my flight

firetailone · Post by **firetailone** » Fri May 09, 2008 7:40 am

hi there im used to breeding birdes in cages.
i now have a aviery wich im putting painted finches.
it is 1.8m high
6ft wide
and 6ft long
how many pairs of birds do you think this will accomodate
sensibly

the.puppeteer · Post by **the.puppeteer** » Fri May 09, 2008 10:16 am

Hi there,

you can find a "calculator" here http://www.finchinfo.com/housing/cage_s ... ulator.php you simply enter the size of your aviary and *poof* it tells you how many finches it can hold.

So according to this, you should be able to house 18 - 24 finches in an aviary that is 6' x 6'. If you are planning on breeding them, I would suggest making that number a bit lower to avoid any territorial disputes.

Hope this helps!
-Julie

mickp · Post by **mickp** » Sat May 10, 2008 2:04 am

in an aviary that size I would only have 4 pairs of painted's that is if you intend to breed them. they will also require some decent sizeshrubs/bushes to build nests in, they like to spend a lot of time on the floor of an aviary therefore you should have either dirt or beach sand for them, at least some of this needs to be in direct sunlight, they also love seeding grasses to be available which means having some either planted in the aviary or in pots that you can rotate through. mine have never eaten live food even when raising young, they seem to prefer eggfood and green seed. when/if they breed it pays to stay away from the nest as they are prone to quitting the nest if disturbed to often. favourite nest building materials have been coconut fibre, pampas grass seed heads, quail feathers, green and dried grass about 3" long.
other than that they are easy to breed and keep. only thing is that they seem to produce more male than female young for some reason, almost a 3 - 4 to 1 ratio

firetailone · Post by **firetailone** » Sat May 10, 2008 3:22 am

thats greatthanks for the help i think ill have one pair of painteds
one pair of blue parrot finches
one pair of zebras
and one pair of stars
what do you think

mickp · Post by **mickp** » Sat May 10, 2008 3:33 am

to put it bluntly.........NO ZEBRAS.........not in a mixed aviary. if you must have zebras keep them in a cage of their own. there's a thread called feathered rabbits if you read that you will understand why I say no zebras and I believe a lot of others here would agree

plantsandbirds · Post by **plantsandbirds** » Mon May 12, 2008 4:27 pm

Aw! MickP you are too funny!

"feathered rabbits"

I agree, the Zebs can be too aggressive for other species, especially if you are allowing nests and breeding in the flight. I have one Zeb female that is even too aggressive for her own species! I love them though, and have had success with my 20 odd.

mickp · Post by **mickp** » Tue May 13, 2008 5:15 am

the last of my zebras left home last saturday. dont miss them at all but it helps knowing they went to a good home. person was ecstatic cos they got normals, pieds, charcoals and black cheeked zebras for free lol

dfcauley · Post by **dfcauley** » Tue May 13, 2008 1:46 pm

I agree with mickp..... I got rid of my last two Saturday. No more zebras for me! They are loveable and so funny if kept in pairs in a cage. They do not do well in a mixed aviary. They lay eggs in everyone else's nest and chase everybody around. They think they are the boss of it all. I do not miss mine either. And they are a bit too noisey for me.

If you want to get two more in the place of them I would highly suggest owls. I just love them! And you will enjoy the parrot finches. I have a pair and they are very commical.

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