12ft By 12ft Aviary

[DanteD716]

Well, this summer, my dad might turn a 12ft by 12ft closet ijto my own walk-in aviay. It said on the "hke many birds will fit?" thing: 72-96?! Is that correct?! Also, I want to put some fake ficus trees in, with natural perches, hang nest basket and boxes, problem is, what should I put
On the floor?! It is a concrete basement floor. I was thinking potting soil, but I'm not sure. So far this is what I plan to stock it with:
Orange cheeked waxbill
Owl finch pair
Societies (around 4-6)
St Helena's Waxbill


Possible Options:
Gouldians
Java Finches
Canary pair
Button quail

[DanteD716]

It all depends on what is available and affordable to ne. I am thinking of saving up and ordering from somebody down south, I saw miami listings and they had 25$ gouldians!! I am also cojsidering shafttails if I can find them and silverbills. These are some birds I am not sure can live with finches that I want:


Doves, diamond, or the larger such as ringneck
I also wamt to add a few budgies, is the aviary large enough to allow this?

[DanteD716]

Spice and starfinches will also be in there. I want to add a zebra pair, but is the aviary too smal for them being pushy??

[Rayray]

i dont know if you want plants in the new aviary and what the hight will be but i wouldnt put more than 10 pair little fiches in it

[Sally]

The cage calculator works for cages but not for aviaries, it will give a really high number for an aviary, way more than you should put in one.

[flyinverted]

Don't mix the Zebras with Gouldians. They WILL fight.

[kenny66]

Dante

75 finches is way to many for that size. The caculator gives me more than 200 birds for my big aviary. I stock it much lower than that. In my 33X7x6ft aviary I stock it at about 75 birds. In that I have:

gouldians
double bars (owls)
orange breasted waxbills
cordon bleus
Jacarinis
red headed star
yellow headed star
yellow headed painteds
red headed painteds
st helenas
canaries
I remove all young to a holding aviary when they have matured enough and dont let the numbers build up.
Is your aviary outside or inside? I would not use any soil because of disease but use either sand (which does not allow bacteria to build up) or fine gravel. You can use some types of wood chip but I find them a problem to keep clean. My large outside aviary has straw on the floor which I find easy to clean and no disease, but it is outside not inside. I have no living plants in the aviary but dried brush, which is heavily used in Australia. The birds use it to nest in and roost. Concret floors can be very cold, especially inside, so keep that in mind. I definitely would noi have any zebras and would limit your flock to 25 finches-max. I think it is really important to resist the urge to overstock, from past experience you always regret it in the end. Good luck with your new aviary.

[kenny66]

I forgot-my equal favorites-pied red headed parrot finches are in there too and fire finches also. I almost forgot to add these guys

[poohbear]

The only hookbills I would mix with finches are bourkes parakeets,they are very gentle.
Over here I buy a hemp based floor covering that is used by the horsey brigade for stables.It's very absorbent and doesn't fly about like wood shavings.
As others have said don't overstock...better a few happy birds than a lot of stressed out pairs.
Make sure you have a spare cage should any disruptive ones have to be removed.

[kenny66]

I have housed scarlet chested parrots with finches, about the size of the bourkes. However the finches tend to take over the parrot nesting boxes and the scarlet chested, being so soft, just give them up. I dont house any hookbills now. I dont like the chance of the interchange of diseases between finches and hookbills.

[kenny66]

BTW I have a friend who housed budgies with finches until he ended up with finches with missing toes.

[cindy]

I agree with Paul and Kenny on the no parakeets....bourkes yes budgies no. Best to just let the aviary be finch only.

[Ursula]

Dante, in the other post I also told you, I would NOT attempt the budgies/parakeets if I would do it over again. It can cause problems, in my case with the gouldians. No breeding for me...

And I agree with everybody else, don't overstock. See the list of birds that I have in my footer, my aviary is about 11 by 11 feet. I am on the limit I think and wouldn't add much more to that. You also want to breed birds. Right? The less crowded it is, the more likely they will be willing to breed, besides the fact that you want to have room for the offspring.

I would avoid Zebras...

Also, the more birds the more mess. I have to already spend every other Saturday cleaning, if you have more birds you will have to clean more.

I would start with a max. of 10 pairs and don't mix too many species. I know it's so tempting to have all of these pretty birds, but you have to be sensible, otherwise you'll pay the price, and your birds won't be happy either.

Is it indoors? If yes, I wouldn't put soil down. That would get too messy and hard to clean. I am using Fibercore Eco Bedding now, and I like it. However, be aware whatever you use as bedding, it's not going to be cheap! You'll need a lot of it and on a regular basis. If you want to go cheaper, go without bedding and just put down newspaper or plastic on the floor that you can wash. That only means that you shouldn't get buttons. They need bedding and warmth and hiding places. The finches don't need bedding, they would be fine without it. (That's how Donna's (dfcauley) aviary is, for example.)

Can't wait to see the progress on your aviary!

[DanteD716]

i dont know if you want plants in the new aviary and what the hight will be but i wouldnt put more than 10 pair little fiches in it

I am thinking of ficus trees and fake plants, and 10 is my maximum

The cage calculator works for cages but not for aviaries, it will give a really high number for an aviary, way more than you should put in one.

Yeah, I figured that, thanks.

Don't mix the Zebras with Gouldians. They WILL fight.

Yeah, I don't think I will, I was thinking because it was a large aviary they would do fine, by zebras are too mean

Dante

75 finches is way to many for that size. The caculator gives me more than 200 birds for my big aviary. I stock it much lower than that. In my 33X7x6ft aviary I stock it at about 75 birds. In that I have:

gouldians
double bars (owls)
orange breasted waxbills
cordon bleus
Jacarinis
red headed star
yellow headed star
yellow headed painteds
red headed painteds
st helenas
canaries
I remove all young to a holding aviary when they have matured enough and dont let the numbers build up.
Is your aviary outside or inside? I would not use any soil because of disease but use either sand (which does not allow bacteria to build up) or fine gravel. You can use some types of wood chip but I find them a problem to keep clean. My large outside aviary has straw on the floor which I find easy to clean and no disease, but it is outside not inside. I have no living plants in the aviary but dried brush, which is heavily used in Australia. The birds use it to nest in and roost. Concret floors can be very cold, especially inside, so keep that in mind. I definitely would noi have any zebras and would limit your flock to 25 finches-max. I think it is really important to resist the urge to overstock, from past experience you always regret it in the end. Good luck with your new aviary.

I am thinking of 10 pairs of finches, a pair or or two of button quail and a pair of doves. Sound good?? I do not want living plants either, I will have fakes vines on one wall, two or three ficus tress, and a few large potted fake plants. I am still not sure about the floor, and I am not going to put zebras in

I forgot-my equal favorites-pied red headed parrot finches are in there too and fire finches also. I almost forgot to add these guys

I love red headed parrot finches, if I can find a pair I will definatly get them.

The only hookbills I would mix with finches are bourkes parakeets,they are very gentle.
Over here I buy a hemp based floor covering that is used by the horsey brigade for stables.It's very absorbent and doesn't fly about like wood shavings.
As others have said don't overstock...better a few happy birds than a lot of stressed out pairs.
Make sure you have a spare cage should any disruptive ones have to be removed.

I am still so confused about flooring. and I do not think I will get any hookbills

BTW I have a friend who housed budgies with finches until he ended up with finches with missing toes.

yeah, I will just keep a pair of caged budgies, maybe keep a flight cage in the aviary and they can live in that?

I agree with Paul and Kenny on the no parakeets....bourkes yes budgies no. Best to just let the aviary be finch only.

Okay, so no doves either?

Dante, in the other post I also told you, I would NOT attempt the budgies/parakeets if I would do it over again. It can cause problems, in my case with the gouldians. No breeding for me...

And I agree with everybody else, don't overstock. See the list of birds that I have in my footer, my aviary is about 11 by 11 feet. I am on the limit I think and wouldn't add much more to that. You also want to breed birds. Right? The less crowded it is, the more likely they will be willing to breed, besides the fact that you want to have room for the offspring.

I would avoid Zebras...

Also, the more birds the more mess. I have to already spend every other Saturday cleaning, if you have more birds you will have to clean more.

I would start with a max. of 10 pairs and don't mix too many species. I know it's so tempting to have all of these pretty birds, but you have to be sensible, otherwise you'll pay the price, and your birds won't be happy either.

Is it indoors? If yes, I wouldn't put soil down. That would get too messy and hard to clean. I am using Fibercore Eco Bedding now, and I like it. However, be aware whatever you use as bedding, it's not going to be cheap! You'll need a lot of it and on a regular basis. If you want to go cheaper, go without bedding and just put down newspaper or plastic on the floor that you can wash. That only means that you shouldn't get buttons. They need bedding and warmth and hiding places. The finches don't need bedding, they would be fine without it. (That's how Donna's (dfcauley) aviary is, for example.)

Can't wait to see the progress on your aviary!

Oh, so maybe no butons then, that's okay then. I was thinking astroturf, but nor sure. And I now remember you said that, I guess I got ideas flowing abut budgies and forgot. I wil sure post photos, only a few more months! ANd I will not overstock, I would hate to have unhappy birds, I am thinking of putting a little wooden bench o stool for me to sit on, and maybe a wild bird feeder (filled with captive birdfood) to hang from the ceiling

[Rayray]

no 2 button quail males , they will fight like crazy with hens around