FINCHforum

Hello everyone,
i have some questions about cherries.
Now i have Javas,zebras and society finches...i wait for some money these days so i think to buy cherries.
I searched firstly about owl finches but they are not very hardy birds including cold winter weather so i think they cannot stant either the hot weather of our summer in Greece now,no?
So i read few things about cherries,but i didn't find too much information,mostly it was about their behaviour with mixed finches.
I keep my javas,zebras,societies in my balcony(no sun on it),no hot wind,and they have bath everyday at least 2 times,also i spray them with water to keep them fine and not getting overwarmed and they are fine.
So my question is...are cherries hardy enough to keep them together with my other finches outside?Or they will have a problem with the heat?

Cherry finches (Plumheads) cannot tolerate cold weather. I think they would be fine in the heat. Mine are in an inside aviary hich in the summer reaches only about 80-84 but I think they would handle warmer than that. They are very friendly little birds and get along fine but can also hold their own with agressive species.

You would love having these little birds. They are so sweet! They love to eat oranges and cucumbers especially.

Mine did do well in temps that went as low as 55 degrees in my bird house... not too cold but there was no draft.

relative to cherry finches: I am trying to place a female cherry and female weaver, who are living together beautifully, and a woman with 2 society finches has responded to the ad. Is it likely that the females cherry and weaver will be compatible with the society finches? I don't know the genders of the societies...

oldguy wrote:relative to cherry finches: I am trying to place a female cherry and female weaver, who are living together beautifully, and a woman with 2 society finches has responded to the ad. Is it likely that the females cherry and weaver will be compatible with the society finches? I don't know the genders of the societies...

I don't know about cherries, but I seem to remember reading that weavers are a more aggressive finch. I would be worried that the societies might get bullied... Would she be keeping them in the same flight/aviary? How much room?

If you don't have luck rehoming them with her, you might try posting in the marketplace forum here. There may be forum members near you who might be interested too!

Thanks, Nello. Actually, the woman's cage is way too small even for the 2 society finches she already has -- only 17" square and 25 high. I've read that the minimum for a pair of finches is 18 x 30, which I consider still too small.

Since the cherry and weaver are females, I presume any aggression levels would be minimal and the sign that the cherry and weaver are so comfortable together, so docile and sweet, may indicate success in combining with other peaceable finches.

This woman may be a good bet if I can make her understand that she needs a much bigger cage. She was receptive to the idea that all birds have a right to fly and that no birds should be bred for lives in cages. She intercepts the eggs of her pair of societies. good for her !

I will look at the posts here for a possible home for them, also a male Whydah, a bonded pair of Stars and a Golden Breasted Avadavat, but will need assurances of adequate fly-space, no cats, no re-sale and no breeding. Since many on the special bird sites have not re-thought the idea of breeding, I will have to be careful, though.

Sometimes I think I might be better off placing them with a newcomer who is open to new ways of thinking about birds in cages and who would be able to focus on the few birds rather than have them join a collector's group of treasures... Thanks for your response.

These were part of a seizure of 80 tropical birds including 3 blue and gold macaws all kept in a filthy 10 foot square shed. They've been with me for a year, call it a quarrantine. I've moved them up in cage sizes and slowly tested to establish social relationships among them, hence, the cherry and weaver friendship... Earl

Earl
How great that you helped with such an important rescue situation. I too have seen my finches do so much better with more fly space and they seem so much happier than in the breeding size cages. People come to my house and are shocked I keep such large flights for such a limited number of birds, but we want them to have happy lives and still we are blessed to enjoy them.

dfcauley wrote:Cherry finches (Plumheads) cannot tolerate cold weather. I think they would be fine in the heat. Mine are in an inside aviary hich in the summer reaches only about 80-84 but I think they would handle warmer than that. They are very friendly little birds and get along fine but can also hold their own with agressive species.

You would love having these little birds. They are so sweet! They love to eat oranges and cucumbers especially.

My plumheads tolerate the minus-5 celcius we get down here at night pretty well as long as they can get out of the wind

Thanks for the applause, Deborah !

I did adopt a total of 30 birds to keep them from being kept in a "rescue" where the operators were going to put 28 finches together in one 2 ft x 3 ft cage. I told the shelter "over my dead body" and they gave me only one alternative. I did place 5 pairs of javas that had been all together in one 20 x 30 cage and 5 zebras with the Virginia Aquarium and Marine Science Center, where they are now flying free in 900 sq ft over the heads of 3 Komodo Dragons in a fake habitat. I told them that was the best I could do for them. The fly space was the most important thing and they have a staff of bird-savy young people to take care of them and other birds in their aviaries.