New Flight Cage - How Many??

[rcharrod]

Hi All - I have a new flight cage coming tomorrow. It's 40x20x36. I used the calculator on finchinfo, which says that 2-3 birds would be appropriate. A couple of questions. I plan to house, at a minimum, 4 Societies in there. Do you think that 4 would be pushing it space-wise, or, given that they are Societies and may not need quite as much space, would it be ok? What I really want to do is have 6 birds in the new cage - the 4 Societies and 2 Owls.

If I put in 22 inches instead of 20 for the width, the calculator says 3-4 birds. So it's kind of close. Think I could do 4 Socies and 2 Owls? The Societies are 2 M/F pairs, and I would get 2 Male Owls...

Thanks for thoughts

[delray]

rcharrod 4 society finches would fit great!

[rcharrod]

Reread my original post, and might have been confusing. I think I'm pretty good with 4 Societies in that size cage, real question is whether I could also house 2 Owls in there, for a total of 6 birds...

[Sheather]

Yes.

I kept six societies in a (well decorated, many natural perches, multiple nests, mind you - space maximized!) 30 x 18 for about eight months last year, and it was perfect for the group. Six birds is certainly not too many in a cage that big.

[Sally]

The size really becomes critical if you are breeding birds, as a cage that is just fine for 2 birds then becomes crowded when their 4-6 babies fledge. That is why the cage calculator is fairly conservative IMO. I have cages that are 40x20x20, and I know 4 Societies would be fine in mine. Adding two male Owls should be OK, especially since your cage is almost twice as tall as mine, but any time you are combining species, you need to have a backup plan in case things don't work out.

[debbie276]

I agree with Sally, as long as your not breeding and they are fighting for nesting territories you should be fine. That being said, you may find that a personality or two don't fit and you'll need to separate so be prepared.
Best of luck