FINCHforum

Hi Everyone,

I have quite a large Aviary with 2 small aviaries inside. I'm thinking about doing some renovations soon as i'm falling in love with finches more and more every day, they are so challenging aren't they? and I want to try and breed some birds by themselves instead of in a large mixed aviary with which I am doing now.

I am thinking about adding 5 extra flights/aviaries inside my large Aviary.
The size of these flights would be:

2.2metres High x 0.8metres Wide x 1.7metres long

Do you think these would be a good size and how many pairs do you think I could breed in each them. I cannot make these flights any wider.

Thanks

Sorry for my bad metric conversions, and I'm too lazy to look them up, but sounds like you have nice size picked to build. If your breeding I would try to only keep one pair per flight. You may try two pair in one flight and one pair in the rest. This part may depend on the birds attitude with others.

Im with the sorry aint lookin up the conversion chart on this one. lol

I also would keep breeding pairs seperate so ya know whos related to who and all that good stuff. lol
Do ya have photos of your aviary posted on here? would lOVE to see.

Hi,

A local breeder in my area has his set up as your plan with the .8m facing the front where he walks back and forth to feed them and has the nest box at the far high end in the opposit side. He has 1 pair of Gouldians in each cage and does not bother to check their the nest at all for the whole breeding season.

He has been doing extremly well over years on Gouldians, each pair gives him at least 10-12 babies each year.

The key thing here I think is privacy they have being at the far end of the cage, they are not panic when you come close to feed or watch them like mine are.

Never have enough room to build mine that way

I will try and get some pictures of my aviary on the weekend. I've always wanted to try and take some photo's of my birds, I will do this as well.

I really want to try and colont breed and also try at least 3 or 4 pairs in these avaries I intend to build, anyway will try and see how I go.

Sound good, can't wait to see the pics. Don't mind if I steal any ideas from you on building me one? Been saying it for years now...

I've seen some SUPER aviaries in the "Just Finches" magazine that comes out of New Zealand.

That magazine profiles breeders around the world but many are from Australia and NZ... The climate is so "finch friendly" there I envy you the ability to have outdoor aviaries.

www.nzbirdz.co.nz/ Here is a link that should work to get you to the Just Finches site.

Kenny - a member here on the FinchForum has a great aviary in England....if you search for Kenny's posts you may find some great ideas.

Finches are so fun, aren't they? I started out with two and now have about thirty....in my LIVING ROOM

Thanks for the link. I believe I may need a subscription!!

Enjoy.

The Aviary took me 4 months to build, It is in the back right hand corner of my block, Behind it is a 9000 Litre Water Tank.

The only problem is that it is facing the South, so will get the cold SOuth Westerly Winds, so will need to get some Blinds. But the birds have sheltered areas up high which block the wind out.

Inside the Aviary there are another 3 Aviaries, One i keep for Budgies, 1 I keep as a Bird Room and the other is my spare Finch Aviary for Young Birds and Non Breeding Birds.

Aviary Pic 1



Aviary Pic 2



Male Gouldian


Yellow Gouldian


Star Finch Pair - Currently have 1 Chick in nest.


African FireFinch Pair (Young - Currently Not Breeding)


Painted Firetails (Pair - Just had 4 Young)


Mixed Photo (Female Jacarini, Male Gouldian, Pair of Plumheads and Male Gouldian)


Enjoy.

Wow!!!

You have done a wonderful job...it looks lovely to the eye and very functional for the birds. I would love to come down there and see it in person!

How about creating a "bed & breakfast".....your guests can earn their keep by cleaning the aviary...I think it would be fun just to be in amongst all the beautiful breeds you have! Sign me up for spring of 2009!

What kind of substrate do you have on the aviary floor?

Thanks,

It was a lot of hard work, but I'm so glad I did it.

Welcome any time to come and have a look, Not many people of seen it. I'm looking at doing some modifications on the inside to put more flights in to cater for my ever expanding Range of Species.

I have Tuscan Topping on the Floor, which soaks up the water that gets in with a Crushed Rock base underneath that. In the Bird Room and 2 Internal Aviaries these both have concrete floors.

Thanks for the feedback

Great setup! I'll work for room and board! I had to stop and think when you referred to your 'cold' southerly winds--for us in the USA, south-facing is a good thing, as our cold winter winds come from the north.

I wish my Aviary was facing the other way, but due to set up of our backyard was the only place to build it.

I Would be happy to have a working bee, welcome any time.

WOW thats AWESOME, great job ya did, and beautiful birds.

Wayneomelb: I have never heard of Tuscan Topping...is that something unique to your corner of the world? I tried to Google it and all I got were food recipes.