Housing Advice...Please

[Ginene]

So, it has been almost 6 LONG weeks that my home has been birdless . But thanks to some of my wonderful friends on this forum, I have been blessed to find 6 pairs of finches for my new flock !!! I would LOVE some input on how to house the 6 new pairs. This was my original intention...but now I am second guessing myself. Let me know what you all think...

Double Flight Cage Interior Dimensions 65"Wx21"Dx35"H
4 pairs:
M/M BCCBs
M/M Stars
M/M Owls
M/F Green Singers

Single Flight Cage Interior Dimensions 32"Wx20"Dx36"H
2 pairs:
M/F Penguin Zebras
M/F Societies

My concern is with housing 4 birds in the single flight. I know this can cause trouble, as its best to house 2 birds or 6+ birds to prevent bullying. I was considering a 2nd M/F society pair for this flight, as societies are easy going and don't require a lot of space. Any other suggestions??? I don't want to push it too much space wise...I do hope to breed my society pair and penguin pair (when they are old enough, of coarse), but that will be done 1 pair at a time in a separate breeding cage. Thanks Guys

[finchmix22]

I would only keep 6 finches total in the double flight. They get into each other's way if there are 8. In a single flight, I would keep 4 Society's, but there could be problems with zebras. The stars and GS's may fight, due to similar colors of feathers and my Stars would bully my rccbs and the Gs bullied the stars, so you may want to switch them around. My rccbs and owls got along fine and they get along well with Society's too. I'd consider one flight with rccbs, owls and Societys and Stars. The other flight the GS alone and a different cage for zebras.

[cindy]

Owls, stars and BCCBs together. Green singers separately

Zebras and societies together but separate them when breeding. Or as Deborah stated zebras separate and societies separate.

[Ginene]

OK...so the issue is the Green Singers and the Zebras...Lol!!! Why am I not surprised ? I never had an issue with my singers bullying others in a mixed flight, and they were with RCCBs, Owls, Gouldians and Spice finches throughout their time here. But maybe I just got lucky with that pair being so easy going. The Zebras will most likely be naughty, as most are! Lol! So I will need to have a 3rd cage going then...I feel bad to house the singers in a breeding cage, so maybe I will purchase a 30"Wx18D"x30"H for the pair. Is that sufficient???

[Perfex]

I'm so glad for you finally getting to start over. You have a nice selection of species to work with. Yeah!!!

[Ginene]

Perfex
Thank you so much, Michelle. I'm excited to have birds in my home again...

[dayhiker]

good to see and know you are preparing for your new birds, Ginene! your house will again be noisy and full of seed and feathers!

you have great colors to work with!

my green singers are with cordons and waxbills and sometimes they tend to be pushy but they all get along well... they will be separated soon to give them more space- maybe mixing the owls with the green singers and cordons. i thought the stars were pushy?

good luck and more importantly, have fun!!

[Ginene]

dayhiker
Thanks, Ed. Our new birds should all be arriving between October and November. I am very excited and can't wait for the Fall to get here already. I previously housed my green singers with owls, gouldians, RCCBs and spice finches without any problems. It was actually my Spice finches who were the Alphas of the flight. I have never had Stars...so I have no idea how they will be in a mixed flight. I am going to take it slow anyway...quarantine will give all 6 pairs time to settle in and hopefully I will get to know them before setting up the mixed flights. I hope all goes well with your new hatchlings...I have to get back to your post and find out who is sitting on your green singer babies???

[finchmix22]

Ginene,
As long as you are aware of the potential conflicts and watching them as they settle into their new home, you can adjust the groupings. GS need more space to fly, so consider that issue. I have one GS pair in a mixed flight without a problem, but they've been there since they were just about a year old. Age may make a difference in what they'll tolerate. My male star finch was too much of a bully to put in a mixed flight with any of the listed finches you are getting, so I always had to keep him in a breeding cage, with his mate, which he preferred. So, maybe a watch and wait approach will be best, depending on their personalities and adjustment to their new home. I'm excited for you and can't wait for you to get back into having finches again.

[Sally]

One thing to keep in mind is that you are getting mostly male/male pairs. This should minimize the territorial aggression that is brought about with breeding. And each bird is still an individual, they haven't read the compatibility charts, so a passive-species bird can be aggressive and an aggressive-species bird can be a real sweetheart.

[Ginene]

finchmix22@Sally
Two of my forum friends who have helped me find my new pairs ...Thank you ladies!!!

As long as you are aware of the potential conflicts and watching them as they settle into their new home, you can adjust the groupings.

Agreed ...I will be watching all of my finches very closely for behavior problems once they are in their mixed flights. Initially, they will be quarantined by breeder, so the only pairs that will be together upon arrival will be the Stars and Owls from Helen . The singers, societies and BCCBs will all be in their own cages. The zebras will be the last to arrive, as Chelsea's Penguins are setting up their nests now. Then they will be alone in quarantine once they arrive. All of the birds that I am getting are young...the singer pair is 1 year old . Yay!!!!

And each bird is still an individual, they haven't read the compatibility charts, so a passive-species bird can be aggressive and an aggressive-species bird can be a real sweetheart.

Agreed ...My poor Gouldian pair was tormented by my RCCB pair (put the RCCBs in their own cage) and my Spice pair ruled their mixed flight, which is strange as they lived with owls and singers. My female canary also use to bully my male...that was also quite odd... . I do hope having half of my pairs M/M will help keep the bird room more peaceful. The singers will be the only M/F pair in their flight...and I am not giving anyone nests or nest materials, unless they are set up for breeding in a breeding cage.

[Musetta]

I am so excited for you! You are going to be so well-prepared by the time the birds arrive. Are they being shipped or otherwise delivered to you, or are you driving to get them?

[Zebrafincher]

Its so lovely to hear you are getting some more finches! Wonderful! O hope they brighten up your home!

[Ginene]

Musetta@Zebrafincher
Thanks guys. 4 pairs are being airline shipped from Texas. We are driving about 3 hours away to get our green singers from Martie. She's meeting us at the half way point as she's 6 hours away from us. Our penguin zebs from Chelsea will be shipped to us too. But they aren't born yet, so they'll be the last birds to arrive. Only 6 more weeks to go!!! We can't wait!!!

[Grant]

Ginene: Build an indoor aviary! People are always throwing out furniture in NYC, and so you could probably cobble something together. Of course, maybe people are less wasteful in Staten Island--admittedly, I've never made it past the SI Ferry dock.

I'm almost finished with my third and largest indoor aviary. When I bought my 10 Gouldians, they came with a behemoth homemade 48 x 49.5 x 24" flight cage (made from painted plywood, 2x4s, 1x2s, and recycled cage pieces), an even larger 5+ ft. flight cage of similar design, and 3 standard 30x18x18 breeding cages on a stand. Unfortunately, I couldn't bring all of that home in my car, and so they kindly disassembled the smaller flight and collapsed all the breeding cages for me.

Naturally, a plywood flight wasn't very aesthetically pleasing in comparison to my other aviaries. Until now...I gave it a considerable face-lift to make it look more like the others. I should be able to fit 10-11 birds in there no problem, and that means no more wire cages--hurray! Will post photos soon...mostly because nobody else cares about my bird fanaticism like you guys. haha