mixing birds

[sirfire]

Okay I am struggling to get information about mixing birds.

Currently I have 3 aviaries .....

one is a social aviary
one is a lovebird
one is about to be completed.

two are flight aviaries.

I have 25 finches.
8 Nemophemas Scarlets
2 Elegants
5 Red Rumps
14 lovebirds
2 bourkes
2 rosa bourkes
2 calfornian quails
2 Silver king quails (4 babies
13 Cockatiels

What goes with what and what should ONLY be by itself.

and what if comes to push could i house together.....

and what should i sell?

At this stage i think the only birds that seem to mix is finches and cockatiels ....

any help would be great!

[maz]

I haven't got all those species but have been asking the same sort of questions lately myself, from what I've read and researched, the lovebirds definitely by themselves, the cockatiels, bourkesand possibly elegants could go together, the red rumps are meant to get really nasty at reeding time and need to be by themselves, not sure on scarlets....and I think it's adviseable to house the finches seperately from all the parrots unless you have a really big cage.

[Misso]

nice size collection, must have some big aviaries.

i would not be housing finches with the cocktails if i were you. or with any hook bill for that matter IMHO, unless the aviaries are soo big that there is enough room for the finches to get away from the bigger birds so as not to lose a leg etc.

theres a few parrot/finch breeders on here who can hopefully chime in with some more specific answers regarding what can go with what.

[vettepilot_6]

Neophemas can go with finches and king quails ok too if plenty of room and not overcrowded...Lovebirds definately by themselves....I have had Quarrions with finches too but it was a large avairy 30mtr x 20mtrs....rest you will have to ask hookbill specialists....looks to me you might need couple more avairies.... sounds a bit crowded when I look at how many birds there is...

[jusdeb]

Depends on aviary sizes .
Lovies and Red Rumps are a no no .
Cockatiels are iffy .
Elegants can be nasty also .

Having said that I have had Bourkes that would kill a finch and yet they are meant to be gentle so my point is depends also on the personality of the birds .

Scarlets are sweet hearts usually and can go with finches .

So perhaps house the finches ( depending on compatabilty with each other ) the Scarlets and the Quail together .

All else could maybe go together except the Lovies and RRumps ...Mt R Rumps are 1 pair per aviary actually all my parrots except the Quarrion are 1 pair per aviary .

However you house them thought things will change come breeding season so a vigilant eye is needed for aggressive birds at that time of year .

[sirfire]

nice size collection, must have some big aviaries.

i would not be housing finches with the cocktails if i were you. or with any hook bill for that matter IMHO, unless the aviaries are soo big that there is enough room for the finches to get away from the bigger birds so as not to lose a leg etc.

theres a few parrot/finch breeders on here who can hopefully chime in with some more specific answers regarding what can go with what.

hi Guys,

Cockatiels have been in the main avairy with the Bourkes ... Scarlets and finches and i forgot to mention the canaries ..... this aviary is a flight being 15 metres long by 10 metres wide and 7ft high. It has a 8 metre pond that is 3 metres wide and about 1.5 metres deep ....full of lillies so the birds walk over the pond (had issues early in the piece with drownings but fix it with lillies) and large gold fish .... scatter fish and native guppies to eat mozzies.

The Tiels have been living with the finches for over a year now and they sit next to the finches and they dont seem to mind go figure. I do have a couple of rescued tiels (broken wings) My Bourkes seem to keep to themselves however i have yet to have them breed ....i suspect this might be what you mean?

The 2nd Aviary is 7ft high again but only 2.5metres by 1.5 metre wide currently holds my lovebirds.

3rd Avairy will be 6ft high 4 metres long by 1.8metres wide with crush road mix with concrete and 20mm river rock layed over the top. I will put a lilly pot with scatter fish and native guppies again!

So it sounds i need to get rid of the Red Rumps or build another Aviary at this stage! Red Rumps are in a isolation cage that i have ....its about 8 foot long and 3 foot high.... i know its not ideal but thats the best i can do at this stage.

[jusdeb]

I have Quarrion with finches without problems too .

You certainly have good sized aviaries so you may be able to get away with the odd mismatch . Whatever works for you .

[MadHatter]

I thik most of this has already been answered, but for what it's worth:
Loverbirds are strictly 1-species-to-an-aviary birds.
Redrumps, as above. Though I have seen them mixed with other species, so it can be done with some individuals in some circumstances, but to do so should be considered VERY HIGH RISK.
Cockatiels are often OK to mix with finches in a big aviary. By the sound of things, your situation would be a good example of this.
Neophemas (Scarlets and Elegants) and Neopsephotus (Bourkes) are generally considered suitable for inclusion in a mixed collection, though as with Cockatiels, some indididuals can be aggressive, so they should be closely monitored. Also, it is generally advisable not to mix differend Neophema species (ie. Scarlets and Elegants in this case) as they may hybridise.
Cali quails are ok, except they can be a bit disruptive with finches due to their flightiness and reputation for sqishing nests.
The rest should be fine.

I'm a bit worried about these fish you are calling "Native Guppies". There is no such thing as a native guppy, but there is the so called "Mosquito Fish" (Gambusia affinis) which was introduced in an effort to control mosquitos, but proved better at decimating native fish and frog populations. If these are the species in question, you will have little hope of getting rid of them now, but please take every precaution not to introduce them to your local waterways.

[sirfire]

oh wow you maybe right....

Once again I am not 100% sure if they are .... did a search and they seem to be nasty little critters.

http://eprints.jcu.edu.au/13050/

The Abstract of assesment!
The results indicate that G. a. holbrooki is unlikely to significantly affect larval populations of B. marinus via predation. However, Gambusia has the potential to significantly affect larval populations of L. ornatus in natural water bodies where these species co-occur.

I was told this by a local garden shop .... so typical..... I will catch a couple and get them identified if they are what we believe to be .... then i will drain the entire pond and start again.

!!!sigh!!!

[jusdeb]

If you find out that you have mozzie fish (ganbusia) and need to cull them humanely then from my observations freezing them is the the most painless way to do so.

Pop them into plastic bags with the water they are already living in and then freeze them ,they look to just go to sleep .