finches over parrots? parrots over finches?

natamambo
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I adore my parrots and if I had a choice I'd have dozens of (Aussie) species. Blue winged, princess, pale headeds, grassies, major mitchells, turks, regent, superb, hooded, blue bonnets I could go on for ages.

A few weeks ago I made the gut wrenching decision to sell my last pair, a pair of grassies (unless you count Jack the budgie of course, named for the "who me" look after doing something stupid made famous by Captain Jack Sparrow).

Why? I had one aviary which had 6 finches and one aviary which had one pair of parrots. Gone are the days when a suburban block in Melbourne was big enough for my 6 parrot and 3 finch flights. Now instead of one pair of parrots (who's flight was probably not big enough in all fairness) there are 6 gouldians who not only have room to fly but to breed as well.

If I could have three more parrot sized flights you'd see me with a pair of pale headeds, a pair of blue winged and a pair of grassies in an instant. Parrots (imho) have much more personality, are easier to watch from the back patio, have clear calls that can be heard from all around the yard. But where I am in life house wise right now it just aint fair to the birds. So I'll keep the redbrows, longtails and painteds as pets and have fun with the genetics of gouldian breeding.

Oh, and while I fell in love with a YB gouldian that started my new plunge, I have been fascinated by how much more active (in our current humid and warm weather at least) the gouldians are compared to the other finches, they spend much more time doing multiple laps of the flight or hopping up and down the branches for the sake of it than the others do.

Now on the other hand should life take me in a direction with a flight big enough for blue wrens and honeyeaters that would be a different story altogether :soppy: .
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Jayburd
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thanks natambo :)
Julian

Birdwatcher and finch-keeper.

Feel free to check out my photos here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/lewinsrail/
And my birding antics here: http://worthtwointhebushbirding.blogspot.com.au/
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MadHatter
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Finches. Hands down. For some reason, my interest in any given bird species is directly inverse to their size. In other words, the smaller they are, the more I like them.
I love big, planted, mixed species flights and finches will always be the core of that sort of setup. Fortunately, most of my favorite non-finches are compatible with finches. :D
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jusdeb
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Yes hatter the one drawback with parrots is that they chew everything in sight ...even the little neophemas have totally destroyed mondo grasses in my aviaries.
Accept that some days you are the pigeon, and some days you are the statue.
David Brent
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Diane
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Finches....I dont like the beaks on parrots.....dont mind them on the bird,just dont like them round my fingers :lol: Finches bite is quite enough.
Diane
The difference between Genius and Stupidity is, Genius has it’s limits
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Jayburd
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haha yes especially killer tri nuns and bloodthirsty red faced parrot finches- Yowch!!!!!
Julian

Birdwatcher and finch-keeper.

Feel free to check out my photos here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/lewinsrail/
And my birding antics here: http://worthtwointhebushbirding.blogspot.com.au/
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MadHatter
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jusdeb wrote:Yes hatter the one drawback with parrots is that they chew everything in sight ...even the little neophemas have totally destroyed mondo grasses in my aviaries.
Try Lomandra grasses. I've heard they are about the most parrot-proof plant around.
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Jayburd
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I heard they are deadly and people have lost finches quail and kingfishers to them
Julian

Birdwatcher and finch-keeper.

Feel free to check out my photos here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/lewinsrail/
And my birding antics here: http://worthtwointhebushbirding.blogspot.com.au/
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jusdeb
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Will google Lomandra and check it out ...thanx
Accept that some days you are the pigeon, and some days you are the statue.
David Brent
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Diane
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try fountain grass (African feathergrass) or swamp grass. Ive had both in an aviary.
Diane
The difference between Genius and Stupidity is, Genius has it’s limits
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