FINCHforum

Hello everyone!
Recently I have grown a major interest in finches and their aviaries. I find finches so magnificent to watch socialize, forage and nest. Before I begin asking questions, I would love to introduce myself and give you a background of why I decided finches might be right for me.
My name is Travis and I have spent the better part of a year working for a pet store. We only carry society and zebra finches, but they are definitely both beautiful specimens. I am aware of the... distaste most of you might have with pet stores and birds, and I do agree with you. Many are not adequate, and know little about individual species. Two weeks ago we got in another shipment of zebra finches, six to be exact. One of them happened to be a white male zebra finch. I was blown away with its beauty, and thats when I started doing more research dedicated to captive finches. I rented books from the library and eventually found this forum. Since then, much has changed with the birds at the store. I cannot change everything (like put them into a giant aviary, and provide them with an outdoor enclosure during warmer weather), but I am striving to provide them with healthier living conditions, such as slowly switching to a pellet diet, and providing fresh dark greens every morning.
As my research went on, I begun to think about keeping finches of my own. Space does not permit me to have a massive aviary right now, as I hope to have, so I have tons of time to properly prepare for what I assume will be a wild adventure!
And now for some question:
1. I am all about naturalistic enclosures. This is likely out of most people's on the forum element, but I have built many naturalistic 'living' vivariums and terrariums for exotic reptiles and amphibians, to which I also keep. Are naturalistic set ups suitable for an indoor aviary, and if so is there a safe plant list?

2. Given that many species of finches come from temperate to tropical regions, would an automatic misting system like one from mistking.com be beneficial to these finches in any way?

3. Since my geographical location only permits 3-4 months of sunshine a year, an indoor aviary would be essential. I understand most people use wired cages, but what I wanted to know is whether or not a wooden vivarium with glass sliding doors might be suitable? I understand the seriousness of glass when it comes to birds, but what if stickers were used on said glass to deter them away?

4. When keeping multiple species of finches (those that can be kept together) what should the minimum sized indoor aviary be? So say I wanted to keep 3 species in particular, and have a pair of each, what might the minimum measurements be?

I think that is all of the questions I have for now, as I have already learnt so much from this site.

Thank you all for reading.

Sincerely,

Travis

Hello, Travis!

I too am new to the Finch Forum and I've been doing much of the same research as you. I'm just about in the same position, I've got my flight cage coming in a few weeks. It will be 68"wide x 49tall x 20 deep. I plan to keep Lady Gouldians, Owl finches and some cordon blues.

Anyway, I want to put live (safe) plants in my flight cage to ease the stress for my new babies... and I found this link, which I think you will find helpful. http://www.mfgouldianfinches.com/Housin ... lants.html

You may also find this helpful. I did.
http://www.finchinfo.com/housing/compatible_species.php

Good luck!

Travillion, I wouldn't enclose birds in a glass aviary. They need fresh air & I think they would feel too confined. Welcome to the forum & best wishes in your new endeavor.

Travillion

I'll try to answer your questions as best I can, though I don't have a lot of experience with aviaries. I did have one for a while that was 8' x 7' x 2.5'. It had plexiglass on the bottom half of the front, black plastic mesh on the top half of the front and the sides, and solid back.

If you have a fully-enclosed aviary, you will have problems with ventilation. Birds need to have good ventilation. Naturalistic is good, just be aware that you will need to rotate plants in and out, as the birds will get them covered with poop quite quickly. Some plants will be destroyed as well. There is a list of safe plants here: http://www.finchinfo.com/housing/safe_a ... plants.php

Many people in warmer climates use misting systems on outdoor aviaries to help keep the aviary cooler in summer, but in an indoor aviary, I think a misting system would cause trouble with too much humidity. Better to give the birds a daily bath in a dish, or some people have installed small fountains in aviaries for baths.

As far as size, and if you are going to build it, I would build as large an aviary as I have space for. That way, if you decide to add even more birds, you will be able to. Plus, if you are wanting to add plants, whether real or fake, you will need space for those. Or, if space is a minimum, many people keep three compatible pairs in one of those double flight cages (62x21x35) or something similar.

My suggestion Travis is slow down It's exciting to get into the bird hobby but there is so much to learn. I really think you'd be well advised to start off with a pair or two of the easy species. What are your long term goals? Your talking about pairs so are you planning on breeding? Start small. There are plenty of nice flight cages available that can be made to look pretty natural. I really don't see a need to switch your birds onto a pelleted diet versus seeds but that's a matter of preference. Dark leafy greens are nice but which ones and how much? To much of some can sometimes cause health issues (see the resource articles on the forum for more info). many finches will also enjoy things like carrot, broccoli, quinoa (washed first) and a host of other things as well. I'd think carefully about using wood in anything...as unsealed it can be impossible to clean/sterilize and if you seal it or paint if you have to be careful what compound you use to do it as birds can be pretty sensitive. How much space you need depends on how many. birds you want to have, which species and if you plan to try breeding or not. It's also good to have a smaller cage or 2 on hand as a hospital/quarantine cage and also because sometimes no matter the species someone just doesn't want to get along. Zebra finches are especially known for this.

this is a list of safe and unsafe woods, plants foods, etc..... http://www.parrot-and-conure-world.com/ ... birds.html

A friend of ours contacted the owner of a strip mall that was being redone/torn down....he managed to secure all the glass store fronts and this included doors. With some careful planning he constructed an indoor aviary with all kinds od tropical plants (we are in Florida). It was climate controlled, I was wonderful, it had ponds, paths and places to sit. So glass panels can be used but you need to regulate the temperature. I was on a very large scale....back when species of all kinds were plentiful so his collection was extensive.

many people have glass front aviaries

http://www.finchforum.com/viewtopic.php ... iary+glass

This one was made out of an old glass show case from a pet store
http://www.finchforum.com/viewtopic.php ... iary+glass

You can provide venting on the top as well

Hey guys thanks for all of the responses.
This thread is actually a couple of weeks old now and I had created other threads with different questions and got an outpour of responses. I now keep a pair of javas in a flight cage i built myself.
Thank you all.

Travillion, as you are I TOOOOOOO am new here, so welcome, I built a 60 inch long cage and 48 inches wide, it is 27 inches deep, I put a quarter piece of bird mesh below the feeder so all knocked off food goes out the cage on the floor for the outside birds.

This is good size, I intend to add a plant soon but don't know what to get yet.

But if you want a nice size cage that is it and they can fly nicely. Good for a pair of ZebZZZ.

Greetings and welcome.
Gary