Favorite Indoor aviary species

For more specific questions related to the many varieties of captive finches.
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goldfinchowl
Callow Courter
Callow Courter
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Joined: Fri Aug 24, 2018 10:00 pm

Favorite Indoor aviary species

Post by goldfinchowl » Wed Sep 05, 2018 12:04 am

What is your favorite indoor aviary species?
Which have given least trouble?
Best health?
Most active?
Quietest?
Loudest?

If you were starting a new aviary, which 5 kinds would u chose?
Which would be in pairs?
Which in groups of 4 or 6 or 8?

Icearstorm
Weaning
Weaning
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Re: Favorite Indoor aviary species

Post by Icearstorm » Thu Sep 06, 2018 8:36 am

goldfinchowl

I've only ever had societies, gouldians, and Javas; out of those, I'd say a pair of Javas and several societies would be nice in an aviary. I would absolutely love to get some tricolored munias as well, but I can't seem to find any...

Societies use most of the cage, and are quite active and hardy. Their temperment is rather nice, although my birds are high-strung compared to the societies I've kept in the past. Societies are about mid-level as far as noise goes. Out of my four males, I can only hear two of them sing from another room. Their alarm calls can be loud and piercing, though; not parakeet-level noise, but still enough to make me seriously consider getting rid of three of them.

My Javas weren't super active and mostly hung out at the top of the cage, but they were still some of my favorite birds. Overall they were hardy and easy to care for; the female once laid a clutch when there wasn't a nest, but that wasn't a huge issue. They had loads of personality, and were very entertaining to watch. They are also about mid-level on the noise teir, but their voices are quite pleasant, so it's not bad. Just note that some pairs are more aggressive than others, so some might not be great in a flight or small aviary.

The gouldians were my least favorite, although it might have just been that pair. They were lazy and sat around at the top doing nothing for most of the day, and hissed and pecked at anyone who came near. They seemed relatively hardy, but the female didn't moult out her body feathers and ended up looking a bit rough as a result. They were quiet, and the male's song was impossible to hear unless you were in the room with him. The female was a bit louder, but not to the point of being distracting.


If I had an aviary and could find what I was looking for, I'd probably keep a pair of normal Javas, a pair of tricolored munias, six or more self society finches, and perhaps a pair of owl finches or cinnamon or red-factor lizard canaries. I'd consider keeping a black-headed blue female gouldian and a red-headed green split to blue male gouldian, but I'm not super interested in keeping other gouldians again at this point.

goldfinchowl
Callow Courter
Callow Courter
Posts: 155
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Re: Favorite Indoor aviary species

Post by goldfinchowl » Thu Sep 06, 2018 11:23 pm

Icearstorm - thank you for sharing your experiences and what you would like in an aviary

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