Choosing the right breeds for new aviary.......

[Matt.D]

Ok so we are in the planning stage for our new 3rd aviary, going to go all out on this one as starting to get serious now hopefully.
At this stage it will be 10m accross the front x 6.2m deep including a 1.2m walkway behind all the aviaries and around 2.4m high.
It will be divided into 5 seperate aviaries measuring 5m x 2m each approx with half being enclosed and half open to the elements.
At this stage we are planning 2 diferent setups,

1 being - 3 breeds in each area, 3 pairs of each breed, making total of 9 pairs to the aviary, 5 aviaries - 45 pairs.

2 being - 2 breeds in each area, 5 pairs of each breed, making total of 10 pairs to the aviary, 5 aviaries - 50 pairs.

I am after everyones input onto which breeds to select from the following list and which breeds to put in together or which are best suited and which cannot be placed in together etc....I have my favourites which are highlighted in blue. We currently already have Painteds & all types of Gouldians.

[Matt.D]

Red Browed
Plumheads
Green Singers
Orange Breasted Waxbills
Ruddies
St Helenas
Strawberries
Pictorellas
Yellow Rumped Mannikins
Blue Faced Parrots
Red Faced Parrots
Sea Green Parrots
Tri Coloured Parrots
White Headed Nuns
Black Headed Nuns
Tri Coloured Nuns
Masked
Double Bars
Stars
Diamonds
Cordon Bleus
Cubans
Cutthroats
Melbas

[dano_68]

Hi Matt,

It does sound like you are getting serious! That aviary design is great especially with individual flights and a safety lane – a design straight out of my hand book! Lol

Anyway, I know better than anyone how easy it is to get carried away. The first thing I would gently suggest is that 9 pair per that size flight is a tad over crowed particularly if you want to breed lots of healthy little birdies! It’s just my 2 cents, but I think you would do much better with the breeding if you halved that amount.

The other thing to consider is the dietary, housing and breeding cycles of all those different species. It’s hard to limit live food to some (Tri-coloured PF – who get fat real quick on too much live food!) and make sure others get enough which is essential for their breeding – Melbas, Cordons, Cuban.

Finally, what ever you do, DO NOT MIX any of the Parrot Finches – Tri’s will mate with ANY other PF species – no exception! Also, the same can be said for the Lonchura’s – Nuns, Yellow Rumps and even Pictorellas. The will all hybridize quite readily.

One more thing, in my experience Singers and Cubans DO NOT play well together. Also, I would put Cubans (and the Singers) with larger, more robust species as both these species can be obnoxious and boisterous even on their good days! Lol

I don’t mean to rain on your parade, but I can see a lot of frustration and heart ache coming with your current plan.

As I said, your aviary design is spot on so you’re halfway there! Now just spend some time researching the species you want to keep. Read, read read - ask, ask, ask!

BTW I am just as guilty in the past as the next person for trying to cram as many species in a cage as I could!! But that taught me one thing – the best results I ever had was when I concentrated on one species (Gouldians) for several years. Now I have found a happy balance but I still struggle with limiting the number of species I keep!!! Lol

Good luck Matt, I for one am very excited for you!

Danny

[Jayburd]

what Danny said
Cordons are nice, but even though it can be done I wouldn't risk them with cubans,

[shox]

My opinion would not put cordons with cubans, melbas. Also would not put them with parrot finches, not because their aggresive but they are so active, if you breed a few PF, the cordons would be startled with all the activity of the parrot finches, cordon wont sit on nests too much activity. Also my experience have found with stars the fewer the pairs the better breeding results. I think every diverse aviary should have orange breasts but dont put with cubans. I also hope you plan for a holding aviary for all the young, if everything goes to plan you'll have plenty. Like your range of finches considering, the only finch I would keep away from is the cutthroat, sorry to all those cutthroat lovers. Best of luck.

[Matt.D]

G'Day all,

Thanks for input so far, I was basing numbers on 1 pair per square meter of floor space, read that somewhere in a magazine but yeah I see your point re: better breeding.
As for a holding aviary I have another seperate aviary (pre-fab) that would be used for the young, its around 2mx2m roughly. To be honest I would definitely like the following breeds,
Orange Breasted Waxbills
Strawberries
Sea Green Parrots
Tri Coloured Parrots
White Headed Nuns
Tri Coloured Nuns
Double Bars
Stars
Diamonds
Cordon Bleus
Cubans
Melbas
Obviously I would need to try to keep birds that there young require live food together and those that dont together etc.

[dano_68]

Ok Matt, that is a bit easier to work with!

I would go with something like this:

AV1
Orange Breasted Waxbills
Cordon Bleus
Strawberries

AV2
Tri Coloured Parrots
Melbas
St Helenas

AV3
Diamonds
Plumheads
Masked

AV4
Tri Coloured Nuns
Cubans
Cutthroats

AV5
Sea Green Parrots
Double Bars
Stars

[Jayburd]

and gouldians included in a couple I;m guessing
good plan Dano

[Matt.D]

Thanks for that Dano, some good idea's you have there. Are you of the same opinion that 9 pairs in each aviary would be too many? 3 Pairs of each breed.
Currently my Gouldians are in a 4m x 4m aviary (roughly) making a total floor space of 16 meters and it's currently housing around 14 pairs including some young which seems pretty good to me, they seem happy in there and have bred fine in the past. My second aviary which is only 3m x 1.5m, total floor space of 4.5 meters houses 3 pairs of Painted, 1 spare cock & 1 pair of White Headed Nuns, which also seem to go ok.......touch wood.

With the new aviary in its planning stages and even when up & running, it will take a little while to collect all breeds required anyway so would probably start with 2 breeds in each individual aviary with 3 pairs of each and see how that goes, then when funds permit hopefully get the 3rd breed into each aviary, all being well.

Aviary will be on a full concrete slab, probably 100mm with another 100mm of crushed compacted rock underneath, framing from 70x35 treated pine as cheaper than steel & not a great welder so timber much easier to work with and then 12mm square mesh & tin cladding around walls finishing off with corrugated and laserlite roofing.......Have been looking into the automatic drink setups also and a mist sprinkler system for the warmer days, which I just put one in our current Gouldian aviary, works a treat and costs next to nothing.

[E Orix]

It would be great to have all those species in your collection but too many species is nearly as bad as over crowding
You have 5 new flights.
Choose two groups of birds then put the same species in alternative flights A - B -A - B -A
This will give you a better chance to see how each specie reacts,not just relying on one pair.
It will also give you alternate pairs to mix blood lines.
The amount of birds per aviary would depend on the most aggressive specie.
If they were compatable 10+ pairs per flight.
Set your birds up and plan to drop maybe a specie off each year and replace them with a new one. By doing this after a few years you will end up with the species you are successful with and like.
You don't need to specialise in one specie but we are all far better of if you are continually successful with 8 or 10 species with a few others which are your personal challenge.
With that size breeding bank I hope you have made allowances for young as they become independant.