The Future of Aviculture

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Finch Whisperer
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I was never influenced by older relatives keeping birds. They never kept them. I first saw an aviary at a friends place when I was 10 and thought, "Wow, it's like a private zoo in the backyard. I'd never seen anything like it before, they had Budgies ,Zebras Quail and a pair of Golden Pheasants. It was a wonder to me . So soon I had a pair of Budgies in a wire cage, put a box on outside, they bred Old chicken pen converted to aviary, Joined a club started showing budgies. Then I saw finches at a big open show and budgies didn't last long.
Anyway what Me and a few friends do at bird sales when we are selling is, If you see a kid with a box buying birds with his dad in tow. Ask him if he/she wants a pair of something for free. Something he can breed without live food. I usually give a pair of Painteds or Gouldians not an old pair I don't want but the ones I would imagine as my best young from good pairs. If I don't have unrelated I yell out to a mate this kid needs a hen gould ect. Someone will arrange a nesting box ect.
I tell the kid you don't owe me a thing but one day if your in my shoes at a bird sale you need to do the same for the next generation.
My own kids show no interest by the way.
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Brisbane_Finches_333
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Finch Whisperer wrote: 03 Aug 2019, 16:28 My own kids show no interest by the way.
You should get them into birds!
Aidan [] Junior Moderator [] Breeder of Native and Foreign Finches
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finchbreeder
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Should does not work. Just keep mentioning how the birds are going, and how you are enjoying them, and cross fingers that the seed of interest grows. If not with the children then with the grandies. (Oh bother, that means I have a very very long wait. As my grandies are just wishful thinking on my behalf)
LML
LML
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Brisbane_Finches_333
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Look at this article by Don Burke -
Finch Aviaries CAN be absolutely beautiful. Yet so many look like Pentridge jail, some even like Auschwitz.

Many use ugly building materials instead of classy, modern materials that match or blend in with the house.
To cut to the chase here, the assemble-yourself aviary kits sold at bird shops and through magazines are remarkably ugly and go a long way towards putting most people off keeping birds forever. “No Joshua, you can’t have one of those ugly bird cages!”
Finches don’t damage plants much, so planted, landscaped aviaries are easy to develop.
For an old Italianate house, the aviary might include white concrete columns, cement rendered walls, or even red texture brick walls.
Obviously, you should match the colours and roof of the aviary to those of the house.
If your garden has a certain style, match the aviary to that style. We did a tropical Thai garden once on Burkes backyard where we made the aviary into a Thai Temple (for African love birds).
There is also a need for better designed aviaries that take up very little space in small backyards. Aviaries that are 2m high, 2m wide yet only 1m deep.



Working with Designers

This is the key to everything. Creative landscape designers can easily reinvent aviary design.

The idea is to try to develop superb aviary designs for modern display homes in new estates. All of a sudden, prospective new home buyers would be exposed to the exciting world of keeping birds. Here I am talking of, say, an easy-care light grey aviary full of say, 5 pairs of beautiful marked white zebra finches.
Or maybe, the aviary could be part of the house. It could be against a window of the house planted with lush, colourful tropical plants and with 3 pairs of red-faced parrot finches inside.
Or you could go the whole hog with an all-glass conservatory/aviary adjoining the house, full of bleeding heart pigeons or java sparrows.
Imagine a square central courtyard aviary inside the house full of white doves.
If you can find just one garden designer who is keen to try this out, that designer could very well get a lot of business out of these innovative designs
The great news here is that as with saltwater fish aquariums, koi carp ponds and swimming pools, some of your members could earn a bit of extra money regularly servicing the aviaries. This service should be advertised on the display aviaries.

Reaching Out to the Public

This is so important. Various animal groups have convinced the public that only they really care about the poor suffering animals…and that we, the people who keep birds in cages and aviaries, are utterly cruel bastards.

The public have no idea of what we do. They just “know” that our birds are miserable.
We need to reach out to the public and tell them the truth. We need to show them the caring, dedicated bird breeders who spend vast hours getting fly maggots, termites, seeding grasses, nesting material, charcoal, grit, and mixing up complex egg and grain mixes etc.
We need to show how gentle and utterly devoted these kind people are to their birds.
We need to show how happy and healthy the birds are and how much they like their owners and their safe lives.
We need to show how these birds give so much happiness and purpose to the lives of both old and young people.
We need to align ourselves with at least ONE modern, adventurous Bird Shop in each city to show the public amazing birds in amazing aviaries: just as is currently done with the incredible aquariums full of Discus fish or Saltwater Fishes at the Elite pet shops. If we can’t equal these displays we are in real trouble. As above, servicing these aviaries by our members is essential.

There Is a Great Story Here – Isn’t It About Time That We Told Someone About It?
Aidan [] Junior Moderator [] Breeder of Native and Foreign Finches
Queensland Finch Society Member
2019 ABK Magazine Young Birdkeeper Winner
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noah.till
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Don Burke when he had 'Burkes Backyard' on TV, was probably the best representation of Australian avicultureo out of the lot
Downs Bird Breeders Association and Queensland Finch Society Member
2018 Australian Birdkeepers Magazine Young Birdkeeper
Javan Munia, Black Rumped Double bar and Aberdeen Breeding Project
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Brisbane_Finches_333
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I agree. He has a lot of articles about finch aviaries on his website.
Aidan [] Junior Moderator [] Breeder of Native and Foreign Finches
Queensland Finch Society Member
2019 ABK Magazine Young Birdkeeper Winner
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noah.till
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Brisbane_Finches_333 wrote: 07 Aug 2019, 12:16 I agree. He has a lot of articles about finch aviaries on his website.
Yes, and he did do a lot of interviews with breeders and focused always on the positives and all the great opportunities Aussie aviculture can bring
Downs Bird Breeders Association and Queensland Finch Society Member
2018 Australian Birdkeepers Magazine Young Birdkeeper
Javan Munia, Black Rumped Double bar and Aberdeen Breeding Project
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Brisbane_Finches_333
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Yeah. Especially with the number of Animal Rights Activists. Maybe they should have a look at bird aviaries and see how much time and effort is put in with the diet, aviary maintenence
Aidan [] Junior Moderator [] Breeder of Native and Foreign Finches
Queensland Finch Society Member
2019 ABK Magazine Young Birdkeeper Winner
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noah.till
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Brisbane_Finches_333 wrote: 07 Aug 2019, 12:20 Yeah. Especially with the number of Animal Rights Activists. Maybe they should have a look at bird aviaries and see how much time and effort is put in with the diet, aviary maintenence
Oh yeah, animal rights activists speeches and articles only see the negatives, they only see a bird in a cage, not what happens behind the scenes. And especially they do not see the good that comes out of it, if it was not for aviculture, some species would be lost, and it usually takes a good breeder to crack the secret of breeding an endangered specie
Downs Bird Breeders Association and Queensland Finch Society Member
2018 Australian Birdkeepers Magazine Young Birdkeeper
Javan Munia, Black Rumped Double bar and Aberdeen Breeding Project
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Brisbane_Finches_333
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I know. Aviculture is practically the key to saving endangered birds such as the black throated finch. All they see is a sad parrot in a tiny cage waiting to be let out to fly. Well, the truth is, today that's all most people see of birdkeeping.
Aidan [] Junior Moderator [] Breeder of Native and Foreign Finches
Queensland Finch Society Member
2019 ABK Magazine Young Birdkeeper Winner
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