Bird Aviary Chat Thread

[yellowherb]

The chickens should get love. There's plenty of love to go around. The aviaries are fabulous. I just wish I had gpop at my house to put up aviaries everywhere....LOL I could be in there with the birds and a cup of tea.

I've done similar. Made coffee and stuck a lawn chair in there and just chilled with my birds

 

[gpop1]

Me and yellowherb cleaned out the budgie aviary last weekend and that was a horrible job. The floor was getting to heavy with seed chafe so 5 wheel barrows of shoveling in 90 degree sun light in a area where you are crunched up ducking and diving under the perches a concrete floor suddenly doesn't seem like a bad idea.

18 bags of mulch and multiple dousing of aviary cleaner later its looking a lot cleaner. Quail are unimpressed as they are now back on quail food as there's nothing to eat on the floor.

Next week end the tiel aviary needs a clean and im not looking forwards to that one either.

 

[User395221]

are now back on quail food

What do you feed your quail? I put 2 little king quail in with my budgies. The lady at the bird shop said they can eat chicken starter, which is what they've been getting (as well as anything they pick up that the budgies might drop, I suppose).

 

[yellowherb]

What do you feed your quail? I put 2 little king quail in with my budgies. The lady at the bird shop said they can eat chicken starter, which is what they've been getting (as well as anything they pick up that the budgies might drop, I suppose).

We use a high protein game bird starter, but that's because we feed that to the chickens too. Since quail of any sort are considered game birds they do need a higher protein but part of that may be because of game birds being food birds so you want them heavy and meaty.

The buttons did just fine on bugs and budgie seed left overs. Chicken food is good for quail if you get a non medicated starter which has higher protein than layer crumbles.

I ordered some gambel quail eggs. Hoping to eventually replace the buttons if G lets me.

 

[User395221]

We use a high protein game bird starter, but that's because we feed that to the chickens too.

Thanks, it sounds like the advice I got was sound. The chicken starter is quite good, I think (it's not the medicated one), though I'm not too sure of the proportions. I always buy the "good" chook food, it's a bit "better" than the budget one, but I don't stress too much about what's in their food as long as they continue "happy" and healthy. The other question about their food is whether budgies should eat it. I give my budgies budgie crumble which is good nutritionally, but they don't really like it and go for the seed. Then they go for the quail food..... sigh.

I love my little quail, they are sweet little birds. It's just a shame that my (stupid) dogs are fascinated by them and stare at them all the time if they're outside. Poor little things. I'm sure they have a good time the rest of the time when I've got the dogs inside.

 

[yellowherb]

Our cat watched the quail and every other bird for a while. Then she got over it when she realized she wasn't going to get them.

Our budgies and tiels eat the chicken food all the time. They eat their seed diet too which has a few pellets in it and they get scrambled eggs, forage I grow and spinach/romaine types of greens. Seems its the breeding and feeding parents who will eat the quail food most. I think it's just fast food for them with no hassle. Other than the protein content, I would assume it's got pretty much the same or similar vitamins and minerals in it as budgie pellet. Surely birds can't have that different of needs, other than something like humming birds or lorikeets.

 

[User395221]

Surely birds can't have that different of needs, other than something like humming birds or lorikeets.

Yes, I think the budgie crumble is the same as the parrot pellets, it's just ground up more. The only thing would be if the chook pellets have more calories to make them fat, but being in the aviary they can be quite active to burn off excess. I wonder if the quail could have budgie crumble? I must look it up to see what's in it compared to the starter crumble.

 

[yellowherb]

I think the main difference is the protein levels. Budgies who are in cages require a lot less protein and fat than active budgies (or quail) in aviaries. Our birds do a lot better with higher proteins and even though the majority of their food is seed when compared to other budgies from my friend with a indoor aviary, ours look a lot healthier. We don't have fat birds. Even with their diet of seed, scrambled eggs, and other stuff.

I've never thought to look at the fat levels in feeds. I should though. There will probably be a difference with starter chick feeds compared to adult feeds. A breeder I spoke with here in Florida actually feeds his birds high fat for winter, to insulate them against the cold. I don't think ours could get fat with as active as they always are. I did buy a fatty supplement (kickin chicken) to add to their scrambled eggs and to feed to any sick or weaning birds who go too lite.

 

[gpop1]

Our female mustache boo boo has finally looked at a nest box. Its taken 2 years to get this far and hopefully with in another few years skipper the male will finally work out how to do his duty.

We think boo boos way to old to breed but she seems willing to try so maybe there's a slim chance and they seem happy to try. The reason we built the first aviary was for skipper to get some outside time and now hes happier In the aviary then inside the house so he only comes in during real cold weather.

 

[jak2002003]

I have a group of 15 male budgies in a large flight cage in a tree in my garden.

They are coming up to 8 years old this year.

They are fed this diet:

seeds,
mineral blocks and cuttlebone,
raw carrots,
broccoli,
steamed sweet corn on the cob,
cabbage,
AND chicken pellets (when they are molting).
They also have fresh fruit tree branches as perches.. they like to strip off the bark and I have seen them eating that too.

They have NO grit, NO vitamins and NO processed bird pellets.

I fill the seed feeder only after they have eaten ALL the seeds. So they don't pick and choose what to eat. If the seed run out when I at work, they will eat more of the vegetables. I make sure they have a full feeder each evening so they eat before they roost.

They get to bath every few days.. and also they get a shower when the sprinklers come on.. they LOVE that.

I think the natural sunlight help them a lot too.

The only health problem I have had with them was scaly leg mites (when I first got them) I treated them myself by painting on vegetable oil over their legs and beaks.. and this cured it and it has not come back. I also lost a few birds 2 years ago when a hawk killed them through the cage bars.. but now the cage is double wired and safe.

I like to keep only male budgies, as I don't want them to breed. Also the males seem more active, playful and don't seem to get overweight as easily as females (maybe as they are always flying about chasing each other).

I never tried to tame them, but most of them got tame themselves... they will climb over my arm and hand if I put it in the cage holding some food. They like to come and nibble my nose and give me kisses through the cage bars too. They are interested in anything new.. and like to show off to each other how brave them can be.