Aviary, adding birds, and breeding

[jenniferdavidson]

Hello,

I recently built a little aviary that's 6 foot long, 6 foot high, and 3 foot wide. I'm not particularly good at building these kind of things, but I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. Anyways, I've been reading some posts and whatnot on the net and I keep coming across the recommendation of not adding to the aviary once you have the birds set up in there. They've been in the aviary now for 2 months and I haven't had a single problem. I started with two zebra boys, 1 female zebra, one gouldian, two societies (still not sure if male or female, almost certain they're a pair as they've set up their little nest in the corner), a female colour canary and a male german roller canary. I added a little juvenile male zebra (he was in bad shape at the pet store and I couldn't just leave him!) and two female zebras ( but one turned out to be a male juvenile fawn I'm fairly certain- oops!). Just a few days ago I "added" two zebra fledglings of whom I wasn't even aware had been hatched- they laid the eggs in a fake plant hanging from the ceiling. Did I do wrong by adding the birds I picked up later on? There aren't any problems in the aviary- the little bird that had been plucked relentlessly at the pet store has gotten much better in the aviary. There's no plucking from any of the birds- I did have two babies thrown from the nest, but I have a feeling that was the parents as they didn't have a lot of room in that little plant for much of a nest. Once my little fledglings are a few days older, I'll be removing the plant as I don't want any more birds in there and I'm quite happy with the amount right now. I think more would be too much. And Lord knows how the finches can breed! For the most part, I collect the eggs (if there are any) when I go in to do their water and food in the morning so I doubt she even has time to sit on them when I get to them. I feel bad but it's better than having an overcrowded aviary!!! I also provide a little bit of egg food in the hopes of preventing egg binding- is this correct? O is it having the opposite effect? Anyways, let me know what you think!

[DanteD716]

If everybody is getting along then i think you are fine! Zebras can be a little aggressive but it seems you gave lucked out. I'd just try to keep the male:female ratio even. Good luck. As got breeding you could always seperate posits into their own cage if you want to breed. Welcome to the forum!

[Sadie]

Hi jenniferdavidson, your aviary sounds wonderful. I would love to see a pic if you can

[Rox]

Hi and welcome!!

From what I counted, you have 11 'adults' plus the fledglings. That sounds like a good number and I wouldn't recommend adding more birds for now. You can keep removing the eggs but I would rather add liquid calcium to their water to prevent egg binding, instead of offering egg food. By offering egg food, you are actually encouraging your birds to breed (the protein encourages them to breed, while calcium helps to prevent egg binding). You can also offer egg shell, I microwave them for 3 minutes on high (don't wash them before hand)

Otherwise, just keep an eye on the birds and as long as there is no constant fighting going on, you should be just fine

Enjoy!