Aussie Finch Forum

Help, one of my very young ruddies escaped. he is still alive (3 days later
) and is coming down and being fed by his parents through the avairy mesh!

What is the best way to catch him now? Any suggestions appreciated.

Are you able to set a cage up? Might be a bit complicated as the escapee is still being fed by a parent.

If possible could you put a parent in a cage next to an empty cage making it so the youngster only has the one choice....going into the trap cage to be fed through the bars by the parent in the other cage. Baby in trap cage, pull the string and one captured baby. Good luck.

Would need to know your set up before I could comment.

Hi, thanks ill try the parent in a cage trick.

If you have a safety door, you could leave it open and he will go in to the parents. Then close it.
I have done this many times with success.

How do you get into the safety area without the escapee getting out again? My safety area isnt very big and if I caught a bird in there then opened the door to get in to allow the bird into the aviary itself Im sure it would get out of the safety area?
Do you have a string setup on the aviary door from the safety area?

mattymeischke wrote:If you have a safety door, you could leave it open and he will go in to the parents. Then close it.
I have done this many times with success.

Hence my question would need to know the setup prior to comment

bluebutterfly213 wrote: How do you get into the safety area without the escapee getting out again?

carefully....

It is quite a big area in my aviary, about 1x3m which is also mouse proof storage for seed, domestically acceptable storage of live food and miscellanous bird clutter.
I come from behind a wall and push the door shut, then shoo the bird to the far end before sneaking in.

I encourage my kids to take an interest, and the 2 1/2 yr old has contributed to a higher than usual escape rate .
So far I've caught all the escapees thus.

mattymeischke wrote:I encourage my kids to take an interest, and the 2 1/2 yr old has contributed to a higher than usual escape rate .

Sounds like time for a padlock!

I went for the cruder method of a bolt through a hole through the door and frame, out of reach of said repeat offender.
I had hoped that discipline may be sufficient, but no.....