Bird Aviary Chat Thread

[Birdlover 13]

One of my grass finches died and now I lost the clutch of eggs from the grass finch pair to ants!

 

[gpop1]

One of my grass finches died and now I lost the clutch of eggs from the grass finch pair to ants!

Its always horrible when one dies especially if there no sign of why they died. We have never lost eggs to ants but we are from different parts of the world so we may have different types of ants.

 

[gpop1]

I can't imagine ever managing to catch a finch. My budgies are "wild" now, even Miranda, they act like I'm going to kill them when I go into their aviary. At least they are at a reasonable "grabbing" size if I ever needed to catch one, but those little itty bitty flitty finches would be even harder, I imagine.

At night with a flash light they don't fly so as long as you don't go bashing around knocking the perches you can pick them up with out causing every one to panic. After we have finished in the aviary we normally turn on the outside lights for a hour to make sure every one has resettled before turning off the white lights and going back to the amber night lights that are built into the aviaries. We also make sure that its a warm night just in case a hen leaves a nest.

Wild isn't always a bad thing. Ours remain calm when we are in the aviary but there not going to sit there and let you catch them. Even hand tames when returned to a aviary will becomes wild after a few weeks. Once they work out that they are birds they really have no need for us. They will land on you to see what you are doing but that's more convenience then wanting to be with you.

 

[User395221]

Wild isn't always a bad thing.

Oh, no, I'm happy to let them just be birds. They don't go completely nuts when I go in, they'll sit and look at me, but there's no way they'll be stepping up or sitting there to be picked up. My other bird was a pet bird and Miranda went in with her, but I never really bothered taming Miranda. When Dorothy died, I thought Miranda would be better off with lots of new friends in an aviary, rather than staying indoors with just a new friend.

(on the topic of breeding, my helper girl remarked today that 2 of the budgies should "get a room". I'd never noticed them doing anything, she thought they were keen on each other)

 

[jak2002003]

My budgies and finches are all tame enough to fly and land on my when I am in the aviary... but only when they see me carrying the food tray.

I can stand in there and they will land on the tray and eat.. and sometimes perch on my arms, shoulders and head. But they won't let me pet them.

 

[Birdlover 13]

My finches are totally wild but my budgies will interact with me. Does anyone know if it's possible to tame finches? I'm planning to get any future finch chicks used to me by perhaps hand rearing them.

 

[jak2002003]

My finches are totally wild but my budgies will interact with me. Does anyone know if it's possible to tame finches? I'm planning to get any future finch chicks used to me by perhaps hand rearing them.

Yes... you can get them tame. No need to spend all the time hand rearing them... and they take a lot more work to hand rear than budgies and parakeets as they need more frequent feedings.

Just get some young ones that have started to eat on their own and feed them by hand their favorite treats.. like millet spray.

They will get tame to eat from your hand if you spend a lot of time with them.

But finches, even hand reared ones, will never be the kind of bird to perch on your finger and be petted. They are far too active to sit in one place for long... just watch them in the aviary or cage.. never keep still!!

 

[Birdlover 13]

​They are far too active to sit in one place for long... just watch them in the aviary or cage.. never keep still!!

So true!

 

[gpop1]

My budgies and finches are all tame enough to fly and land on my when I am in the aviary... but only when they see me carrying the food tray.

I can stand in there and they will land on the tray and eat.. and sometimes perch on my arms, shoulders and head. But they won't let me pet them.

Im picturing a scene from the movie the birds. If 100 birds decided to land on me at the same time I would be slightly freaked out...lol

 

[Lady507]

So I would like to make my own aviary for my birds and it would be divided into 4 sections: 1 African Grey, 4 lovebirds, 1 Quaker, and 8 parakeets but I'm struggling with some parts. For the netting what type should I use and around how much is the cost? What is the best structure frame for the aviary? Wood? Aluminum? And would it be a good idea to put 2 Fischer lovebirds with 2 violets lovebirds and one of the violets is splayed.