New Hookbill Aviary

[vienneparis]

Hello fellow bird lovers,

I recently decided to convert one of my outdoor pheasant pens into an aviary for rescued lovebirds and budgies. It took me (with my husband doing all the hard work) about 3 days to screen the aviary sides, plug up all holes and escape routes, cut down branches to use as perches, hang up baskets, toys and nest boxes, and generally getting the place ready for small hookbills. The aviary is 20'x12'x10' so there is plenty of space for the hookbills.

Once that's done, I went to the local bird rescue agency and adopted 6 lovebirds and 6 budgies. It's been so exciting watching the birds getting acquainted with their new home. They seem to have settled down and enjoyed the space. Surprisingly, there has been very little squabbling among the birds. The lovebirds tend to interact with each other, and the budgies tend to flock together in their own space. Although they're pretty loud, the aviary is far enough away from the patio where I keep my finch/canary aviary that the noise doesn't bother the smaller finches and canaries.

Here are some photos of my new babies

Even with 12 hookbills in the aviary, there's still plenty of room left. The rescue agency tend to get many budgies and lovebirds from people who no longer want them or can take care of them. I'd like to provide a home for those unwanted birds. I wonder how many birds I can place in my aviary and not have an overcrowding problem. Any thoughts?

Thanks

[Sheather]

You are so cool. I'm sure those birds have absolutely no idea on Earth how lucky they are and how their living conditions have changed for the better.

An aviary that size could probably house twenty birds or more if you set it up with enough perches and escapes and things. These guys already look shocked at their fortune.

However, I would not breed or supply boxes in this set up. Lovebirds are known to kill each other and parakeets over nesting sites.

[Acky]

I wish I could do an out door aviary. But for finches it would be to hard to stay alive in the winter. Your birds look so great and happy! Good job.

[debbie276]

Absolutely gorgeous!
best of luck

[vienneparis]

Acky, debbie276
Thanks for the encouragement

@Sheather
Dylan, I have plenty of perches, as well as baskets, swings and hiding nooks for the birds so that they won't have to fight over perching/roosting places. As for nest boxes, the lady at the rescue agency suggested having a few of them for the lovebirds to snuggle/sleep in at night. If they start fighting over the boxes, I'll have to think of other ideas.

[vinay]

Props on the aviary and congratulations on the new birds !
Its great that you've decided to give a home to unwanted pets .

Generally it isn't recommended to house lovebirds with any other species. They've been known to very aggressive and sometimes even kill other birds (including their own species ) . The peachfaces are particularly nasty. A lovebird can easily bite off a budgie's foot or beak without any difficulty .
My lovebirds are very territorial themselves. My tame male once entered one of my budgie breeding cages and almost got to the chicks before I stopped him .

But as Sheather said , nest boxes could simulate breeding conditions. Even budgie females kill each other over nesting spaces. Even if you provide ample nesting spaces , the females might at loggerheads over a particular box and will fight .
They could even go as far as killing off a competing pairs' young .

Every bird/flock is different. If your lovebirds are used to being around budgies , this could very well work without any issues I hope.
Hookbills don't need nest boxes to sleep in .

To avoid the possibility of such a situation arising , I'd take out the nest boxes right away. If you really want to breed them , the best thing you could do is to separate pairs into individual breeding cages within the aviary itself .

Good luck !

PS- Sorry about the criticism. I've made mistakes in the past and I would never want anybody to experience what I went through

[Jen]

vienneparis
Wow....beautiful birds! Very cool that you rescued these birds and have given them such a wonderful home. Happy for ALL of you!

[delray]

vienneparis wow so cool!

[lovezebs]

vienneparis

Hi Vienne, and congratulations.

Your set up looks lovely. However...

I hate to repeat what had already been mentioned, but...

Having had Lovebirds for around 20 years, before the Finches, I have to say, they can get 'extremely' nasty.

I've had situations, where my flight looked like a crime scene from CSI. Literally, blood splattered walls.

I would be extremely cautious with the budgies (who are considerably smaller). Also I would offer nest boxes with extreme caution, as it can cause some nasty , and I mean NASTY altercations.

Good luck, and I really hope that you won't run into any trouble .

~Elana~

[vienneparis]

vinay, lovezebs
Thanks for sharing your experiences. I appreciate hearing about your lovebirds.

So far, my lovebirds and budgies have gotten along fine, with no fighting, apart from squabbling among the budgies. Since the aviary is so big, they have plenty of room to get away from each other when there are conflicts. There are also plenty of nooks and spaces that they can stake out, for the more territorial ones among them. I'm keeping a close eye on the situation to make sure there's no bloodshed.

I've read several internet sites that discuss lovebird breeding. Many of them claim that lovebirds are natural colony breeders and actually are more successful breeding in colony than in solo pair, so long as there's plenty of room and nest boxes in the aviary.

I'm curious if other forum members have been successful in colony breeding their lovebirds?

[Derk]

vienneparis
Again, it is a wonderful thing you have done! But I too, have to put in a word of caution. I have had lovebirds about 14yrs I think. I currently have 9. Two of them are black cheek - yes black cheek - not black masked. These two I have to keep separate from the others. They are very prone to fighting even each other. They are only together when supervised. The female nagged the male a lot. I came home one day to discover a punctured beak. At first I figured, now she's done it! But I was wrong. The male had finally had enough and retaliated. Although I understand why he did it, it cost me a pretty penny to have her beak fixed. And no, she did not learn her lesson.

The other seven are in a large room 'aviary.' There are two pairs - M & F. I hen from one of the pairs. An old lovebird of 17 or 18 yrs, likely a male. And another gentle bird, likely a male. The only reason it works is because of the size of the room `20' x 15'. The three females definitely take their turns at being quite bossy. Because of this, I placed the old bird in his own cage for his own protection. I was hoping with time, everything would be sorted out but in truth there are really two flocks not one and I don't think it is going to change. I have been dreading the idea of providing smaller accommodations but the change will likely occur this summer. I think it is only a matter of time before someone does get hurt.

My original two lovebirds were housed in this same room with two budgies and they all got along fine. So much so that when one of the budgies was euthanized because of cancer, I did not get another. The surviving budgie had always been in love with one of the lovebirds. There was never a problem but I think it was because the lovebirds were both males and there was lots of room and perches.

I have also heard a lot of stories as mentioned above, including long term mated pairs where the hen attacked and killed the male. I think this is often because the cage is too small and the male cannot get away or is not flighted. I think with the number of birds you have in that flight, if a female lovebird was in a bad mood she would likely be able to catch someone in the commotion she would cause. You may luck out and get really gentle birds, but it will only take one on a bad day to do a lot of damage.

[Derk]

And beautiful birds. I especially like the budgie with the white flight feathers!

[vienneparis]

Derk
Thanks, Mary, for sharing your experience. My aviary is similar to yours in size so I'm hopeful that it's big enough for the birds to coexist in harmony.

I haven't seen any black cheek lovebirds in my area. Could you post some photos of your black cheek pair?

Dagda, the male budgie with the white flight feathers, is also my favorite out of the flock. He's very sweet natured so far.

[Derk]

vienneparis
Sorry but I can't upload any pictures. But here is a good link to a site with a picture that I can use to help ID the differences from a masked lovebird.

http://www.chessington.com/explore/ches ... -bird.aspx

Note the black does not cover the top of the head nor does it go down the back of the neck. It covers as the name suggests the cheeks, and a bit around the eyes. This picture has good lighting so you should be able to see the top of the head is actually a very dark brown.

This picture might be a little better for you to see the orange/peachy area under the beak. It just covers the upper chest. http://www.biodiversityexplorer.org/bir ... igenis.htm

The rump feathers are a lighter green than the body perhaps yellowish. If the rump feathers have colour - ie) blue - its a cross. There should also be no blue in the tail feathers. Unfortunately, these birds are often bred to Fischers Lovebirds - also a white eye. Hybrids are frowned upon in a big way because there are not a lot of these birds around compared to the other lovebirds - in captivity and the wild.

This is a good site for a bit of the history: http://www.birdchannel.com/bird-species ... ebird.aspx

Interestingly, I have read articles by people saying they are more aggressive and also less aggressive than other lovebirds. All I can say, my two are aggressive with each other and I decided not see if there would be a problem with the others. I do find my male black cheek to be more territorial of his cage than my other males ever were when they were in cages. Mine are also 3/4 blackcheek and 1/4 Fischer. The lady I bought them from was selling them as black cheek. I spoke to her at length on several occasions. She did stop breeding them. In part, because she had a hard time finding suitable homes for them. She lives close by and I am always on the look out for ads just in case but so far nothing. I also only bought the male to begin with. I only bought the second when it was returned to her and she said she wanted it to go to someone who would not breed her. So I am hoping...

[vienneparis]

Derk
Mary, interesting background on the black cheeked lovebirds. Their plumage is so brillant!

With their status being "vulnerable," I wonder how the breeder got hold of a pair in the first place?