Mixed Collection

[Gandalf]

I have kept finches for many years but never in a mixed collection with doves, quail ,etc. My daughters want to get into bird keeping and not wanting to discourage them I'd like to get birds they like. One likes doves (diamonds would be the choice) and the other likes quail (King the obvious choice here)

I was wondering what everyone's general opinion of having an aviary of say a pair of diamond doves, a pair of King quail and 2-3 pair of finches would be...?

[Pete Sara]

hi gandolf, in one of my aviaries i have 1 pair silver diamond doves, 1 pair of brown quail, 1 pair of hecks,1 pair of plumheads, 1 pair of red face parrot finches and a pair of diamond firetails and a pair of wrens and some chats . you should have no problem providing the size of the aviary is reasonable. the easiest method to go by is 2 square metres of floor space to a pair of finches... hope this is of some help...pete

[GregH]

I still like the idea of having the diamond doves and the quail in the aviary. Until recently I did so but gave up on the diamond doves because they were so big clumsy and because they bred so well they were interfering with the finches too much blundering into them and steeling all the eggfood. As regular as clockwork they produced a pair of chicks every 6 weeks and their numbers got out of hand (6 pair in a 3m X 2.5m X2.3 m aviary) and their young started their own incestuous families so I sold the lot. This tells you I’m not a careful manager and that they are prolific which is what you want in bird but they are larger than finches and not as delicate at choosing landing spots and were easily spooked. Quails on the other hand don’t interact much with most finches because they spend their time on the floor. This only becomes a problem if you feed all your birds on the on the floor as the quail will dominate the live-food and greens at the expense of your more timid species so make sure you have containers for each in appropriate places. Finches that spend a good deal of time on the floor such as Painted will still go to the high dishes if the quail give them a hard time but usually it’s only a problem again if you let the quail numbers build up.

[finchbreeder]

Greg your Diamond dove experience sounds a lot like mine.
Just moved them in with the Zebs and no nests, had reached the stage of 9 consisting of dad and the kids as I lost mum to old age, and they were still breeding. Too many for the small avairy too, cause I was about to add my new bengos to it.
But I have quail in pairs and trios in all my avairys.
Yes go ahead and keep finches, quail and diamond doves together, but keep the tougher finches like Zebs or Bengos or Javas and make sure you remove the doves eggs if you have trouble selling the young. I can supply a Diamond Dove if you are nearby and can get another somewhere else. (no more in-breeding) they are strong and healthy so as long as new mate is unrelated not a problem.
And I like a dad who encourages his girls to keep birds, that is afterall how i got into this about um 30 years ago.
P.S. Not sure if I like graduating to "Yellow Rumped" sounds kind of wrong
LML

[Mickp]

P.S. Not sure if I like graduating to "Yellow Rumped" sounds kind of wrong

wonder if there is ever a time when a woman is satisfied with something, your not yellow rumped anymore.
now your hiding behind a mask instead

[finchbreeder]

That was quick. Does that mean I talk too much.
LML

[Mickp]

I'll say no to that, wonder what your other half's answer would be
have been playing around with the rank images all morning, all done now though.
hope they look ok

[Gandalf]

Thanks, guys, appreciate the feedback. Especially like the advice about where to feed food, etc.

The aviary is 3m x 2m x 1.8m high so is big enough for what I am proposing.

Have to convince my wife to build another aviary but I reckon having the girls interested just may be the lever to get it over the line!

[finchbreeder]

Definately need to tell the wife that you need an avairy for the girls as well as one for you.
LML