Photo request for Sally

[L in Ontario]

I was wondering if you'd mind posting a pic of your cage set up for your Berries. I'd like to emulate your set up as close as possible since it's proving so successful for you (if you don't mind)

Do you have LOTS of fake plants in the cage and around the nest for them to hide in? I notice my original 3 like to hide/perch in the fake ivy vine I put in through the bars hanging from the top of the cage.

[Sally]

These are some photos I took last October, when this pair had their first clutch. This is one of the HQ single flights, 32x21x38, and you can see that I really don't have that many plants on it. My room is so cramped that I can't get a full-on photo. I did wrap the back and one side with a tarp, as these cages are side-by-side and back-to-back. In future, I would do more plants both inside and outside.

[Ian]

Nice set up!

[lovemyfinch]

Great set-up, and love those baby berries

[L in Ontario]

Thank you Sally, much appreciated. I'll do the same re wrapping the sides with something for privacy and lots of fake plants.

But can I ask why you covered the backside as well? Is it not up against a wall?

[L in Ontario]

But can I ask why you covered the backside as well? Is it not up against a wall?

Doh! Sorry - just reread that you have cages back to back as well as side by side. Does that mean you have the cages down the middle of the room and you walk on both sides of them?

What's the size of your birdroom? I have mine lining the walls on both sides of my birdroom so I basically walk down the centre of the room with cages on both sides of me.

I'm trying to figure out if putting the cages back to back down the centre would get me room for more cages.

[Sally]

Thank you Sally, much appreciated. I'll do the same re wrapping the sides with something for privacy and lots of fake plants.

But can I ask why you covered the backside as well? Is it not up against a wall?

Actually, this is why my bird room is so crowded. Right down the middle of the room, I have six of those HQ flight cages, back-to-back, so behind this cage is a cage of Owls, and to the right of it is another cage of Strawberries, so I wrapped the back and right side. The left side was left uncovered because it faces the window.

I just saw your last post. I'll try to take some pictures, but it may not be till Sunday, I'll be gone all day Saturday. But yes, the room is 12x14, and I have cages down the two walls that are 14', then in the middle are the 6 HQ cages back-to-back. This leaves me a narrow aisle down each side of the room. The aisle is like a giant U, with cages in the middle of the U, and cages on all sides of the U!

[L in Ontario]

Oooh this is giving me ideas. Even if I can't fit cages back to back, I should be able to fit one row of cages down the centre! WOW - thank you SOOOOOO much, Sally! (((HUGS!!)))

[Sally]

One thing I will warn you about. When you get a bird loose, they fly from one side of the room to the other, and I have to run around that U, they are going as the crow flies, and I am taking the long way round, they stay one step ahead of me! But you can have hubby on one aisle to at least see where they went.

[L in Ontario]

Oh that's right - just two nights ago I had FIVE Society juveniles (2 months to a year old) get loose in the birdroom at the same time!! A nestbox fell off the cage and I was not in the room at the time.

[poohbear]

Nest box fell off cage....tut tut Liz.
Coulda been 5 very rare eggs in there....I'll smack your legs.

[L in Ontario]

Nest box fell off cage....tut tut Liz.
Coulda been 5 very rare eggs in there....I'll smack your legs.

Tut tut is right!
Note to self: Never use elastics to hold nextboxes on cages anymore!

No eggs of any type were in there.

[Sally]

Wow, what kind of elastic were you using? I use those mini bungee cords around all outside nestboxes, ever since I hit one with my knees while climbing the stepstool and knocked it to the floor, spilling the four Strawberry babies all over the place. Only one of the four came thru unscathed.

I've added a few pictures here where you can see how I have 3 flight cages lined up, and then it is just a mirror image down the other aisle. I have added a few more plants, and the tops of the flights have baskets of live plants. The last cage holds the pair that had two successful clutches. He is now going out of breeding plumage, and she seems disinterested, so they are resting themselves.

The middle cage holds a sister to the previous hen. I had paired her with a male of unknown age, she laid lots of infertile eggs. I've now paired her with the only 08 unrelated male I have. He is not in breeding plumage, and they showed no interest in each other or a nest. All of a sudden, I caught them in and out of the nest. They have been sitting tight FOREVER, so they are either sitting on infertile eggs, or they have babies in the nest. I did see the male this morning with a big white thing in his mouth. Three possibilities: 1. it was a piece of eggshell from the eggfood, or 2. it was a piece of eggshell from the nest, or 3. it was a piece of dried poop from the nest. He dropped it before I got a close look, and I haven't cleaned that cage in a while, so it landed in other debris. I did go ahead and clean the cages (along with the other million ), and she never came out of the nest at all, which is a bit unusual. I hate to get my hopes up, though, as she has given a perfect imitation of doting mother before, with a nest full of infertile eggs.

Anyway, off the subject, here are the photos. When I set up future pairs, I will use many more plants, both inside and outside the cage. I found some plants at the Dollar Store that are smaller and flatter, that I figure I can fasten to the outside of the cage for privacy, but that don't stick out in my narrow aisle so much. I love the plants I get at Hobby Lobby, but they are much fuller, and I rub against them walking down the aisle.

[L in Ontario]

hehehe (sheepishly) I only had regular elastics holding the nestbox on with paperclips. That's history now as are those Soc's - I just sold all five of them along with 2 Gouldian hens tonight to one person. Very sad about your Strawberry babies too. Now I poke holes through any cardboard nestboxes (kleenex boxes) and put twistties through and secure them to the cages that way - much more secure but I'll not be giving cardboard boxes to the Berries anyway - tubes for them, right?

Thanks for the additional pics! I see you have a hooded "twig"? nest in there (last pic) - do they use that at all?

I'll get LOTS of plants at the $-store this weekend and start measuring to see if a single row of cages just might fit down the middle of the room.

Are any of your Berries wild caught?

For seed - do you just feed them the same finch seed as all the other finches?

I just printed out DT's Green Day Diet to try and follow more closely. Do you buy and use capsules of Horsetail Shavegrass?

Do you ever offer them Herb Salad? I was wondering if I should offer it to my newbies. I gave them a small dish of eggfood tonight.

[Sally]

Liz, they went in and out of that hooded twig nest, but don't really use it. As far as wild caught, I really don't have any history on most of them. That's what I love about finally getting some to breed, and then if I can do some swaps with other breeders, I'll finally have some young pairs that I know their age! Now that pair that is in the middle cage are both 08 babies, so if they can get it on, there is no reason not to get babies out of them.

For seed, they get the same as everybody else. I use Hagen's finch mix because our bird club gets a deal on it, and it is nice clean seed, fairly standard mix without the colored bits. It's called VM mix, supposed to have vitamins and minerals added, but I have no idea how they could have those added to the seed without using the colored pellets. Oh, well.

I do offer herb salad to all the birds. some really go after it and others just pick, but it is there free choice in one of those cups that hang on the bars. I got some of the Horsetail Shavegrass, but I forget to put it in half the time.

Good luck with yours--too bad our Governments won't work together on these birds, we could swap bloodlines!