FINCHforum

Hello
I am very new to bird keeping
I have 4 Zebra Finches and 2 Bengalese, and 2 Canaries, I was wondering what other birds would fit in with my little group
Many thanks

Are all your birds sharing a flight cage or an aviary? It depends on the size of their enclosure as to what and/or how many more birds you can have.

Welcome to the forum! There's lots of good reading at www.finchinfo.com, where you will find many articles on housing, general care, and compatibility charts. If you put your general location in your profile, it makes it easier to answer locale-specific questions later on.

Milliemoo

You mention that you already have 8 birds?
As Sally said, it depends very much how you are housing them if in a cage, than already at the max, unless it's a HUGE cage. Even in a flight, eight is pushing it, especially if they start breeding. If we're talking a large size aviary, then that makes a big difference.

~Elana~

Hi Sally and Elana

My Aviary is outside, It measures 9 feet in length, 6 foot High and 3 foot wide, with a night box at the top of the flight, measuring about 2 feet by 2 feet
Many thanks

Welcome!

That is a great size aviary, your birds must really like it.

Take a look at this article on the finch information center for what finches could be good with your birds. http://www.finchinfo.com/housing/compatible_species.php


Good luck.

If you want to breed your birds, then the ideal spacing for an aviary is at least one square meter/yard per breeding pair. It sounds like you already have an aviary full for breeding purposes. If you want to just have pets, no breeding, you could probably add a few, but you would not want to add very passive finches. I would not add any waxbills to this mix. Hopefully, others with similar aviaries can advise you. I once had an indoor aviary 8x2.5x7, and I kept about 8 birds in there, no breeding.

Milliemoo

I house Gouldians, Diamond Sparrows, Grass Finches, Cherry Finches, African Silver Bills, Star Finches, Blue Caps all in one Aviary.

I would breed the Canaries in double breeders though.

Steve

I have a big outside aviary and i used to have zebs, bengalese, canaries, cherries, st. Helenas and bluefaced parrotfinches all together, i had succes breeding the zebs, bengalese and the canaries, i put the zebs and the canaries away eventually, they prevented my other birds from breeding by taking their nests.

I have an indoor aviary room about 10 x 12 feet in width with at current 35 birds, all of those in my signature, all of which get along fine and do breed well.

Many thanks for all your advice

Milliemoo

If you have plenty of room, then you'll need to do some homework as in regards to which Finches you like and would like to have in your aviary.

Once you have your list, you need to find out which of these species can live comfortably outdoors in your part of England.

Then, you can look at the Species left over and check out the compatbility charts, to see who can live with who.

Personally, I have housed Canary, with Zebra and Society.
I have housed Canary, with Parrot Finches, Stars, Gouldians and a Shaft Tail.
I have housed Zebras, with Societies, Shaft Tails, and Cut Throat Finch.

So as you can see, there are many combinations which can work, as long as your birds are agreeable. Will it always work out peacefully? Of course not. At times, there will be birds that will have to be moved around or seperated, which is something you have to be prepaired for (extra flights, cages, etc)

Good luck with your decisions and choices.

~Elana~