Petco sale cage for pairs

[Lucille]

I recently got some zebra finches. They came in an old cage that has some rust. I am currently waiting for their new HQ flight cage to be delivered.
I thought it might be good to have an extra couple of cages on hand. I saw this cage on sale online. It is made for small parrots; the ad does not mention the cage bar spacing but I actually counted the bars in the picture on one side and divided them into the dimension given and they appear to be 1/2 inch.
What do you think?

cage

[lovezebs]

Lucille

Hello Lucille, and welcome to the Forum.

Congratulations on your new feathered kids. How many Zebras are we talking about?

Regarding the cage that you want to order: it should be ok for Zebbies, as a 'temporary cage', if the spacing between the bars is 1/2 inch. Zebras, are not famous for squeezing between the bars like some of the Waxbills (who are really tiny). There again, it depends on how many birds we are talking about, and how long they're going to be housed in these temporary accommodations. If too crowded, Zebras tend to become territorial and aggressive.

What kind of a flight do you have on order?

Once again, I would like to offer a very warm welcome to both you and your new babies. I think you will like this Forum. It's a great place to ask questions, get advice, get information, or simply chat with a bunch of bird lovers like yourself.

All the best,

Elana

[Lucille]

Thank you for the welcome
I am getting a HQ Aviary Flight Cage with Stand, I didn't see a stock number on it. I have 6 Zebras and so far they are getting along fine in their old cage.
With over 3 cubic feet of floor space, I was hoping that the Petco sale cages might be permanent quarters for a pair?

[Lucille]

Square feet, not cubic feet. When one is new, one's posts are whisked away so one can't edit.
I use the Cage Calculator.

[lovezebs]

Lucille

Hi.
Actually you can edit your posts shortly after you post them. There is a little edit button on the bottom right hand side.

As to the cages/flights etc.
If your flight is 3 feet from left to right as in length (36 inches), that is a good size. Not sure how tall it is, or wide (back to front).

As Finches exercise by flying, usually from side to side (as opposed to hookbills, who climb and do all sorts of acrobatics), the recommended length of a permanent home cage (for one pair) is 30 inches minimum . Less than 25inches in length, is a little on the skimpy side.

When it comes to cages/flights, bigger is always better.

There are some Petco white flight cages (30×18×18) which are usually fairly inexpensive. They do fairly well for one pair of finches. Two of them, put together (one on top of the other) and attached, make a really nice size flight.

Elana

[Sally]

That cage is roughly 25" x 20". As long as the bar spacing is 1/2", it will work, but a cage that is longer would be even better. The HQ flight cage you are getting is 32x 21, much better for finches.

Welcome to the forum! There's lots of good reading at www.finchinfo.com, where you will find many articles on housing, general finch care, and especially the Zebra finch. If you put your general location in your profile, it makes it easier to answer locale-specific questions later on.

[lovezebs]

Lucille

I was talking of something like this....

Elana

[Lucille]

"Actually you can edit your posts shortly after you post them."
Well, you can, I cannot yet, as soon as I submit a post it is removed for moderation since I am new.
Thank y'all for your cage input.

[wildbird]

That is a very nice cage. The finches will do better if perches are placed on each end instead of across the cage. That way they will be able to fly from one end to the other. You can either make or purchase shorter length perches to fit on the ends of the cage.

[Lucille]

Thank you for the perch tip.
The larger HQ flight cage and the two Petco sale cages should all arrive next week. I am no expert on sexing finches but going by color (cheek patches, flank patches) I believe I may have 4 males and 2 females.

The previous owner said that the finches never tried to breed, whether that is because they are young, old, or that they were kept on the patio in the heat I don't know, the owner was not forthcoming with more info. The cage they came in was very dirty and had green stuff growing in the cups, it appeared that they had been out there on the patio for a while.
Fortunately they appear happy and healthy now.

After reading a bunch of posts here, I think it may not be in the best interests of these finches to be all together in the HQ flight cage. So my plan is to divide them into three same sex pairs and have one pair in each cage. I may cover the sides of the cage the females are in so that the males do not see them, to help prevent any wishful thinking about breeding on anyone's part.
I'm not against breeding but if it's done I think it should be intentional with plans for the babies. And frankly, I had no idea that these six little birds were going to be so expensive in terms of new cages,new stands for the sale cages, new food, accessories and so on. They deserve nice homes but I need to recover from the expense for a bit so do not need any new birds for the moment.

[debbie276]

Lucille

That is very responsible of you!
Congratulations on your new birds and welcome to the forum
Best of luck

[Lucille]

Debbie,
I'm too late. Tracking shows all three cages here tomorrow afternoon, and I figured a day to put them together.
But, as of this morning there is an egg in one of the bamboo nests included with the cage sold.
The seller said they never bred for him, it never occurred to me that this would happen. But I can't bring myself to throw the egg out.

[debbie276]

They obviously had other ideas
Keep us posted, good luck

[Lucille]

I am very upset. I bought a fresh nest for them and put it in one of the Petco cages, I wanted them to have everything new.
The egg cracked and broke when I tried to transfer it to the fresh new nest
They are in the HQ cage now that also has a new nest, it is the biggest of the new cages. I had not really wanted to have them breed but the egg changed things, I hope they will have another egg.