FINCHforum

Hi, I'm Ryan, 19 and I live in the North West, England.

I am new to the forum and would like to get some advice.

I have almost always had some sort of pet bird throughout my life, from Zebra Finches as a young child, to Cockatiels, then onto poultry and waterfowls.

I have come full circle now, back to finches and canaries. I currently have 3 Zebras, 1 Society (Bengalese) and 1 Gloster Canary.

Currently, they are indoors in a large cage and get on well. But I am planning to start breeding soon and want to use the shed in my yard to house the birds.

What I plan to do is devide the small shed into two halves and setup my perches and everything in one side with a caged wall and door in the middle.

I want to know how practical this idea is in regards to temperature, the species of bird I plan to keep there and what else I will need to do to the shed in order to make it a suitable environment.

For those unfamiliar with the UK climate, here is a chart of average temps on wiki : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climate_of ... om#England

Any information and advice you can give will be most appreciated, especially if you have yourself taken on this task .

Thank you in advance,

Ryan.

Hello and welcome to the Finch Forum!!

I am sure PoohBear and Kenny both will be online with oodles of information for you.

We'd love to see pics of the shed conversion as it goes along!

Hi! Glad to have another UK person on the FF! Welcome!!

Welcome! We'll all be glad to see your future plans for your bird aviary!

RyanAMSlater wrote:Hi, I'm Ryan, 19 and I live in the North West, England.
I currently have 3 Zebras, 1 Society (Bengalese) and 1 Gloster Canary.

What I plan to do is divide the small shed into two halves and set up my perches and everything in one side with a caged wall and door in the middle.

Hiya,
Those birds can be acclimatized to live in a cold shed...though background heating is always preferable.I love the link to the chart.. Pity the English weather doesn't read them..

I can't quite grasp what you mean about the shed...Do you mean to just wire off half of it for the birds? If so what space are we talking here?...Does it have windows? Do you intend to breed all three species in a mixed flight?
Will you be providing more space for any youngsters?

Hi Everyone,

Thanks for the quick replies and welcomes.

I've decided that I'm going to build a flight or two in the shed for monetary and practicality reasons .

I am hoping to pair up same species and breed them poohbear so inter-species relations won't be a problem lol. And I will be separating off the young and ringing their legs so I can keep a track of the lineage.

Does anybody have any advice as to where I can source cheap, (no pun intended), materials such as aviary wire etc? Obviously, if anyone is anyway remotely local to me, that would be the best.

Cheers,

Ryan.

Don't know anyone your area...you'll have to do a bit of googling.At a pinch you can go to Wickes or B&Q for wire but they're not particularly cheap.

What part of lancs are you in?
There a local auction/market in clitheroe on wendesday where you can pick up cheap materials,and I can recomend one of the stalls there for value and quality on food to buy in bulk

tobyneilson wrote:What part of lancs are you in?
There a local auction/market in clitheroe on wendesday where you can pick up cheap materials,and I can recomend one of the stalls there for value and quality on food to buy in bulk

I have been to Clitheroe market before, a long time ago. I don't know it's worth the travel for me unless there's supplies amazing cheap, I don't drive currently and have to rely on lifts from family and friends . You seem to push that stall quite a bit, not the seller on it are you (only joking).

I think I'm going to upload some pictures onto another topic as my canaries and finches have laid eggs in the last two days

No I aint the seller but do get all my animal food from them lol
I know you can get rolls off wire mesh from a stall for around £15,and you can pick up wood etc cheap in one of the auctions