New Emblema Owner with Questions

[rach8191]

You are spot on thinking about covering one side of the cage to offer that bit more protection. Good call also on putting them in the sun when you can, leave the cover on though to offer shade if required.
Bear in mind the birds have been moved from a shop to your place so they will still be settling in.
My emblemas have built their own nest, nested in a box and in a basket, pics of one of their self builds here. viewtopic.php?f=39&t=4154&hilit=+emblema" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
As you can see they use all sorts for the nest, feathers, bark, flowers and swamp grass or any bits of grass.
Good luck with them, they are a laid back bird and I couldnt see my self without a pair or two in the aviary. Just give them a bit of time.

Wow that nest is awesome! I'm going to try get some bits and pieces to stick in the cage for them to use besides the bedding stuff I bought from my work. They are doing great out in the sun, half the cage is covered and Romeo is hopping around chirping (I'm guessing its him thats being vocal) and having a fab time. The hen (Juliet ) is mainly staying up the top of the cage towards the back in the shade at the moment, probably still nursing her broken toe .

I havent seen either of them actually land on the bottom of the cage yet, is this because its wire and has no firm foundations? Its about 2cm under the wire that the paper is sitting in the tray. I've read heaps about them being more of a ground dweller, and that they like fossicking around alot. I was trying to figure out what I can put in there for them (bark or something?) But I dont want to put anything in their that can make them sick (or worse)

I'm sorry about all the questions too

[matcho]

Never be sorry about asking questions. If we didn't ask questions we would never learn, although some answers that you may get may not be the ones you want to hear. We are all here to help each other, so ask away!

[Diane]

The wire floor might be an issue with them at the moment if they havnt been used to walking on it before. I have some cages with wire floors and I just cut newspaper to fit. Being a bird that likes to spend time on the floor this would make them more comfortable. Handful of grass from your garden (not treated with anything) would give them something to peck over. You could boil an egg and chop it up really fine and offer that to them as another option for food.
You should be able to tell the male from the female, male will have red under the beak and a lot more red on the belly. pics here viewtopic.php?f=108&t=5578" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
The male also has a call a bit like a broken spring.

[rach8191]

The wire floor might be an issue with them at the moment if they havnt been used to walking on it before. I have some cages with wire floors and I just cut newspaper to fit. Being a bird that likes to spend time on the floor this would make them more comfortable. Handful of grass from your garden (not treated with anything) would give them something to peck over. You could boil an egg and chop it up really fine and offer that to them as another option for food.
You should be able to tell the male from the female, male will have red under the beak and a lot more red on the belly. pics here viewtopic.php?f=108&t=5578" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
The male also has a call a bit like a broken spring.

Yeah at the moment they are doing a "chip...chip...chip" noise, but I did hear him do the spring noise early. Yeah fortunately they are mature enough to have the colouring so I can tell them apart. It's been really interesting the last few days learning about them. My boss told me he was rare cause he has the red colour on the tail alot, but I saw a thread earlier about how the rarer colouring is a lot of red over the chest/belly etc. So I guess my little guy is just a plain one as his red doesn't stretch all over his chest. And the hen has a little red patch on her chest and thats about it.

I know with larger breeds its a good idea to put branches in to stop their feet from becoming used to the same round perches you get with the cage. Is that the same with finches too? We have lots of native trees in our backyard, bottle-brushes and grevilleas, would their branches be ok for them?

[Diane]

Using natural branches of different widths is right for finches too. Free and just throw away after use. I use fruit tree branches and natives.

[rach8191]

Awesome, I think thats most of my most worrying concerns addressed. I've just drawn up a picture of a wooden trolley thing to put the cage on, hopefully I can con my dad into building it for me. I wish it was possible to have a planted floor in a cage, but i don't think its do-able. I have a funny feeling this finch keeping business is going to become a life long hobby for me somehow.

Thanks for all your help everyone.

[toothlessjaws]

plants in the cage is not crazy at all. lots of finch keepers in colder climates keep their birds in indoor cages with pot plants in them. a shallow pot with grasses in it will do wonders for their well being. i would definitely cover the wire with newspaper also. finches like being on the ground. and do yourself a favour and definitely replace the dowel branches with natural ones of different widths and degrees of angle. much better for them...

[rach8191]

Oh cool, I just went down and got a swamp foxtail in a little pot and I am thinking about re-potting it into a longer shallower pot. I had a thought about taking out a bottom part of the cage. I've considered actually cutting out the bottom wire in the cage, so that the tray in the bottom is actually the floor, and then attaching a small swing door over the opening so they cant escape when I take the tray out for cleaning.


Thats still on the drawing board though...

[Diane]

I have a couple similar in white. First thing is if you remove the floor make sure it wont make the cage unstable. Ive found just the newspaper on the wire floor works well.
The perches need to go from the front to the back rather than across the cage. I use a combination of the supplied perch and natural branches.

[flap]

Hi, and good luck with your birds. It is a steep learning curve but worth it.

I have a funny feeling this finch keeping business is going to become a life long hobby for me somehow.

Yes, it is called "addiction" ... We started less than one year ago I think, with 8 birds and one aviary.... We now have 20 adult finches, 25 or so young, 3 pairs of quails, 4 quail chicks and a two more clutches on the way, and we are picking up our third aviary on Saturday....