Newbie from Perth

03 Oct 2011, 10:17

Hi and welcome,Always make my own aviarys that way you can ad little extras like feeding hatches and wall fixings and it always works out cheaper, the other way is if an aviary is going cheap enough in the quokka you can always modify it.

05 Oct 2011, 16:05

Hi guys, I got a small cage for now that is 1m high, 1m wide and 0.5m deep.

I was wondering if I can two pairs of finches together in that cage(with nests). I was thinking of either two pairs of painteds, or one pair of painted and one pair of stars.

If they are a bad combo, are there any other that I can keep as two pairs in one cage? Ideally, I'd love to keep two pairs, but if its a no go, i'll have to keep just one pair..

09 Oct 2011, 16:09

jerlinjames wrote:Hi guys, I got a small cage for now that is 1m high, 1m wide and 0.5m deep.

I was wondering if I can two pairs of finches together in that cage(with nests). I was thinking of either two pairs of painteds, or one pair of painted and one pair of stars.

If they are a bad combo, are there any other that I can keep as two pairs in one cage? Ideally, I'd love to keep two pairs, but if its a no go, i'll have to keep just one pair..

They would be fine together if you weren't going to breed....but if breeding 1 pair is more suitable...

09 Oct 2011, 16:34

mate in a small cage like that you may want to re think your bird choice, stars and painted like to build thier own nests, but only one pair in there , finches like black hearts zebbies or gouldians will build in a wicker basket or nest box, birds need room to move , best bet is to get one pair and go from there.....pete

10 Oct 2011, 10:37

Thx for the replys. I've got a pair of painted and a pair of stars in a patio cage (not the one mentioned above) which is slightly larger.

They are still quite young and probably not matured enough to breed yet. I also don't really want to breed them in that cage. I will be building a bigger aviary soon. And they can be moved to it. At the moment I am just concerned about their well being in the patio cage.

Although today morning, it was quite windy and was thinking that maybe that sort of winds are probably not so good for them. Have to figure something out to protect them from winds.

17 Oct 2011, 15:38

its only been just over a week since Ive had my painteds and the male already build a nest.

He sits in it during the day and the female sits in it during the night.. don't think there are any eggs(i cant see the inside properly tho). Think they build it to just sit in it.

I've introduced a few live meal worms, but they dont seem to be interested in them. Any reason they're not interested?

02 Nov 2011, 10:23

I have noticed today that my painted pair have 4 eggs in the nest. It must be the first time they are laying eggs as they are still quite young. I've heard that the first time parents dont really know how to take care of the eggs/young. So not really keeping any hopes up.

Is there any reason why they seem to not be interested in the meal worms I keep in the cage?

02 Nov 2011, 11:37

Some first time parents are excellent, others may take a while to get into it (had a pair of diamonds that had 7 failed nests before fledging any young!!).
The painteds will start to eat mealworms when the young hatch, generally not much before.
Best of luck with them!!

02 Nov 2011, 11:54

poitta wrote:mate in a small cage like that you may want to re think your bird choice, stars and painted like to build thier own nests, but only one pair in there , finches like black hearts zebbies or gouldians will build in a wicker basket or nest box, birds need room to move , best bet is to get one pair and go from there.....pete

All my painteds have always used wicker tunnel nests provided for them, they line it (almost as full as a long tail will), never had any issues with them raising the young. However the first season the young fell out too soon so now I always attach the nests so that the tunnel faces upwards and have had no problems. Have 1 pair on eggs and another lining their tunnel right now. I find they nest really readily too, had a pair nest in the holding aviary while I rearranged birds, it was only 3' x 4' wide x 5' tall.

02 Nov 2011, 16:11

Thanks for the Reply.

The cage they are not ideal. I'm in the planning process of building a bigger aviary. Meanwhile, after the few initial fights between the stars and painteds(during the time when the painted was making his nest), they have calmed down and seem to co exist peacefully.

One thing I learnt was to never give them any linen thread as nesting materiel. I unfortunately did and the make painted took them in the nest. Twice now I have seen the threads tangled on to their feet and they get stuck between branches. Once the female was hanging off the nest and I had to disturb the nest to get it loose. But hopefully I've taken out the last of it.