How many to an aviary

[finchfetish]

I intend to have a finch colony of 5-7 finches. How big must my aviary be?

[mickp]

how do you intend to keep them? an outdoor aviary or large cage in the house/shed?
what species they are would help when making a decision about the space requirements.
do you plan to have real or fake plants.

[finchfetish]

I intend to keep them in an outdoor aviary, and would quite like to have gouldians in it. To begin with I think I shall just use fake plants.

[mickp]

allowing for your crazy NZ weather, I would suggest an aviary at least 2m wide x 2m deep x 1.8m high. on top of that the main concern would be to have some type of blind/cover you can put over the open side/s of the aviary during inclement weather.
gouldians dont take kindly to drafts. other than the drafts I have found them to be a hardy bird, easy to breed, quite content with a diet consisting of mainly dry seed mixes

[poohbear]

Like Mick says...they must have protection from the weather to roost in.Gouldians are susceptible to rough weather.

[finchfetish]

Does anybody know of a website where I can get a plan for an outdoor aviary roughly the same size as mickp recommended earlier?

[mickp]

you could just purchase a garden shed of the size you require and instead of the solid front wall convert it to wire

[finchfetish]

Thats a good idea, but I already have the materials for an aviary, so it would be cheaper for me to build one. Please does anyone have plans for an outdoor aviary at least 2m wide x 2m deep x 1.8m high?