How big?

Sawyer · Post by **Sawyer** » Tue Nov 18, 2008 9:20 am

How big does a cage need to be for, say, 10 finches & canaries?

Post by **Sally** » Tue Nov 18, 2008 11:52 am

Canaries usually don't mix well with finches, unless it is an aviary. Canaries tend to be more aggressive.

You can go to the FIC, linked at left, and under Housing, there is a cage calculator. Put in the dimensions of the cage you are considering, and it will tell you how many finches you can keep.

Sawyer · Post by **Sawyer** » Wed Nov 19, 2008 5:58 am

Ok, thanks.

Really? I heard that canaries and finches do quite well together because they're in the same family.

Edit: I tried the calulator and I don't understand what it means by '2 to 2 birds'. does that mean 4 birds will fit in the cage, or 2?

Also will someone explain square footage to me? what would be the dimensions on 3-4 square feet?

Post by **Sally** » Wed Nov 19, 2008 10:25 am

When the calculator says '2 to 2' birds, it means a total of 2, not 4. You calculate square footage by multiplying the length times the width. If you use feet as your measurement, the total will be square feet. If you use inches as your measurement, then you divide the total by 144 to get square feet.

The typical breeding cage, marketed as 'large' in the US, is 30 long x 18 wide x 18 high, which is square footage of just under 4 square feet, thus it is good for one pair of finches.

I've never kept canaries, but I've heard that male canaries can be aggressive. Just because they are all finches doesn't mean they can automatically be housed together. I have a male Green Singing finch which attacks everyone he is placed with--Green Singing finches are closely related to canaries.

Sawyer · Post by **Sawyer** » Mon Dec 01, 2008 10:35 pm

I have this cage http://www.windycityparrot.com/Merchant ... 9302242001 which is 32 wide, 35 tall, and 21 deep. How many finches will it hold? the calculator said 2 to 3 finches but this cage is pretty big.. by my calculations it will hold 7 budgies (Im currently using it for budgies).. and the calculator doesn't calculate heigh for some reason.

franny · Post by **franny** » Tue Dec 02, 2008 12:01 pm

Sawyer wrote:I have this cage http://www.windycityparrot.com/Merchant ... 9302242001 which is 32 wide, 35 tall, and 21 deep. How many finches will it hold? the calculator said 2 to 3 finches but this cage is pretty big.. by my calculations it will hold 7 budgies (Im currently using it for budgies).. and the calculator doesn't calculate heigh for some reason.

Hi Sawyer,

The calculator doesn't include height, because the birds define their territory horizontally... although extra height won't hurt, it won't give them any bigger a territory, in their eyes. The perches would still be close together, as they all like to perch near the top of the cage, so more height won't help.

Finches like to fly, and tend to fly horizontally, not vertically. They aren't like budgies, and can't climb up and down the cage like budgies. They definitely need more room length and width wise per bird to be happy.