FINCHforum

I just bought two new petco flight cages and hooked them up together into a 60'' long cage. Then I moved the javas and cutthroats into it, 1 pair of each. What could go wrong?

Javas decided that they need to assert themselves as the real "cutthroats." Whenever the see a cutthroat, they chase it.

:/ Now my little male cutthroat looks quite depressed.

Oh, finches! You never go according to plan. Lol

Amelia, Javas can be a bit pushy, watch the interaction between the species. If you find the cutthroats seem upset, withdrawn or the javas are chasing them to much then you may need to separate the species into different cages. Each pair will be fine in 30x18 cages.

Birds usually take a little while to establish a pecking order, if things dont stop in a day or two, divide the flights

I removed the cutthroats for now. I just wasn't comfortable with that javas' level of aggression I was witnessing. I was just venting. Right now the javas have a 60'' long cage by themselves...Lol. The cutthroats went back to their 24'' long cage and seem quite happy to be back there.

Oh, finches! You never go according to plan. Lol[/quote]

No they don't, they always have there own agenda. Good luck. Sounds like you did the right thing splitting them up. Better safe than sorry.

Well, everyone seems to have settled down again. XD I have to say, the Javas may be the happiest finches right now. They have their very own 60'' long flight cage! Haha

Acelin_Wolf Where in chicago did you get your cutties?

Do your birds use the whole length of your cage?
When I did the same thing (joined two cages end to end) I found they really only used one small area of the cage. I came to the conclusion that it just wasn't tall enough for them to be comfortable flying from one end to the other. It might work great for zebras and other small birds, but it was a wasted effort as far as my javas were concerned - they are now in the big Prevue cages. I'm curious if others had the same experience I did, or if my birds are just particularly difficult (stubborn?).
I was going to try it for the societies or waxbills, because I LOVE the Petco cages for the price, the construction and the convenient access doors - they just need to be much bigger! But now my plan is to turn them into big box cages.

chirpy - Cutthroats? One from a breeder (it was his breeding male whose mate just died: http://www.ajsfeatheredfriends.com/products.html) and one from a petsmart. The female was from petsmart (my work) and no one wanted her for about 2 years, I believe. Almost 2 years. So once I got the male, I rescued her as well. The moment they met, the male flew down to lay next to her. She was on the ground, scared of her new surroundings, and he just huddled with her.

mayble - They were flying around clumsy yesterday. They've NEVER seen anything this big as far as housing goes so I'm giving them time to see if they like this cage. It could be not high enough, but we shall see. Right now they love sitting on the branch in front of the light. It was their favorite perch in their last cage as well. Lol.

Whaaaaat your petsmart has cutthroats?! Nice!!
Well I can't have any now but I do love them my future birds for sure!

XD they don't have them anymore. she was left over from when petsmart actually had a good selection of finches. there was a male and female. male got a home and female was left alone for well over a year. poor thing,

Acelin_Wolf Well you did a WONDERFUL thing yay!

we get about 4-5 selections it seems, the soc's always have crests too which seems to be not as often at other locations

My petsmart never has had crested. If it did I'd of bought it lol. What finches does your petsmart carry?

(Ha ha, changing the topic a bit, but...) Before I moved, my Petsmart in Michiana had societies, zebras, spices, cutthroats, oranged-cheeked waxbills, one rare pair of cordon blues, and gouldians! Quite a haul for a Petsmart 90 miles from Nowhere...

A bit more on the original topic of the thread, I feel your housing woes. Shaft-tails are not easy to house either (why are the pushiest birds so pretty and fun?); such tiny birds, such huge drama.