat, too, and some will, but if they are raised and brought up together, how often does a dog turn on its cat friend? I've never heard of it. It may happen, but it's not the norm.

Right now I have only three parakeets. Males. No nesting hormones, no broody females.

I'm not alone in allowing a shared space or even housing budgerigars with finches, I believe MiaCarter also allows her males to fly in the same room as her finches on a daily basis and has done so for about as long as I have without complication.

Parakeets as a whole get a bad rap because a few of them are aggressive. It's usually hens, and usually breeding hens, in your experience, that have become problematic, correct?

But I am defending only my stance and my personal pets. Again, I wouldn't condone the practice to just anyone.

Dylan, there are those with huge enclosures and plenty of room that do house the species together, I do not recommend it nor do I recommend it when breeding the two species in the same enclosure... finches may get nosy, curious and a budgie hen's disposition changes especially when breeding, raising young... if a finch got to close or stuck it's head in the box a hen will inflict pain upon that bird or worse....then on rare occasions if she feels there is a threat she could destroy her young.

Males tend to be less aggressive but I have also had brothers turn on each other at a very early age one wounding the other. It is unpredictable.

I raised English show budgies, several pairs, many young... English which are typically calmer than American, temperament is still the same.

I certainly would not cage budgies and finches in the same flight cage... not everyone free flights their birds.

I had a English hen get upset that a hen in the next cage chattered at her.. she went in the box and killed a chick that was alive moments before. no telling what will set them off.

That video is crazy!

As Sheather mentioned, I have 2 male budgies, a male cockatiel and a female cockatiel. I've had them for about a year.

I'll be honest: I was VERY hesitant about letting them mix during free-fly, as I'd always subscribed to the "never mix hookbills and non-hookbills" rule and the "never mix big birds and small birds" rule.

I think it took me about maybe 30 or 40 hours of supervised (and peaceful) time together before I truly felt comfortable letting them all interact without me in the room, without the worry that one of the hookbills would rip a finch to shreds. (And even after that, I spent maybe another couple weeks of me supervising them from just outside the bird room - it has french doors so I can see right in from where I sit at the bar working on my laptop during the day. For a while, I'd cage them if I had to do something where they were out of my sight/earshot for longer than a bathroom break.

It really all comes down to individual dynamics. I'd be just as nervous if I brought a new bird into the equation. For the past year since I've had this batch of hookbills, most of my new birds have ones I've bred myself, so they enter the flock as submissive juveniles who easily find their place. But I get very nervous adding a new adult. There's always a potential for fighting until they've sorted out their dynamics and found their place within the pecking order.

I must say, I would be VERY nervous caging a finch and a hookbill together. I can't say I'd be totally comfortable doing it with my guys. We've never had anything more than a little bit of isolated beak fencing/squacking - never a real fight. But even so, dynamics quickly change when you put them in a cage together.

I'm very careful to put out lots of food and to I lock down anyone who's nesting to avoid conflict. So if they're nesting, on eggs or with babies, I wait until they're weaned before the babies and parents re-join free-fly. (Plus, I'd have no way to prevent in-breeding if I didn't do a lock down for a couple weeks before we expect eggs!! So it's practical from that perspective too)

My cockatiel hen has no qualms with eating finch eggs, and more than once she has tried to nip at babies while I'm banding them - to the point where I no longer allow her in the room if I'm dealing with babies or candling eggs. If I allowed her access to a nest, I have no doubt she would ruin the nest, damage the eggs, kill or injure babies and there's a good chance she would also get into a fight with the nest's owners. (And if she got involved in a squabble, her mate Hunter would immediately come join in the fray.) So there are definitely circumstances surrounding mating and nesting where things could easily get deadly.

I don't currently have any super food-aggressive birds, but I've had them in the past and have no doubt they'd kill a smaller bird over food.

To be honest, cases of finches and hookbills getting on well -- I mean really enjoying each other -- are fairly uncommon. Most of my birds just peacefully co-exist. I have a couple male finches who are taken with the budgies in particular. But really, the budgies much prefer to spend time with each other. And the same with the cockatiels. For the most part, they're pretty indifferent to each other. (Which is true for all my animals, now that I think of it. The cats tend to prefer the other cats, the dogs tend to prefer the other dogs. There's really only 3 or 4 who ever cross that species line to cuddle or play with the other species.)

I guess at the end of the day, there's not a whole lot of social benefit outside of teaching tolerance....that is, unless you had a lone budgie/finch and the other species was the only other bird available to them. But even so, most are going to prefer their own species when given a choice, as I think it's just easier for them to relate.

The primary benefit in my case is that I had to do free-fly in "rounds" - one round for the finches and another round for the hookbills. So everyone got to enjoy more time out of their cage if they all could be out at once.

OH I caused so much ruckess I'm so sorry. I don't own a parakeet. Someone in town is getting rid of 15 yellow ones and I was thinking I would maybe like one, but I only have one flight cage and so I was doing some investigating on YouTube. When I found that I decided I need to turn to my new bird friends and see what they have to say.

So Everyone take a deep breath and know I am NOT going to do this.

Almost afraid to ask my next question. LOL.

flymouse

Nah, no ruckus!
I think we're all just passionate!

With parakeets, I'd always recommend keeping them in pairs. Once you've had a pair, you'll realize that it would be unfair to keep just one. (Speaking in generalities, of course! Individuals can vary.)

But generally speaking, they're so super social and they socialize in a very different way from finches especially (they're very kissy and cuddly and excitable, whereas finches are much more calm and their affection is less overt, more understated.)

Remember with hookbills that a smaller-than-ideal cage can be forgivable if they spend most of their time outside the cage and only sleep in the cage - something finch owners tend to forget since most keep their finches in cages 100% of the time.
Many will clip their wings and provide them with perches and play centers on cage tops and play centers mounted onto the wall beside the cage (I've got a cool one that closes up into a cabinet.)

So that's something to consider with hookbills - many can be very trustworthy out of cage if you clip their wings. Not my personal cup of tea - mine are all flighted. But not everyone has a bird room. (And I believe that providing time out of cage is a fair tradeoff for wing clipping if that's what's necessary to make it happen).

Of course, this also assumes that you don't have any other dogs or cats.

There is a debate on clipping wings... Spoke to our vet about her view on clipping wings. We had little Pixie, our conure and I was told by another breeder to clip her wings to train her (never clipped to train)...shared that with my avian vet to get her take on clipping. She said they have done studies on birds that have had their wings clip and their mental well being... they found that wing clipping can effect the mental state of a bird in a negative way (especially conure and larger parrots). It can lead to behavior issues, plucking, etc.

Personally I would not clip wings. Clipped wings also does not mean that the bird can't fly...they can just not as far.

Yeah well that won't happen here. as we are watching my daughters dog for next 4 years. Her hubby got orders to Hawaii. Anyways he LOVES to eat birds. He has caught several of my birds I watch outside. I was so hoping he would go with them. But looks like NOT.

But they are loving the flight cage. I did only have them in a small cage made for 4 finches. Wish I had room for another flight cage or a taller section. They should make them like build a bear. LOL Or like the Habitrails for Hamsters. You can always take off this or that section and ad another. I would ad a section on top.

Oh and they should sell doors so you can cut and ad another door. This cage is a popular cage but SOOOOOO Stupid. All the doors are at the top. They don't stop to think you might need to get into the bottom.

But I LOVE LOVE LOVE finally having an avairy.