Java Finch - Food/exercise advice/get a companion finch?

[colinrossmcarthur]

Hello all,

I've recently been entrusted with taking care of my girlfriend's sister's Java Finch named Dante while she is abroad at university. I have no experience with pet birds, so forgive my ignorance.

He's very friendly, talkative and even hyperactive at times in his cage. I've taken a real liking to him, and he even seems to have taken a liking to our dog Charlie, which is surprising to say the least. Anyway, I'm hoping to make his life as enjoyable as possible.

There is very conflicting information online, and I've found pet store employees to be less than useful so i just have some basic questions

- Beyond Finch seed mix, what kinds of food are recommended?

- Should I let him out of his cage for exercise? If so, any safety precaution recommendations?

- How best can I manage his nails?

- Is purchasing another Finch companion advisable? I am worried that he can get lonely, right now I'm working from home but that won't be the case in the medium term. I've read very conflicting information online, whether getting another male, or getting a female is advisable. I am not interested in breeding at all, so I am worried about getting a female, but I am worried that a male will fight with him.

All advice is greatly appreciated

Thanks!

[Icearstorm]

colinrossmcarthur

Broccoli and boiled or scrambled eggs are good additions. Broccoli can be offered every day, and egg can be provided once or twice a week. If he is moulting, then you can give him egg every day, as the protein is good for growing feathers.
My Java finches ate canary seed, and millet to a lesser degree. Java finches also enjoy black oil sunflower seeds, though they are fatty and shouldn't be offered every day.

How large is the cage? A flight cage 3 or more feet long should be large enough for him to get enough exercise, though you can still let him out if you want. If you let him out, close the door and cover the windows. Then make sure there isn't standing water, a fan running, other animals out, or anything else that is potentially dangerous around.

Nails can be trimmed every month or so. Hold the bird so the palm of your hand is on its back, and loosely hold its neck between two fingers on that same hand. Then use your other hand to gently hold one of its toes away from the others for clipping. A fingernail clipper works well. My finches' middle and back toenails overgrow the most, while the other toes usually don't need to be trimmed as often.

Finches are very sociable, so should have a companion. Is he tame? If so, he will likely become more suspicious of people if you get him a companion. Java finches are typically gregarious, so another male should be fine. If you decide to get another bird, quarantine it for at least a couple of weeks to make sure it is healthy.

[Sheather]

My experience is he will not become afraid of you or anything with a friend, because I tamed an adult Java and keep it with five other untamed finches and it is as tame as it's ever been. However, he may be more aloof, and not need you as much, which can be good or bad depending on what you want. It should still come to you either way. A tame bird doesn't necessarily need a companion and the bond with one may be better than with two unless you can find another tame one.

Definitely let it out, I let all my birds out, even the untamed ones, they go back on their own. I've never had any fly into windows. Just make sure they're closed and the ceiling fans are off.

Just pick him up and use nail clippers to cut his claws, they don't like but they don't hold a grudge.

For food my Java enjoys broccoli, dark leafy vegetables, apple slices, sweet corn and hard boiled eggs.

[Fraza]

Green veg, mealworms,millet ,cuttlebone, egg they love all this also a LITTLE TIP -make sure you blow out the hulls in the food dish sometimes it looks like full shells are in there when really it is the shell of the seeds that are left and notnproper seeds

also I think getting a companion is a great thing they are even more fun to watch and Java’s in my opinion are alright with a pair of same sex unless if a female is around

Finally yeah I would let it out I’ve let every single one of my birds out when I have them in cages and they all go back sometimes certain ones do fly into a window but it doesn’t cause any injury they just learn not to do it again, and Yh Make sure doors and windows are closed also if it’s in a kitchen watch that there isn’t any food cooking because if he’s never been out of a cage he might panick and fall down

Goodluck add a pic of him

[Sojourner]

Unless you are willing to put in the time, effort and money to bird proof your house, DO NOT let him out of the cage. You had also better be willing to wander about the house looking for droppings to clean up, and very very certain of your ability to recapture him and return him to his cage. There are many many hazards to birds in your home, including ceiling fans, electrical cords, windows, curtains or anything else they might get tangled in, houseplants which are often poisonous to birds, and numerous other things not safe for a bird. Candles. Essential oil diffusers. Even lights if they could get caught in the cover or come in contact with the bulb. An opened door and they can fly out and be lost forever. I give my birds the largest cage I can manage instead.

Amost any non-lettuce greens will suit him. I feed mostly arugula and baby kale. I get an "asian" kale salad mix from Costco that they eat. Go easy on the spinach, they generally love it but it is VERY high in oxalic acid which causes calcium depletion. I get a "broccoli" slaw mix from another local grocery that they love. Matchstick carrots, which I chop so they're not so long, and sweet potato treated the same way.

The salad mixes I get contain chicory, sliced brussel sprouts, shredded broccoli stems, baby kale, and probably a couple of other things I can't remember at the moment. But never any version of lettuce.

If he's not used to eating his veggies, he may take awhile to warm up to it, but once he does, he will chow down big time. Just keep putting some on a small saucer in the bottom of the cage every day. If you're up to it, switch it out about mid-day to make sure it's always fresh. Once he starts eating it you won't need to do that any more because he will have eaten it, LOL!

I free-feed a parakeet blend (rather than a finch blend because my guys won't eat anything in the finch blend that isn't already in the parakeet blend). I supplement with a small amount of alternative seed which includes (for finches):

amaranth seed
canary reed grass seed
rolled grains such as barley, rye, etc.
Oat groats
chia
sprouted quinoa (you can buy it sprouted, it allegedly takes away the bitter taste in the seed coat)
Buckwheat groats NOT KASHI which I have only ever found at Whole Foods
hulled hemp
sunflower chips
nyjer (same stuff I feed my goldfinches)
Fennel seed - the thin Indian type, not the fat Italian type
Dill seed

There's probably a few other things I rotate through for the finches but I can't recall off the top of my head. Basically anything that is unsweetened and has no preservatives that looks like bird food will probably be safe. If I can ever find a source (because the local feed stores only sell coated pasture grass seed) I would like to add clover seed, timothy grass seed, and similar pasture grass seeds to the diet of both my finches and parakeets.

I get just small amounts of most of these from bulk bins at local groceries, Whole Foods, Winco/Cub Foods, or health food stores. Some things like the sprouted quinoa I get in small 8 to 14 oz packages from where they keep the rice and other grains (sometimes in the organic section). I do not ever feed peanuts or honey or any other sweetener. I also use my wild bird seed for my caged birds - basically only the sunflower chips and the nyjer seed because that's all I put in my feeders. I might get 2 to 4 T (4T is 1/4c) of any given seed at a time so its really quite cheap when buying from the bulk bins.

My guys go off and on various seeds for no apparent reason so no worries if he turns his beak up at any particular seed. I continued to offer nyjer seed for almost 6 months before they would touch it, then they scarfed it down like it was mana from heaven, LOL!

I just give them a couple of different types of seed in addition to the staple seed every 2 or 3 days (unless they eat it all sooner, LOL) and let them eat what they want. I usually only put one high-fat seed such as nyjer, sunflower, hemp, or chia in the cage at any given time.

Also make sure he has calcium sources. I use the blue ABBA mineral mix, crushed egg shell, and a cuttlebone - all at the same time so they can pick and choose. The blue ABBA mineral mix has a lot of other minerals as well, but when they need extra calcium (but not other extra minerals) they need some pure calcium sources as well.

I also use a water soluble vitamin in their water because birds need D3 and cannot manufacture it for themselves when they are kept indoors. The one I use is Oasis Vita Drops but just about anything water soluble with D3 in it will do.

A couple of times a week I feed dry egg food (I use Cede for canaries). If your guy will eat it, a thoroughly mashed boiled egg is just as good and maybe better - there's a lot of wheat in the dry egg foods. Thing is he will probably only eat a small part of a mashed boiled egg. It will last in the fridge for about 3 days. My guys won't eat anything wet like that. YMMV.

Java finches are also known as rice sparrows, but your guy will likely not eat the dried rice like we get in the grocery. They eat rice when it is in the paddy in the milk stage, when it is just starting to ripen and before it dries. Plus the stuff we buy for human consumption has been further dried. My parakeets can (and do) eat various forms of people-rice, but finches, even Java finches, generally can't handle seed that hard. Just give him a variety of extra seed from time to time plus the veggies and the parakeet blend as the staple seed, and he'll thrive.

Last thing to consider is the size of his cage. I have seen so many pet birds in cages that are way too small for them. If you can give him at least 30" - 3' is better - of clear vertical space for flight, he will be a lot happier. Much smaller finches get by with the 30" but the Java is quite large for a finch. I would suggest the Prevue F070/F075 which is roughly 36x20x18 or something similar for your guy. This cage has a divider so it makes it super easy to clean the cage - just encourage your guy to one side, slide in the divider, and you can take out the removable debris tray from the other side (I do not use the wire bottoms in this cage, which leaves a bit of a gap, but if my Societies can't get out or get caught in the extra space your much larger java will be utterly safe). Then pull the divider back a bit and encourage him to the now cleaned side and repeat. I have natural perches at either end so my guy can fly back and forth from end to end.

Hope that helps, and hope you enjoy your visitor while you have him.

[Dave]

Sojourner, we have opposite views on letting a bird out of the cage. I'm all for it. Lots of health and nutrition problems disappear if a bird has plenty of exercise.

@colinrossmcarthur, close the door and windows in the room you have the cage. Pull the window blinds, so it is shady in that room. Put a small light on the cage. When you open the cage door, it might take a day or two before the bird ventures out. Once he flies, he'll return to the cage because that is where the light is--in a darkened room, birds will fly toward a light.

Eventually you'll be able to open the curtains, bit by bit. My free-flying Canaries, once acclimated, never flew into the glass. Sojourner's concerns are valid, just stay in the room with the bird. By observing, you'll see what the hazards are.

[Sheather]

A house is only dangerous for a bird if you're careless or ignorant. Shut off the fan, shut the door, make sure the stove is off. Otherwise mine fly free. They don't get into trouble. They don't fly into windows - ever. They know what glass is. Ceiling fans are always off unless they are locked in.

Even my wildest, most unhandleable birds would get lots of flight time. They always know to go back later to eat and to sleep.

And all lettuce except the white iceberg is excellent for birds.

[wildbird]

Be sure the dog is not in the same room with the bird, if your Java is out of the cage. A dog will swallow a bird in no time. My Javas love romaine lettuce hearts and dandelion greens.

[CathyCraftz]

You can give him some finely chopped apple or spinach. It is best to let him out to excercise at least once a week so he won't become a fat finch. Make sure that all windows are closed and the dog is shut in another room when he comes out, the finch flapping about can cause a natural instinct in the dog to eat him.

[Sojourner]

We surely do have differing opinions. It is unsafe to let your bird fly around the house without (AS I SAID) doing considerable work to make it safER. The area must be bird-proofed as well as constant cleaning of bird poop. Including the tops of book cases, door frames, and lighting fixtures. I'm past the age where I should be up on a ladder and I'll be dinged if I'm going to haul my scaffolding around looking for bird splats.

Frankly I don't want to even enter the house of someone who lets their birds fly around and poop wherever they happen to be at the time. And I MOST DEFINITELY would not even consider buying a house where someone was known to have been doing this. I don't want to have to clean that kind of mess up from my own birds, let alone someone else's.

So DO you get up on a ladder every day and search out the bird splats and clean them up? Every single day? Or ever?

[Dave]

Sojourner, I can understand your concerns about bird droppings. To answer your questions, I don't often clean the tops of book cases etc where birds like to perch.

Thousands of people have indoor aviaries that have bird droppings in them, and most likely no one cleans the entire aviary every day. The droppings on top of a window frame or a book case are no more dangerous than that. Less dangerous, in fact.

To clean up droppings: 1/3 Dawn soap with 2/3 water. Spray, wait a few minutes and wipe. Cheap and effective.

[Fraza]

Also Whilst on free flight when it's only one bird it won't poop a lot when I used to let mine out which was two but when had chicks that fledged came to six they would perch on the cage and poo then do a little fly around the ceiling and land back on the cage for the food and water tray


My only problem I ever had was radiators just make sure you cover the gap so they don't go behind

[Sheather]

We surely do have differing opinions. It is unsafe to let your bird fly around the house without (AS I SAID) doing considerable work to make it safER. The area must be bird-proofed as well as constant cleaning of bird poop. Including the tops of book cases, door frames, and lighting fixtures. I'm past the age where I should be up on a ladder and I'll be dinged if I'm going to haul my scaffolding around looking for bird splats.

Frankly I don't want to even enter the house of someone who lets their birds fly around and poop wherever they happen to be at the time. And I MOST DEFINITELY would not even consider buying a house where someone was known to have been doing this. I don't want to have to clean that kind of mess up from my own birds, let alone someone else's.

So DO you get up on a ladder every day and search out the bird splats and clean them up? Every single day? Or ever?

You would not know I had birds if you didn't see them. I cannot stand mess, of any kind, for any length of time, but I think it's only fair to provide them as much freedom as possible, so they fly free and I vacuum twice a day and spot clean the spots under their perches just as often to keep up on it. And even with twelve of them right at the moment, it's really not much work. Day to day clean up in total is fifteen minutes at the most. Cleaning the cages is a longer process.

I have nothing high out of reach for them to perch on. They spend between two and ten hours out of the cages most days, maybe one a day a week I keep them in, and the room is never dirty - indeed, it's a bedroom. I have an air purifier to catch dander. Birds should be allowed to fly, and if you're that disgusted by them, why do you have them? Pet bird droppings are odorless, dry quickly and don't stain.

Five years of birds flying loose in three different houses. Finches, canaries, budgies, cockatiels and a dove. Never had one get hurt or lost in the house. I don't cover windows. I don't really do anything. Birds can navigate the wild outdoors. They quickly figure out a house.

[Fraza]

Sheather absolutely correct I can’t agree more !!!