I adopted new finches!!! wahoo!

[plantsandbirds]

Who said that you could never just have two finches (I think it was Finchlet ).

I went to the bird rescue today and adopted her finches. I brought home FIFTEEN . Well, as I keep telling myself, I just couldn't leave a few there . The rescue owner said that people just don't want the finches. She specializes in the hookbills but won't ever refuse a bird.

There is an adorable little Strawberry finch in the new bunch and a light brown Society. He/she and Humphrey (my other Society) are calling to each other. Humphrey's cage is across the room from the new guys. The rest are Zebras. One little hen has a malformed beak and a lazy eye. Poor little girl.

These birds won't be bred - I just enjoy having them. They are in their new flight cage. The noise level in my house went up A LOT!

I hear "someone" singing.....I'm in another room. It sounds like a Society so maybe the new Society is a male.

[StevePax]

Wow! Bless you for taking them all in. Good luck keeping up with all the poop!

[plantsandbirds]

Steve! I was just checking on the new flock and was thinking how much you would appreciate the poop. It was actually the seed hulls that were already littering my floor that made me sigh.

[Thalia]

lol that's amazing Good for you for taking on so many at once... but where's our pics?

[Rue]

Congrats on your new flock! Wow! I thought I had a lot of finches...9 now...but I've been collecting them one or two at a time!

[bluefinch]

Congrats on the new birds. You definitely need to post some pics!

[plantsandbirds]

Everyone is comfortable in their new home. Making a lot of noise and busy, busy, busy. I think there might be thirteen, not fifteen. I've counted them again and again and the number keeps changing!

I can only name those with unusual markings and, of course, the Society male is Errol Flynn!

I have a photo that I will try to link from the photobucket site. Only one little Zebra boy is not looking perfectly fine. He is puffy and a little blinky-eyed. It was a trauma for them to get caught and moved so I hope he will recover with quiet, food and water.

Today I'm going to sew up a fabric seed guard for the bottom of that cage.

[tammieb]

Everyone is comfortable in their new home. Making a lot of noise and busy, busy, busy. I think there might be thirteen, not fifteen. I've counted them again and again and the number keeps changing!

I can only name those with unusual markings and, of course, the Society male is Errol Flynn!

I have a photo that I will try to link from the photobucket site. Only one little Zebra boy is not looking perfectly fine. He is puffy and a little blinky-eyed. It was a trauma for them to get caught and moved so I hope he will recover with quiet, food and water.

Congrats on the new birds.

Today I'm going to sew up a fabric seed guard for the bottom of that cage.

I have two words for you... "seed hopper".

[plantsandbirds]

Here is a photo of the new gang. They are in there! My cheap digital camera doesn't do well. This is the single version of the flight cage that Steve Pax is getting. I really like it.

I think I may look into those seed hoppers!

[StevePax]

Ooooh, I'm so glad you like the cage. Mine should be coming tomorrow (so says the FedEx site, though they've been wrong on delivery estimates before, since I sort of live off the beaten path a bit), and I'm so excited. My birds, for sure, are not looking forward to being caught. They all need nail trimmings right now, and I'll be administering that, too, as I catch them and put them in the new cage.

Good luck with all those birds! It's great you were able to take them all in.

Edited to add: It's so interesting how sometimes stuff you buy online isn't exactly the same as what you see on a website - for example, the latches on the doors of your cage are not exactly the same as the latches in the picture on the website where you bought it. In this case, I really like the latches you got over the twist-and-slide ones in the picture on the website, so that's good. One thing I'm wondering about is feeding doors - yours doesn't appear to have any, either in your picture or on the website. The one I ordered does have them on the website, and I'm hoping it will when I get it, too. You just never know, with models changing slightly every year, if the picture is last year's picture and the cage you get is this year's cage, or whatever. Anyway, again, very nice cage there.

[plantsandbirds]

Hi Steve! So glad your cage will be arriving! No feeding doors....but so far it hasn't been a problem because everyone just flies away when I open the door(s).

I have ordered one of those nifty seed hoppers and that should keep the seed cleaner as the little darlings keep hopping into the trays and pooping in there - your favorite! The water gets quite dirty very quickly too as the trays are very open but I'm just back to changing water at least twice a day - that's all.

There are brood box doors up in each outside corner in case you want more finches

I've named the Strawberry finch Shakti as his kind originates from India, there is easily identifiable Errol, the Society and Bithia the little malformed Zebra lady. I should be able to name a little pied Zebra female and a little tan-toned Zebra female. I'll have to wait on all of the Zebra males!

Everyone is having a fresh dandilion green snack - yummy!

[Finchlet]

Who said that you could never just have two finches (I think it was Finchlet )

I'm glad I could be such a positive influence
I have 24 finches right now, including nestlings. You can never have too many! Well, ok.....i need to find homes for a few. It's getting crazy in there.
I got some of those water bottles like for a hamster cage. The birds have figuered out how to use them, so that might be a solution to your poop in the water problem.
Nice cage by the way!

[Thalia]

wow what a gorgeous cage! It took me forever to find the birds in all that lol For the poopy water, I went down and bought a little outside cage waterer, it's a long clear tube with a detachable base that has a small trough coming out of it. So far the only debris that gets in it is a little dust off their beaks. You can get different sizes too, mine's small I refill it every day or day and a half, but you can get bigger ones too. I found it at Pet Valu.

[plantsandbirds]

I was pleased with the cage. Cost-wise it was no more than those Prevue Flight cages and better constructed.

Everyone is pretty happy in there. The gang is now hopping on the floor of the cage and exploring. I've convinced my terrier that he can watch the birds but not jump up onto the cage!

It is terribly tempting when the finches hop along on the paper lining of the cage and it makes a little "plop", "plop" sound. My little dog is entranced.

Shakti the Strawberry is a very vocal bird!

I looked at the photo and that is the African Clawed Frog tank next to the birds. I have a couple of soy candles on the lid to keep the frogs from jumping out! Looks strange so I thought I'd explain!

[tammieb]

Nice cage. It's very similar to the one I have that's currently housing my budgie pair.



I have kept finches in it as well and it worked great. My cage was sold with two metal shelves and two ladders, which I did not use when I had the finches housed in it, but the budgies love them.

I noticed your cage has a slight gap above the top door. Would it be possible for your Strawberry to slip through? I never kept my Strawberries in this cage cause the bar spacing is a bit too wide I felt.