FINCHforum

My finchies flight cage arrived yesterday and is assembled. Now I need to know what to put in it. I have some swings and some perches of various shapes and sized. But I am not sure if finches need toys like parrots. Since they need room to fly I don't want to over crowd their new home.

There are some pictures in the gallery you could check out. But I got 2 of each water & food dishes. at LEAST 2 water dishes, I have a tube waterer, and an open dish. But the perches and the swings are great. My finches LOVE swinging!! They sometimes like mirrors (although mine didn't I had to take it out b/c my male kept attacking the "threatening male up on the perch" to stay away from his lady... he was attacking the mirror and I was afraid he was going to hurt himself. So no mirrors for him!!! but bells sometimes they like, and i put in a ladder for my younger zebras (9 weeks old) to get up to their water and they seem to really like to climb on that, but their parents wouldn't go near it with a ten foot pole!!! So basically waht I'm saying is it all depends on your finch!!! You really just have to try stuff, (even the swings, I thought my finches hated them, but I tried again, and they LOVED IT) So when you try something give it at LEAST a week, they are curious (NOSY) birds (zebras anyway) so they will check things out and let you know if they like it or not!! lol. So good luck, Oh, the last thing i recommend is greenery, like fake leaves. I string a garland of fake greens on the outside of the cage, and poke some of the leaves through the cage, they can tug at it, and also hide from people and each other. so that is my only other recommendation but again, it does take them a while to get used to, so don't give up on something after just a day or so, cuz it may take them a while. good luck, and send some pics once you have it set up!!!
Oh, last thing a BATH!!! Finches (usually) LOVE bathing. Although, a bath doesn't necessarily have to be IN the cage. I got one that attaches to the door, and hangs outside the cage to leave more room inside, and I don't leave it in ALL the time, (unless I'm home) but when i work during the week I give them a bath usually once a day. (the reason I don't leave it when I'm not there is because for some reason they LOVE to poop in the bath, and sometimes they just can't resist bathing or drinking the bath water, and if there's poop in it i don't want them bathing in it or drinking it!) However when I'm home I can change it out as soon as i see poop. Ok, that's really all... (for now....) hee.hee.hee....

I have a flight cage as well, and I have two tube waterers and an open water dish for bathing. I also have two seed dispensers and I use another dish that hangs from the bars for fruit and veggies. I have five different kinds of perches, spray millet holders that hang from the top, and several small toys. I have a swing that they love, but they only occasionally touch the small toys. I didn't want to take up too much space, but I also don't want them to be bored.

Thank you for your ideas. I am using two steel coop cups for seed mix and whatever else is offered like fruits and veggies. They have an open water container which they use frequently. I tried a drip waterer by Lixit but they never seemed to catch on. I have a silo water tube I can try too. Adding some greenery sounds like a good idea. I bet they would like that.

They are loving their cage over the small canary cage they were in. They really fly around and get busy.

you can do this...

OMG! What a wonderful cage. I ordered some perches from Foster and Smith which arrived today. Deciding on whether to put them in or not. My finchies are very active little birds. They fly around like crazy. They are finally using there swing too. I need to check out the gallery for ideas. Thanks.

Even better than using dowel-type perches is using natural branches from your yard. They have varying diameters, which is good exercise for their feet. Some people soak these branches in 10% bleach water, rinse, and then dry them in the sun. I am lazy, so I just cut them off the tree/shrub and use them like that. As long as you haven't sprayed your trees/shrubs with pesticides, they should be safe to use.