Picking finches

[JeveFinch]

Hi, I hope I have used the right forum for this question, I am a 'newbie' to finches and although I have spent many hours researching I still have a few questions. I have been raised in a family that always has birds but I have never had any thing to do with finches. I have found a rather large cage that people have said that they have put 20 finches in happily however I am only interested in having two pairs that I can breed. I would really like a pair of gouldians as I have a friend that successfully breeds them, and I was hoping to get a pair of zebra finches to put in with them. Would this be appropriate?
If not, what finches could go in a cage with gouldians (as I would like two different species of finches) Also I don't plan on feeding any live food so any finches that will live and breed happily without live food would be preferred.

[ppg5tu]

JeveFinch

From personal experience Zebras are very aggressive to gouldians once nests are introduced. We had a 2 pairs of zebras that would take over any nest that was in the aviary.

Some good species to think about from my own personal experience are spice finches, owls or stars. The owls do require live food for breeding but if you aren't too worried about them breeding then its no biggie. My personal favorite of the 3 is the owl finch but everyone has their own opinion. Good luck!

[Sally]

I would not put Zebras with Gouldians, they may pick on the Gouldians and they will definitely interfere with their nests. I agree with Phil on choices, and many Owls will breed without live food, as long as they have plenty of egg food to provide the protein they need for breeding.

Welcome to the forum! There's lots of good reading at the Finch Information Center, linked at left, and the members are always ready to help. If you put your location in your profile, it makes it easier to answer locale-specific questions. Yes, you posted in the right place. We recently set up that area for newbies to get started with their questions, so ask away.

[redhead]

Would you put gouldians with zebras if you *weren't* going to breed?
(Just curiosity. I see that the OP is breeding.)

[dutch]

JeveFinch......from my experience.....zebras are excellent with gouldians.....have 120+ zebras with gouldians all breeding in the same avairy.....

Just make sure you choose healthy gouldians

Many people buy weak Goulds that aren't healthy.....

Make sure their parent raised......

They come from outdoor aviaries. ....do not buy Goulds that were indoor raised

[JeveFinch]

Thanks everyone for answering, I still have plenty of research to do before I make any final decisions. My grandfather has a friend who has successfully bred gouldians for a long time but he doesn't know anything about other finches, but I would like to get a pair from him, and the bird show is coming to Ballarat on the 2nd August so there might be something there. I really would like to keep gouldians and zebras together but if it will do more harm than good then I might look for another finch type. dutch in your aviary do you have any trouble with the zebras interfering or sticky nosing on the gouldians?

[dutch]

JeveFinch.....in my avairy the zebras stay away from the gouldians nest. .....in my avairy the gouldians are top dog

Gouldians are larger than zebs.....and my zebs know this

I started with just one pair of Goulds vs 120 zebs.....

That one pair had 3 clutches of chicks....over 6 each clutch

The zebs dont even bother the baby Goulds. ...if anything the baby Goulds chase the zebs around....just playing with them

From my experience Goulds and zebs perfect together

[Sally]

This came up in another thread recently. You must remember that you can't compare keeping finches in cages and keeping finches in aviaries, it is like comparing apples and oranges. For example, if I put two pairs of Cordon Bleus in a cage together, the males will attack each other. Put those same two pairs in a large planted aviary, and they can get along just fine. Zebras and Gouldians together in a cage is asking for trouble. Why start out asking for problems?

[ppg5tu]

JeveFinch

I agree with Sally on this. If given ample room as an aviary would allow, I'm sure most finches would be fine together. However, most people only have flight cages to house their birds together and in flight cages, even the double flight cages like we have, brings up issues with zebras and gouldians. We have8 gouldians and only 2 zebras in a double flight cage and the zebras still picked on the gouldians.

That being said, if you can have an aviary like the person above, you could put shaft tails, zebras, cut throats, owls, spice, gouldians, etc all together. We had shafties for a while with gouldians and were fine until they started to build a nest and then it was game over for keeping them together. Good luck with whatever you decide!

[dutch]

Sally.....I was told on this forum many times that goulds cant be kept with zebs even in aviaries. ....I was also told its a miracle they are breeding so well with all my zebras around them in my avairy

Also my goulds are stronger than my zebs......

[MiaCarter]

Well, generally speaking, Zebras are a bossy species and Gouldians less so. This is exacerbated by the territorial-ness that breeding brings on.

But there are exceptions to every rule. And each finch is an individual, so I find it difficult to speak in generalities when discussing who to pair up.

If you have a separate cage that you can use to separate if there are problems, then I don't see any problem trying to blend Gouldians and Zebras. You may luck out and they get along beautifully.

This is where it can be helpful to get your birds from a breeder. My breeder does a lot of mixing and matching and has a good idea of who's dominant, who's not and who gets along well with others. Even so, harmonious birds can work well in a large cage/aviary, or they could be like Hatfields and McCoys in a smaller cage.
If I told her I wanted a pair of gouldians and a pair of zebras set up in a single cage for breeding, I'd just give her the cage I planned to use and she'd find a good combo for me. (Assuming she had gouldians....she doesn't. Otherwise *I'd* have gouldians! LOL)
Then a week or two later, I come and pick up my cage of happy, harmonious birds.

But you just want to avoid a situation where you have birds who are constantly in a warring state. It's stressful for the birds and nobody breeds when they're constantly upset.

[redhead]

dutch
I am so glad you said this. I am new owner to a pair of gouldians and this thread scared me. But I'm building an aviary -- so the finches will have 29 cubic feet of space -- or more if we go a little bigger which we might. So I'm putting zebras with gouldians.

There are 2 cages they can go back into if anyone is naughty.

@Sally
Very good point about cages being different from aviaries. The 'rules' that often get generalized online have good roots, usually, but don't apply in all cases ... I've run into the same thing with aquariums, I am able to put fish together that are big no-nos if you listen to everyone... but my tanks are 100+ gallons, heavily planted, and under stocked, so everyone has a place to hide. But there's no hiding really, because everyone has room to be themselves. Perhaps this is what happens in an aviary too? (This is a question, not a statement - just building my first aviary.)

[dutch]

redhead.....if your planning an avairy definitely add the zebs with the Goulds

Just get strong healthy birds.....

I think a lot of the horror stories you hear from people are coming from weak unhealthy birds

When I purchased my Goulds the breeder laughed and said how can a zebra bully a gouldian. .....gouldians are twice the size of zebs

Im in sydney australia.....maybe the gouldians in america are different to the ones here in Australia

In australia the Goulds are tough as nails

[Sally]

In australia the Goulds are tough as nails

That's probably because in Australia, most birds are kept in aviaries. Aviary birds are almost always going to be better off than birds kept in cages.

But I think you are emphasizing the negative when you refer to all the 'horror' stories on here about Gouldians. Members naturally tend to ask more questions about what might be wrong with their birds, but there are still plenty of posts and photos of healthy Gouldians in the U.S. I no longer keep Gouldians, but I have friends with large collections of gorgeous, healthy birds.

[Hilary]

Jevefinch, depending on the size of the cage gouldians may or may not be willing to breed with another pair of birds in the cage (I always put pairs in their own breeding cage). I've always found that most waxbills make great cage mates with gouldians, as do owls. Waxbills can be more difficult to breed, though. If you want easy breeders to mix with your gouldians I'd recommend looking at societies rather than zebras.