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Just wondering the best order to introduce birds into our new aviary - 6'x7'x30", indoor.

We have 2 male societies and 2 male spices currently living together in a 30" flight cage, all <1 yr old.
2 male zebras (father and son), 3 & 4 yrs old, living together in a 36" cage.
And 2 female zebras, very young (banded 06 and 07) living in a 2x2x2' cage.

We were thinking of permitting the zebras one breeding opportunity, but no more than that because the offspring would all be closely related and we just don't want any more birds than that.

Would we be best off just sticking everybody into the aviary simultaneously and letting nature take its course? With 6 males and only 2 very young hens, would it be like throwing the 2 hens to the wolves? Is it okay to put them all together but not providing nesting material for another few months so the hens can get a bit older? Or should we pair up the zebras in separate cages for a few months? Or put the zebras in the aviary without any other birds for a while?

The male zebras are a normal and a white. The white's mother lost use of her feet and legs and died recently, which I'm told is a genetic tendency of whites. The new hens are a normal and a fawn. If we pair them up, should we pair the white cock with the normal hen to dilute the genetic weakness, or will it not matter? Or maybe not pair him at all. The normal male is getting kind of old.

Everybody is fine at the moment in their respective cages and can remain so for a while but we'd like to start stocking the aviary.

Thanks!

Ann

I would just put them all in the aviary at the same time but don't put nests in until late this year.

If you want successful clutches then let the Zebra males choose the female they want. If you see the 2 Zeb males arguing over one hen, then you may have to separate them into pairs to let them raise a clutch.

Introducing weaned chicks and a pair back into the aviary should not be a problem with the birds you have.

If you see 'all' the males going after the hens (which I doubt will happen)
then you may have to keep the hens, or zebra pairs separately.

Thanks as always for the advise.

We moved all 8 birds into the aviary yesterday evening and they seem to be doing okay. The normal zebra male and normal female have paired off already, and the white male and fawn female seem to be inclined toward each other, though possibly because the normals keep chasing them away. This is not how I would have paired them, but there you are.

Everybody else seems to be getting along okay. The normal male zebra is clearly the dominant bird in the aviary, but everyone else seems to have adequate access to food and nobody is getting pecked up. The social interactions are especially fascinating because we know each bird as an individual, though the two spices are very hard to tell apart.

So far, nobody has been brave enough to venture down to the dish of corn and worms or the water dish we have placed on the floor. We put water dishes higher up too just to be sure nobody goes thirsty, but I'm hoping they brave it out eventually to go after the corn. Is it normal for them to be terrified of going to the floor?

When the zebra hens are old enough, should we just put nests into the aviary, or should the zebras be separated out for breeding?

Ann

Glad to hear everything went well in the transistion. Being in a large enclosure is quite an adjustment for some birds.........no big deal for others.

Do you have perches in the middle and also at the bottom of the cage? Birds like landing on perches vs the flat surface of the aviary, especially if they're not sure if that surface is a safe place to be! If they have a landing spot, I think you'll find they'll soon check out the bottom of the flight.

Something I used to do in my larger finch flights is hang faux/silk vines in the corners with a perch in the middle of it, or just have them draped in areas. It gives the shyer birds a place to retreat to and most finches just love playing in it and picking at the leaves.

corn and worms ? These are foods that zebras, societies, and spices do not normally eat !

I guess it varies what they will eat. All my finches loved mealworms and corn.........except for the Goulds. They were the pickiest!

I have found a good bit of lettuce or most any greens can get my finches right down to the grid. They also love to play in the water and their bathing dishes are on the bottom. Good luck!

alhee wrote:corn and worms ? These are foods that zebras, societies, and spices do not normally eat !

Well don't try to tell my zeebies that! They butt the strawberries, owls, etc. out of the way for mealworms... it's a free for all!

Crazy birds,
Pat

Thanks for the info.
It's true. You can learn something new every day !

Yeah, all my birds love corn - zebras, spices, societies, canary, and Bourke's parakeet. We just thaw frozen corn in warm water. The only one who never ate it was the lovebird. A few of them like peas, and some like grated carrot and little pieces of apple, and everybody seems to like romaine lettuce if only just to play with, and a bit of fresh parsley. But corn is universally popular. It's the first thing they eat each morning. You can usually tell what the birds don't like - they dump it into the water dishes, especially the Bourke's.

We gave the birds some of the dried bloodworms left over from the betta fish who died. They all love them. We figured a little boost in protein might not be a bad idea during the stress of moving into the aviary and meeting each other. Nobody seems to like the Cede dried egg food. I actully didn't know they'd like mealworms. They just seem so big for a little finch.

We put a small potted tree into the aviary to give them perching places all the way to the floor. (It's an old hibiscus that died. We just pruned the branches down to those that are a good perching size.) I think everybody is going to the floor now. At least, the corn dish is always empty by early afternoon. Everyone seems to be getting along okay although the 3 yr old white male zebra is a bit cantankerous. The fawn female tolerates him most of the time, so he at least has one friend. The societies and spices, all male, are singing like crazy and spend a lot of time snuggled all 4 together on a perch.

Our cat LOVES the aviary. He sits watching the birds with his tail twitching and once in a while bats at the mesh. We call it "Cat TV". The birds mostly ignore him. We all enjoy the aviary. It's pretty cool, though a bit messy for the living room. We've got a bird feeder out there meant for outside use and they spill as much as they eat. I can understand why people keep button quails. It would cut down on waste.

Question for the day:
Can you mix your own finch seed? The bags of commercial mix tell the % of each type of seed in it. Is there a source for the individual components and could you just spinkle in some extra vitamins? Just wondering if this would be a less expensive way to go. These birds are seriously going through a lot more seed because we are using the bird feeder than when we served them in small dishes in the individual cages.

Ann

Here's a bird feeder that I really liked. Another type you may try is a tube feeder or one of the smaller gravity feeders. That way there'd be less waste. http://www.petdiscounters.com/c53/Vacat ... 4466vpa866

Here's where I buy my bird seed. https://secure.fire2wire.com/birdseed/i ... word=finch

I used to mix my own but it became difficult to find all the seeds I needed so I just buy the mixed now. You may try some local feed stores and see what they carry. Plus they may order what you want.

Have you tried feeding your birds grated zucchini and broccoli? Mine also liked sliced cucumbers. For extra protein, chopped boiled egg mixed with Gerber High Protein dry cereal is always devoured by my birds!