Elegants

[venetta]

We bought another aviary today and it came with some finches and 3 elegant parrots..

We've never kept parrots before, so wouldn't mind any advice about these cute little guys that anyone has??

We have two girls and a boy, unrelated as far as I know.

The aviary wont be up until next weekend, but then we want to sand back and rust proof paint it... We've got them in a flight cage for now, but we might have to source something a bit bigger for them cos I think it might take a couple weeks minimum for the aviary to be ready for them to go into...

So yeah, any advice is greatly appreciated!!

[vettepilot_6]

They are a lovely little parrot...usually ok with finches if not crowded...there quite easy to breed..I use a vertical box 200mm square and about twice that high...hole just big enough for them to get into..standard finch food is all they require plus greens etc...I also gave mine sprout mung beans..

[spanna]

Can't offer any advice, but do have a small space (maybe 2.5m long by 1m wide) that is free for a holding aviary if you need temporary accommodation...

[natamambo]

Make sure there's space the finches can get to away from the elegants - normally not a problem but some individual neophemas can be nippers of finch toes around nesting time. Use small parrot mix and if you can get a small log you may find them happier than in a box (but harder to inspect of course). They should be OK in a flight cage for a couple of weeks, not ideal but not life threatening )they're often in cages in shops for that long with no real ill effect).

Enjoy, they're nice little parrots. We got a real thrill seeing a flock of about 100 including lots of babies on the road into Albany from Stirling Range NP as they were the first time we have seen neophemas in the wild. They're really little when you're trying to photograph them across the paddock, much smaller than when they're in an aviary .

[venetta]

I got a photo earlier

elegants.jpg

I'm excited about keeping them! Spanna, I might just take you up on the offer if we feel like we wont get the aviary ready in time.

We'll actually have a side of the aviary that we were going to use as a shed/store area (about 1-1.5m x 3m), but maybe we'll deck it out for these guys instead..

[spanna]

No worries, just fling me a message and I'll let you know if I'm around. You can drop them off during the week if you'd like (should be home Monday through Wednesday at least), or we can sort something out this weekend.

[venetta]

Probably have the sort it out for the weekend
Got work all week. Sigh. And not a good idea to bring them in the evening..

[spanna]

I would put them in a carry box overnight and pop them in the aviary in the morning, don't worry , but if evenings don't suit then no matter.

[venetta]

Evenings would be okay but getting home, then getting the birds, then getting to you would mean we wouldn't be there until like 6:30-7pm lol..

Maybe we should do it, then I can make the excuse to stop at matteo's for dinner........... HMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM ideas! lol

[spanna]

Hahaha, let me know, BYO seed