chickens and cockatiels and finches together?

[MyFunChicks4]

Can chickens, cockatiels, budgies and finches all be together in the run?

 

[Amina]

I don't think it's a good idea. The chickens would be much bigger than the other birds, and at best (maybe if you're keeping the smallest of bantam chickens) they will peck and harass them to establish pecking order. This could cause serious injury or death. At worst (this is probably more likely), they will view them as prey and actively try to kill and eat them.

 

[Rosa moschata]

Another concern would be the conditions of the "run." Chickens can tolerate dirtier conditions than can most "cage birds", so you could very well end up with some sick cockatiels, budgies, and finches if you kept them in a standard chicken environment. On the other hand, if you designed a big outdoor aviary with the needs of the "cage birds" in mind, a few bantams in there would be living in paradise.

 

[MyFunChicks4]

This run is huge. I will post a better pic when it is all done. My plan is to keep the chickens wings clipped so when I do let them out in the back yard supervised that they can't fly into the neighbors yards. I live in Hollywood, FL (Miami/Ft Lauderdale area) in a neighborhood, where the houses are all next to each other. We have a 6 ft wood fence all around the back yard. The birds usually stay up on their perches anyway, and aren't on the ground too much.
What should I do for the floor of the run? Any suggestions? I keep reading all the pros and cons of all the different things to do and am uncertain of this. I live near the beach where I can get access to beach sand, but I was thinking only to put that in part of the run so they can do their dust baths. any ideas?

 

[MyFunChicks4]

I am going to have to keep their run very "clean". The neighbors yard is just to the other side of the run, with a 6 ft wood fence separating them.