Adding finches to existing group

[diinin]

Hi, all. I have three finches (one gold breast male, one RCCB male, and an orange-cheeked mystery gender. We ran across some owls today for the first time. We had tried to get some a few years ago, but would have had to ship.

Can two owls be added with hopefully no problem? We also have the option to do stars, or zebras, but I like the owls best, if they will cooperate.

[Zebrafincher]

Its hard to comment as all finches are individuals and some of the same/different species may get on, or not! My canary tries to bully my 3 finches, but he doesn't get far as he's only flown by himself and kept in the same room, though. My zebbie and my star finch (yellow face) love eachother and fly out together quite often. My other star finch (red faced) is an aggressive little thing, and will attack anything that comes near his cage.

[Sally]

All of these species are compatible, but as Zebrafincher has said, you can have individual differences. Sometimes, you just have to try out different combinations to see what works. The cage needs to be plenty big for 5 finches--IMO a minimum of 30x18x36 or 32x21x35. When you want to add additional finches, it is best to remove everything from the cage, then put perches back in different places if possible. Rearranging the 'furniture' helps to break up territorial issues. Also, be aware that 5 is an odd number. Sometimes, with an odd number, the odd man out will be picked on. However, if you already have three that get along just fine, then the two Owls will buddy up with each other.

[diinin]

My cage, as I just found out, is still pictured in the customer images on Amazon. It's 37 x 27 x well, 68 high, but you lose a little over a foot at the bottom, so maybe 55 high as usable space for them. Pretty big. We had 3 pairs in there at one time who got along famously. Here's the link to the cage with my shots on Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/Prevue-Products-F ... B000BQU2R4

I almost wonder if I should leave the furniture in place, as the three I have are very docile. I'd almost feel better if they stayed comfy and the new pair were forced to fit in. Then at least our three won't be as stressed, as opposed to everybody being stressed all at once. Is that a reasonable thought, or would it be crazy to even try?

I've seen aggression even in female red faced stars, so I won't go with those. We have several options--buying one orange cheek to complete one pair, so that we have even numbers, or something like that. But those owls are just so gorgeous, every bit as pretty as the pictures I always drooled over. It's hard to pass them up now that we finally found them!

[wilkifam]

Get the OC AND the Owls!

[Lisa]

I like Lori's suggestion... get the owls and the orange cheek lol

Sally's suggestion really is a good one. I don't think you will stress the existing pairs, but rather think of it as giving them some variety in their atmosphere by changing things around a bit. It can be difficult for a new pair to be accepted into an existing setup where territories are already established. For example, one set of birds think they OWN this branch, the other pair has dibs on this particular perch, etc. By rearranging, everyone is staking their claim at the same time - often much more peacefully. Otherwise, you're likely to be in a situation where all the existing birds are going to gang up and bully the new additions to their home.