Finches in a Critter Nation: Can it be done?

[Shannylee]

artgecko, I only allowed girl rats in my house. I couldn't deal with the big ole boy rat parts. LOL! Birds are not nearly as messy or smelly.

A net is good to have. So is a catch cage. The catch cage is WAY less stressful on the bird. I try the net first but if the bird is flipping out, I will set out a catch cage. Just put food in a cage with open doors and most birds will eventually hop in.

[artgecko]

Thanks! and lol about the "boy parts"... You are right. I have both genders (I bred for a couple years) but prefer the girls.. They smell less, coat is softer, and yes, no "parts" to explain lol.

That is a great idea about having a small cage on hand to catch them in. I was already planning on looking for a small cage to use for transport at the show I'm going to next weekend so it can serve two purposes.

[ann]

I love those cages! Great size, and wide doors make cleaning so much easier.

I bought a cage a few months ago that had a very wide door. The birds she kept were escape artists, and so she hung these plastic chains inside the door. She could still reach in to feed and clean, but the birds couldn't get out. The door looks narrow in the photo, but it's actually almost a foot wide.

If you didn't want this up full time, you could attach them to a dowel and hang the dowel outside the cage while the door was open. You could also use beads, or anything that will hang nicely and separate easily.

I took the chains out - when the door is open, my birds fly to the top.

[artgecko]

Ann- thank you for the pic and info! That is a great idea that I may end up using.

I went to the bird show today and ended up with 2 female canaries and 2 Budgies. They are each in one half of the DCN.
To see what the setup looks like, you can see pics of the canaries / setup in the thread I posted in the canary forum
My two new canaries

[lovezebs]

artgecko

Is it at all possible to replace the two bottom doors with something more bird appropriate?

I have been known to take cages and flights apart and rebuild them into something which I needed. It might be cheaper than purchasing new flights.

Oh, and by the way, you can definitely keep Canaries and Gouldians together (I have done so for years).

[artgecko]

lovezebs- I do not know. I looked at the bird cages the same company makes, but their dimensions are not the same, so the parts would not be interchangable. The cages are also an odd size and different than almost all birdcages I've seen on the market (24" tall x 36" wide on the front). If I did try it, I'd probably have to buy a whole cage with those dimensions and cut off the front in hopes it could be placed on my current cage, which would defeat the point.

So far, the canaries are acting calmer when I have had to pen the doors vs. the budgies, which I found surprising.

I am going to give it a go for a while and see just how much of a problem it is. If I find it hard to keep up with like this, then I will attempt to sell the DCN and purchase a bird-specific cage. If I can find a cheap used flight cage, I could probably go ahead and but it, but having space to put it is the problem at the moment.

Thanks for your advice!

[Chihuahua]

I have had very little issue with having finches in my dcn so far except when I was trying to catch one. They are not terribly keen to escape even if I leave the door open for a minute, they would rather stay away from me and in their nest or on their perches. The cage is practically a small aviary for finches with the middle level removed and the wide doors are nothing but convenient imo

[zebsoc]

Since ur cages have dividers, if any finches escape,
U could put the divider up and leave the door open on one side.
That is how I caught my Squeaky when she escaped since I have an open floor plan, zebra female.
She just went in the cage at night and once room was dark I closed the door and she was already perched for the night and had no problem with the door being closed.
If room is light then they r likely to make a dash for the door as u come close.
They want to be by their mates at night.

[artgecko]

Thanks guys!
It's been a while since I've been on the forum. Since my last post, I now have 4 female AS canaries living in the top section of my DSN and still have the two show budgies in the bottom half.

So far things seem to be going well and I've only had 2 escapes, which I easily caught using a net.

When I have to remove the birds to trim nails, etc. I've used a beach towel to cover most of the door which allows me to stick my hand in with the net to catch them.

My main frustration at this point is finding waterers / feeders that will work with horizontal bars... I've been having to put their seeds in a dish on the floor which isn't bad, but they scatter it all out all the time. I am trying out a couple new waterers this weekend, so hopefully they will work out ok.