Conference 7.286::pet_birds

    I presently do not have any experience with mixed aviaries, but will
    very soon. My wife and I have 13 very messy birds in 5 cages. The
    cleanup has become too time consuming, so we are going with a large
    aviary, which should arrive any day. I talked to the owner of Misty
    Haven Bird Farm in Douglas, who I have found to be very helpful, and
    explained to him that I was going to combine all my birds into one
    large flight cage. I have (6) finches, (2) parrakeets, (2) cockateils,
    (1) ringneck parrakeet and (2) lovebirds. I was told this would work
    out fine with the only problem being if the ringneck had a mate, they
    may start fighting with the other birds.
    
    I don't know if I have helped you at all. You might want to talk to
    talk a person who has had experience with aviaries.
    
    Dave

    
    Linda, I'm not sure, but your mixed aviary could work out - I don't
    know enough about Bourkes, but the Plumheads and the canary should do
    ok provided they have enough space.  One thing I've heard recommended
    is to introduce the birds into the aviary space all at the same time,
    so that no one bird or pair of birds gets too territorial about
    his/her/their "space" being invaded.
    
    Dave, I don't know what kind of finches you have, but even without
    knowing that, I would be really surprised if things worked out, even if
    your flight cage was larger than an average room.  Budgies (parakeets) 
    and lovebirds are both bold and pugnacious and likely to damage smaller
    or gentler birds.    Assuming that you have bold, hardy finches such as
    Zebras, or Java Rice Birds, you *might* be able to combine the finches,
    budgies, and cockatiels in a large enough space.  (I've seen a nice
    mixed Australian aviary containing 4 Zebra Finches, *1* budgie, *1*
    cockatiel, and a pair of button quail.)  I would, if I were you, keep
    the ringneck and the lovebirds in seperate cages.   Another possibility
    (and I'm just guessing here) would be to use a very large flight for
    the budgies, the cockatiels (who are likely to be "low men on the totem
    pole" for any mix you've got - even the finches are likely to push them
    around!) and the ringneck, and house the finches and the lovebirds
    seperately.  
    
    					/Rita
    

    Rita,
    
    Thanks for your input. I haven't read much about mixed aviaries, so
    any information is appreciated. I may end up keeping my cockatiels
    seperate only because they love being out of their cage. I'm afraid if
    I confine them to the aviary they would be very unhappy. I think the
    rest is going to be trial and error. The Lovebirds and the Ringneck are
    in cages next to each other and seem to be getting along very well.
    They have been attempting to feed food to each other through the bars,
    and sleep next to each other in their cages. I'm hoping they will
    continue to get along once their in the same cage. I guess my real concern
    will be how the finches get along. I'll have to keep a close eye on
    everyone to be sure things work out..
    
    Again, thanks for the input.
    
    Dave

    So far the bourke's parrakeet, the two plumhead finches, and the border
    canary are getting along fine in the 3'x3'x18" cage and have a lot more
    flying room that offered in the individual cages.  Thanks, Rita, for 
    your input above.  /Linda

    Well, the plumheads have decided to go to nest, in spite of the fact
    that they are supposed to be two males, which means they are hassling
    the canary.  I put the nesters in a separate cage.  So much for my
    great idea of increasing flying space for the birds and decreasing
    the number of cages I have to clean!  /Linda

    
    Nice try, Linda :-)  I guess when you finally get Plumhead hens the
    guys will ready, huh?  You really thought they were going to let you
    get away with decreasing your cleaning workload?? (snicker ;-)
    
    I've been looking into ways of doing that, as well.  Big advantage to
    colony breeding of finches - one cage to clean, two big troughs for
    food and water instead of 12 smaller ones.  Disadvantage is that the
    *birds* pick their mates, and they may not pick who you want.  Since
    I'm trying to get a particular mutation, that isn't really satisfactory
    for me.  I'm thinking of designing cages that are long and narrow, and
    putting dividers into them, sort of like a canary double breeder cage
    but more so.  (Bird Condos?)  I'll use commonly available wire mesh,
    probably 1"x1/2", and J-clips.  This would sit inside a *single*
    aluminum bottom, meaning just one cage paper to change.  I'm also
    thinking about making slide-in food and water trays (with dividers like
    an ice cube tray has (at the cage divider boundries) so that the little
    guys don't "jump the fence" through the food dishes and trespass on
    their neighbors!) so that I can just feed and water in one pass.
    
    I think that to be practical I could only get 4-5 "condos" per unit -
    otherwise the thing would be *too* skinny and it would get ugly trying
    to lift it off the base.  But I could make them stackable or put them
    on stock shelving and make effective use of my space that way.  4
    across stacked 4 high would give me space 16 breeding pairs with
    maintenance for only 4 cages, which is probably plenty :-)
    
    I am *not* addicted to birds; I can quit ANYTIME I WANT TO :-)
    
                                           /Rita
    

    Hi Rita,
    
    Your note sounds like the best beginning I've seen for awhile on a
    Note about building cages...there is an earlier note on home-built
    outdoor aviaries....how about starting a new note by copying this
    one over to a new base number????  I'll bet a lot of folks out there
    have tried and learned a lot, and there are likely to be others who
    would like to know if it is worth the effort.
    
    Linda

    Okay, now this big aviary has only two birds in it...the border canary
    and the Bourke's parrakeet, and the parrakeet is starting to go after
    the canary.  I think I'll go back to keeping species separate!! Anyone
    want to make any suggestions?  /Linda

    I finally received my aviary from Corners Unlimited last week. The
    dimensions are L53xW30xH72. My wife and I set it up with all our birds
    this past weekend and are pleased to say all birds are extremely happy.
    We have 6 finch's, 2 keets, 2 lovebirds and a ringneck in the aviary. I
    was a bit concerned about putting all these bird together, but am very
    surprised as to how well they got along. The birds were always in
    seperate cages next to each other, maybe that helped. Hopefully the
    aviary will contine to work out. It's a real enjoyment to have all your
    birds in one cage, and be able to sit and watch them and appreciate
    them. It's also going to be alot less cleaning!!!

    Yes, indeed, on the reduced cleaning!! That's a major reason I tried
    the mixed aviary set-up.  If you decide to put nest boxes in, be sure
    to put more than you need because the lovebirds and 'keets both used
    enclosured nest boxes of approximately the same size, so there could
    be some territorial bickering and other nasty things happen.  Start
    with twice as many as the number of pairs indicate, let the pairs
    choose their own box, then take down the others.  I've heard this is
    true with the finches also, but maybe someone out there more familiar
    with finches could comment.  How many pairs in the 6 are there?
    
    Linda

    Linda,
    
    Thanks for the info. The only nest boxes that we have in the aviary are
    for the finch's. We tried to simulate ex actly what their cages were
    like prior to being put in the aviary, and it seems as though everyone
    has taken their own area accordingly. As far the sexes on the finch's
    this is a good question. We have had many eggs , but none of them have
    ever nested on them. They may be all female. The lovebirds are both
    males. I am not sure what the the ringneck is, although both lovebirds
    are treating it like a queen. They are both taking turns feeding and
    cleaning it. It looks so strange because the ringneck is so much larger
    than the lovebirds. The sex of the keets is also unknown. We are just
    going to keep a close eye on them all for a while to make sure that
    everything continues to work out. When I get home at night I can easily
    sit there for hours watching the antics that are going on in this
    aviary. Everyone seems to be having a great time.
    
    Again, thanks for your input.
    
    Dave

    Hi Dave,
    
    You can tell the sex of the budgies (parakeets) by the color of the
    cere, the area around the nostrils.  If it is dark blue, it is a male;
    if it is white, tan, or brown, it is a female.  This assumes the birds
    are mature.  Some say even young budgies can be sexed because there is
    a hint of white around the violet-pink cere in the female, whereas the
    male has a violet-blue cere when young.  
    
    Linda

    This note hasn't been used in awhile, but the topic suits my questions
    well.
    
    I'm in the process of building an outdoor aviary for my girlfriend. It
    is an 8' X 4' rectangle with a sloping house like roof. 5.5' tall at
    the center peak, sloping down to 4' at either end. 
    
    Now, she has many different ideas on populating it, and is considering
    a finch/canary/button quail mix. 
    
    There are a few questions which arise. First, how many birds will an
    aviary of these dimensions support? Second (and here's the wildcard),
    she has three common house sparrows that she rescued from a parking lot
    when they were little naked babies. Will they mix well in the aviary
    with finches, etc.? Will we have to separate parts of the aviary to
    keep them apart from the general population? Are there any special
    interior considerations such as perches, boxes, etc. that I need to
    know?  I have some small hardwood branches that I'm planning to put in
    there as perches, do they need anything else? What about plant life?
    What is safe, and what is a definite no-no to put in the aviary?
    
    Thanks for all comments,
    
    John D.
    
    

    RE: .13
    
    Gee, don't all rush to help me at once.
    
    I'll make it simpler. Does anybody know or have an opinion on whether
    hand raised common house sparrows can get along in the same aviary as
    finches?
    
    John D.

    
    I have know knowledge on this subject.
    However that has neve stopped me from
    expressing an opinion.
    
    I think it will be fine- worse case is that 
    you have to divide the aviary.
    
    chet
    
    

    
    I have constructed a large cage/aviary and want to
    put all of my birds in there. That consists of two
    'tiels, two love birds, one parakeet and one button
    quail. If anyone will be the problem it will be the
    love birds! Any experience here???
    
    Worse case I can divide it to seperate out the
    lovebirds but I'd prefer not to!
    
    chet

    
    well thanks for all the replies!!!
    I put them all together last night
    and will update the progress that
    is/is not made.
    
    chet
    

    
    well it didn't work!
    
    I spent the first three days watching very
    carefully and everything was fine. On the 
    fourth day the Love Birds killed the Button 
    Quail :-(
    
    the love birds then started trying to hurt
    the tiels so I had to seperate them.
    
    chet
    

         Oh, Chet, I'm so sorry!
    
         Sometimes mixing birds works, sometimes it doesn't.  We've had
    turkeys, pheasant, partridge and peacocks in the same pen this summer,
    and one day one of the peacocks decided to beat on the partridge and
    pheasants - killed two partridge and our beautiful male Silver Pheasant
    8-( .  We separated him from the others and there hasn't been a problem
    since (the other peacock has been fine).
    
         This may have been a mating/frustration thing too; that particular
    peacock was mating (or at least trying to mate) with the turkeys and
    the pheasants (a bit of a size difference!).  I don't know what
    happened with the male Silver Pheasant; Pretty Boy had some really big
    spurs on him but I guess he was no match for the larger peacock :-( .
    
         I'm sorry to see that this happens with the smaller birds too.
    
    					- Andrea