FINCHforum

I was recently bitten by the finch bug and decided to purchase some finches after many months of research. They were really a gift for my fiance as she has been hinting at wanting a bird for nearly a year. Upon purchasing a group of 9 zebra finches from a local owner I decided that I needed to build an indoor aviary and do so quickly. Here is a look at my 3'x6'x7' panel-form aviary.

Prior to birds and accessories...


After birds and accessories...


The birds enjoying one of the perches that I made...


The birds have already paired up in their nests...


We are very excited about our birds and can't wait to add a few more feathery friends to our flock. Looking to add either society finches or additional zebra finches.

that looks great! good job

Welcome to the forum! You've obviously done your research already and are familiar with the Finch Information Center. If you put your location in your profile, it makes it easier to answer any locale-specific questions later on.

Your panel-form aviary looks great! One thing I would add is some fake plants tied to the wire to provide some hiding places for any bird that might get picked on from time to time. And you may want to change out those nests for the same design but a bit bigger. Once there are five babies in a nest, plus one or two parents, they will get quite crowded.

Sally wrote: Your panel-form aviary looks great! One thing I would add is some fake plants tied to the wire to provide some hiding places for any bird that might get picked on from time to time. And you may want to change out those nests for the same design but a bit bigger. Once there are five babies in a nest, plus one or two parents, they will get quite crowded.

We are planning on adding some more greenery both fake plants and some live plants that we will rotate occasionally. I also plan to begin changing out the nests as some of these are worn out but they are the nests that the finches came with so I wanted to keep them in them initially to at least keep something constant considering all the change.

It has been a very interesting first couple days as these finches came from a life in a cage and it seems as if they don't know that to do with all the space in the new aviary.

WOW!! That looks great.
Welcome to the forum and best of luck

Hi finchfantastic beautiful set up
Youre giving your finche's a great start
These busy little fellas would love to potter about in some plant's , they may destroy real one's , so maybe dont put in your best .
Happy birding
Regards , Mick M.

Welcome to the forum, the world of zebras and as a new owner of an aviary!! We just completed ours a couple of weeks ago which looks like yours but a little longer...you are going to love it, how happy the birds are!!!

YOU DID GREAT!!

Hi finchfanatic
I'm new to the forum and my two pairs of finches came from a cage bred situation too, so they are enjoying the extra space but more so the fresh veges i give them daily that they never or rarely got.
Your set up looks nice and spacious.

I love it!!! I believe the more space you can give your birds the better. You did a GREAT job!! Congratulations! I am going to caution you on adding society finches with zebras. They can be a bit agressive sometimes and society finches are very docile.

very nice!!! Welcome..............

Tonight I continued to work toward improving this aviary and make it the ultimate finch paradise...

We added a 4-foot 2-bulb fixture with Natural Daylight 6500K bulbs to the top of the enclosure to ensure the birds get proper lighting and will soon place this bulb as well as a night light set of lights on a timer to ensure the birds have a consistent schedule of light.

We added a new hanging ball stuffed with organic bedding material for the birds.

We added three new jumbo woven finch nesting boxes which will eventually replace the old smaller boxes so there is adequate room for breeding.

Lastly, we added three live plants to the aviary to give it a more natural look and encourage some interaction between the birds and live plant life. We added 2 Dracaena plants and 1 Arboricola plant which were both on the list of safe plants for finches.

Here is a look at the updated aviary:


Our final steps to completing the enclosure are to add a shelf to sit food and water containers on since they prefer large dish style containers as opposed to outside the cage feeders and waterers. I will install the night lights (low wattage rope lights) around the cage so the birds have light to find their nesting boxes once the main light goes off and install the timer for both sets of lights.

dfcauley wrote: I am going to caution you on adding society finches with zebras. They can be a bit agressive sometimes and society finches are very docile.

I have heard that before and am cautious for this reason. I have thought of just adding a few more pairs of zebras but wanted some variety. It is very difficult to find finches in our area and the pet shops that sell them charge ridiculous amounts for most of the birds. I did find some cut-throat finches tonight for a decent price ($40 each) that we really liked but I know they were listed on the aggressive list and was weary of that. I want to avoid problems with aggression if possible but do want some variety and don't want to spend a fortune.

Perfex wrote: Hi finchfanatic
I'm new to the forum and my two pairs of finches came from a cage bred situation too, so they are enjoying the extra space but more so the fresh veges i give them daily that they never or rarely got.
Your set up looks nice and spacious.

What type of veggies do you give them? Do you grind them up in a food processor first or give whole veggies? Do you mix with their food or place veggies separately?

LOVE your new set-up! It will give you lots of pleasure as you watch your little feathered family. I am also setting up my first aviary and have found that lots of perches of different sizes placed at different heights lessen fussing. Also, swings andd/or false foliage hanging from the top provides lots of play for birds not used to lots of room. They Love to swing..I would have never guessed!