FINCHforum

I moved a few clutches of gouldian babies to this 6' x 3' flight to grow and color out in. They came out of several 24"x16" fledgling cages so they are having a blast with all this room and with all the other 'Fids'
My best predictions are 4 blue, 4 dilute, 1 yellow, 8 greens. Black heads, red heads, yellow heads (orange)

They sure do look happy Then again how could they not be in the "crazy bird house"

Love it!
Were is the door? Is it half of one side or the whole side. Maybe I will build one of those one day...

There is a modified screen door on each side. 1/2 inch wire replaced the screen. Either side opens full. I have the waters and seed attached to the door for easy changing but sometimes this allows the bird to escape. I just make sure the 2 doors to the sunroom are locked so noone opens them. I keep a net handy and catch them up when I am through cleaning. These babies have not gotten out yet, but when I had the red throats in there it was a regular game with them. But I am pretty good at catching so no big deal. Many times they will fly back in on thier own.
I need to install the swing around section like in yours. That makes it so much easier. When I had parrots the cages were of that design..... should be quite easy to incorporate on these doors.
I was going foor a clean look and usually I would only keep a single pair of breeders in there.

I'm so envious...I wish I had the room and the means to do something like this. You are so incredibly blessed to be able to do these things for your birdies. I wish you lived in my state so I could visit you. It's so cool!

Meagan,
I wish you were closer to, I would love bird friend visiters. I count my blessings everyday, and even when things don't turn out well, I thank the good Lord for those times too.
I have to give my wonderful Husband a lot of credit. He has the energy, talent, and abilities to create many of my dreams.
I don't want anyone to be envious, I just post these pictures to share some ideas.... as I love looking at others set ups and reeping information from then. I am also so excited about this years offsprings so far.... new colors, new things to learn. I love sitting out there watching them. I always enjoy watching thier colors emerge..... probably my favorite part. The ugly duckling into a beautiful swan story

I love it, I love it, I love it!!!!
The babies all look great. Just one question.... I was always told not to move them from their parents when they still had the mouth markings....... I see your's still do. Are they eating well on their on when they still have those markings?

I had pulled the chicks and I always place them in a 16"x 24" cage right next to the parents. I do this when the parents start to lay another clutch. I have found the chicks will interfere too much if I do not remove them. The cage is pushed up against the parents cage and the side breeding door is removed so that the chicks can still be fed through the wire if need be. I only had one chick that was not doing real good so I put it back in with the parents. They still would not feed it, He was eating fine on his own, he just had seperation anxiety and wanted to sit nest to Dad. After 3 days I put him back into the other cage where he enjoyed the company of his siblings. They were eating on thier own for 2 weeks in the small cage before I moved them to this aviary. They are all eating fine.
One thing I did notice was how quiet they were the first day. Then it dawned on me that they had no adults to hear. So I was thinking about bringing a cage of adults in so that they would realize that everything was okay. But the 3 handfed babies were in thier and they still answer me with the little baby calls. Next thing I know they are all following the hand fed babies que. They are so calm. They can all be on the floor and I can walk right up and they don't even fly up in a panic. They will hop up to eye level and just check me out. I guess that's the difference in raising your own chicks. Even the parent raised ones are so use to my voice and hands in the cages, with feeding, watering, removing spent millet sprays, filling mineral cups, etc. I do not use hoppers so they have to deal with me on a daily basis.... this gets them use to me from a very early age.
I do have 3 really old gouldians that are in retirement. I think I will put one of the old males in there. He still will sing and dance/court the girls but has shown no interest in actual breeding in the last 2 years. I think this will inspire the youngsters to sing more plus this would be a great retirement job for the old boy

Sorry for digging a little. Beautiful cage. I was just wondering how you clean out the bottom? Do you have to use like a broom and dust pan, or...?

Thanks Candace. I was just curious when I saw those mouth markings

I have always left mine with their parents until they color up and then I rehome then.
I have never had a problem with them interferring with breeding since they don't really
care about going into a nest.
I do think that they benefit from being with parents and learning skills and eating habits.
I have found that mine learn to bathe and eat things they probably wouldn't eat if they
didn't see parents doing so. Such as egg food, carrots and broccoli.

(absolutely not questioning your great success.)

Donna,
I did not take it as questioning...just a question I am like a mother hen over my babies. I worry about them up until they get thier adult molt. It can be a stressful time. I had a bath water mounted on the side but they were bathing to much. I was afraid they would get chilled so I removed it...I will put it in for the warm afternoon hours only until they are older. I have never had a problem with goulds not wanting to bathe. I use a regular seed cup on the breeding cages and I can hardly get it on the cage before the pair are trying to get in it. They love to bathe. The female will wet her breast feathers to the right degree and then go lay on the eggs. They are getting the humidity just right. I learned this when breeding canaries..... It really helps the hatch rate of eggs it seems.
Most times my youngsters will go or try to go back in the nest with the new eggs. They will continue to pester the parents for feeding and the results are the parents abandon the new nest and try and drive the babies away to go fend for themselves. Of course I breed in 16" x 24" breeding cages........just not enough room for parents and babies. You have tons of room for the babies Seperating them to the side until they are over thier parent seperation anxiety works best for me. I once moved the chicks into a large flight without this middle cage process and the babies did not eat well and seemed frightened. I put them right next to the parent cage and voila they were on the millet spray and happy within minutes. The parents could of cared less though....they were busy making more When I put some in the large aviaries and try some colony breeding, like you, I will leave the babies in until time to sell probably. But right now I am trying to get a pure breeding line going so no colony breeding yet. I will use the larger areas for grow out spaces for the young I produce. That way no worries of them breeding.

Nightfeathers,
I use a thick layer of Carefresh bedding (all natural type) this absorbs moistue and dries out quickly. Leaving no smell, or moist dangerous conditions.The dried poop disapears into the grey color. The spent seed hulls fall through to the bottom so out of site. the bedding stay looking nice for a long while.
Underneath is the ceramic tile floor and it is watersealed around all edges so no seed or water can get under the painted/sealed wood frame. I will let the birds free fly in the room, shop vac the bedding (goes to the compost barrels) mop the ceramic and replace with a new layer of care fresh. Then catch and put the birds back in.
When I had one breeding pair of red throats in there I only needed to clean it evry 2 months. With this many young it will be about every 2 weeks. A big bag of carefresh I order for around $12 + shipping and it last for 2 changes so it is econamical and easy and very attractive looking.

Where do you order your Carefresh from?

I recently tried out the Yesterday's News recycled newspaper pellets and I'm pretty happy with how fresh the cages stay.
With using paper or towels, I have to change weekly.. with the pellets I can usually stretch it out an extra week
The carefresh is less expensive from the sounds of it..

Tiffany,

60 Qtrs - Carefresh Litter
Code:carefresh50
Price: $12.99
Available for immediate delivery

I buy from Beaver Creek Aviary....foryourbird, they also carry the goldenfeast austrailian blend and the hard to find Higgins small fruit and veggies that I like.
Sometimes Petsmart carries a sale and sometimes free shipping so check them out too. You can always buy it at the pet stores also. I have tried yesterdays news also, I find carefresh to be superior and more economical. Hope this helps

Candace, do you use the Carefresh litter in your cages, too? I emailed the manufacturer, as the bag said to place the litter under the grate. Since I take all the grates out of my cages, I asked them if they would recommend using the litter without the grates. They said they would not recommend it, but you are using it in the aviaries without a grate with no problems, right? I am using newspaper, which is free, but I put clean paper in the cage, add the baths, and the paper immediately gets wet and then starts wrinkling up--it just doesn't look nice except when I first change the paper. How often do you have to change the litter in your cages?

I put aspen shavings in the foster Society cages, and they promptly stuffed their nests full of shavings--would probably do the same with the Carefresh, but at least it would be softer than those shavings. I am going to try some coconut chips that I read about on ladygouldianfinch. I have an order from Canada which is stuck in Customs in Tennessee, and today I found a USA company, so they are sending me some to try out. I'll let everyone know what I think.