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November 9th, 2009
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| | Fish Mentor
| My birds
In addition to my pondful of goldfish, I have an outdoor aviary. It is 6 feet by 8 feet by about 7-8 feet tall. The bottom is open to the dirt (and a small section of cement. I raise zebra finches and button quail just for the fun of it. The cage is at least 40 years old. I sort of inherited the birds from my Dad when he got too sick to take care of them and then when he passed away several years ago. As I am sitting here at the kitchen table on fishlore, I can hear some of my baby finches begging for food. Man are they loud! Anyway, here are a couple of pics of my finches - I'll try to get some newer pics too. | 
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November 9th, 2009
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| | Moderator
| You've got some gorgeous zebra finches, Gremlin! I love that aviary. | |
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November 9th, 2009
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| | Fish Master
| I love finches! i wish i had some... i should get myself a cage.... NO! i dont have enough room LOL
but i would love some...
what do you do with the babies? | |
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November 9th, 2009
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| | Fish Mentor
| When the cage gets too crowded, I take the extras and sell them to Pratt's. It is a pet store that is not too far away. They have all sorts of animals. They advertise as "the unofficial Glendale zoo). They take really good care of the animals they have. I just wish they would expand and do fish too. | |
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November 9th, 2009
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| | Moderator
| Quote:
Originally Posted by gremlin  When the cage gets too crowded, I take the extras and sell them to Pratt's. It is a pet store that is not too far away. They have all sorts of animals. They advertise as "the unofficial Glendale zoo). They take really good care of the animals they have. I just wish they would expand and do fish too. | With zebra finches being so prolific, that's what, every month or two  
We used to have zebra finches. I can feel your over-crowding pain  | |
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November 9th, 2009
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| | Fish Mentor
| I go in once a week to take out eggs. That way I'm not over run. Every couple of years I will pick either 4 or 6 birds (paired up) to keep and sell all the rest. Sometimes I will just keep 3 or 4 of mine that are either all male or all female and buy new mates for them. That way I don't have to worry about inbreeding.
Here are some more pics. | |
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November 9th, 2009
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| | Fish Master
| gremlin that is beautiful! it looks huge! i bet you could add a toucan  | |
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November 9th, 2009
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| | Fish Mentor
| It is actually quite small - only 6 feet by 8 feet. If I add anything, it would be green singing finches - but I can't find them around anymore. Since they can no longer be exported, the only place to get them is from local breeders. There aren't any around me. | |
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November 9th, 2009
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| | Fish Master
| That sucks 
Well, hope you find something that suits your aviary  | |
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November 9th, 2009
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| | Fish Keeper
| So interesting! Thanks for the photos. What cool little birds... the finches and the button quail. | |
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November 10th, 2009
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| | Moderator
| Hello Gremlin. I always enjoy the photos of your feathered friends. I raised finches years ago. I named all of the babies that were born after bars of soap.
Ken | |
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November 10th, 2009
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| | Fish Mentor
| Quote:
Originally Posted by aquarist48 Hello Gremlin. I always enjoy the photos of your feathered friends. | Thank you. I like my birdies. Quote:
Originally Posted by aquarist48 I raised finches years ago. I named all of the babies that were born after bars of soap.
Ken | I think I would run out of names . . . Irish Spring, Dove, Tone, Hmmm... I guess I just don't know enough brands of soap  | |
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November 10th, 2009
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| | Fish Master
| What pretty birds...I can tell you adore your little guys.... | |
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November 12th, 2009
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| | Fish Mentor
| It was a nice cloudy day today, so I took a bunch of pics of the finches and the cage. I'll start with pics of the cage so you can get an idea of how it sits and how small it really is (even though it seems big from some of the pics). Our house faces east, and the cage is out front (on the east side). It is tucked under one side of the carport. We can sit on our front porch and watch the birds. On the east side of the cage (the back) is an orange tree and a ficus. On the north side of the cage is a Cape Honeysuckle. The south side is where the door is and opens to the driveway. The nesting boxes are on the east wall tucked under the orange tree. I have a sheet of thin acrylic over the top of the cage under the orange tree to keep the rain out of the nests. | |
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November 12th, 2009
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| | Fish Mentor
| Now for some pics of the inside - - -
The water has a hose connected to a faucet so it is a constant drip. The overflow waters the orange tree. | |
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November 12th, 2009
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| | Fish Master
| How wonderful......What beautiful birds you have......You take excellent care of them....The photos are just beautiful! | |
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November 12th, 2009
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| | Fish Mentor
| Now that you have seen the outside of the cage, and the inside of the cage, here are some pics of some of the nests (and babies).
Pics 3 and 4 are the outside and inside of one of the nests. The opening where the parents go in is at the bottom left. | |
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November 12th, 2009
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| | Fish Mentor
| And now, some pics of the finches... | |
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November 12th, 2009
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| | Fish Mentor
| . . . and some more. These are of the babies most recently out of their nests. The adults have orange/red beaks, the babies beaks are either gray or white. In the third pic, the baby is soaking up what little bit of sun there was. | |
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November 12th, 2009
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| | Fish Mentor
| Quote:
Originally Posted by Martinismommy How wonderful......What beautiful birds you have......You take excellent care of them....The photos are just beautiful! | Thank you. I really do enjoy them. They can be such clowns sometimes. | |
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November 12th, 2009
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| | Fish Keeper
| What a nice set up. It's obvious you put a lot of loving care into your feathered babies. Thanks so much for sharing the pictures! | |
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December 9th, 2009
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| | Fish Helper
| Every time I go to a pet store, I have to sit in front of the finches cages for at least 10 minutes!
Your set-up is wonderful. It looks like a great environment for the beautiful birds to live in. I hope that one day I can keep finches. I seem to have a fascination with the cordon bleu finches. | |
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December 9th, 2009
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| | Moderator
| Quote:
Originally Posted by emanluke Every time I go to a pet store, I have to sit in front of the finches cages for at least 10 minutes!
Your set-up is wonderful. It looks like a great environment for the beautiful birds to live in. I hope that one day I can keep finches. I seem to have a fascination with the cordon bleu finches. | I have 2 cordon bleu pairs. If they breed, I'll holler atcha | |
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December 10th, 2009
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| | Fish Mentor
| Quote:
Originally Posted by emanluke Every time I go to a pet store, I have to sit in front of the finches cages for at least 10 minutes!
Your set-up is wonderful. It looks like a great environment for the beautiful birds to live in. I hope that one day I can keep finches. I seem to have a fascination with the cordon bleu finches. | Thank you. I really do enjoy them. The cordons are pretty, but the finches I wish I still had are the green singing finches. They are nearly impossible to find around here. | |
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December 10th, 2009
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| | Fish Master
| those pics are beautiful! love the aviary | |
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December 10th, 2009
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| | Moderator
| Quote:
Originally Posted by gremlin Thank you. I really do enjoy them. The cordons are pretty, but the finches I wish I still had are the green singing finches. They are nearly impossible to find around here. | What species is that? Do you have bird shows in your area? Bird shows are a wonderful way of meeting breeders and finding out what species they breed. You can also check out www.birdbreeders.com. You can do a search by state and species. Maybe you'll be able to find them there. | |
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December 10th, 2009
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| | Fish Helper
| Quote:
Originally Posted by bolivianbaby I have 2 cordon bleu pairs. If they breed, I'll holler atcha | And here I was thinking y'all were just a bunch of FISH enablers. 
I'll have to up my defenses!  | |
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December 10th, 2009
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| | Fish Keeper
| Nope we is bird enablers too...lol I have two fish tanks 29 gallons and 36 gallons... I also have two large bird cages .. both are 32wx 21d x35h. ( don't know what that is in gallons...and I guess it doesn't matter....lol) they are over 5' tall on their stands . One holds a parrotlet and the other holds 2 budgies. You know you would LOVE to have a little birdie toooo!!! | |
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December 10th, 2009
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| | Fish Mentor
| Quote:
Originally Posted by bolivianbaby What species is that? Do you have bird shows in your area? Bird shows are a wonderful way of meeting breeders and finding out what species they breed. You can also check out www.birdbreeders.com. You can do a search by state and species. Maybe you'll be able to find them there. | There are occasional bird shows here, but since I am unable to drive (or walk very much) it is nearly impossible for me to go. I have gone to them in the past, and have not found any local breeders of green singers. The few birds that I have found have been way too expensive for my budget. Most of the cheap/free ones I find online are in the United Kingdom.
Here is a link that has pictures of them: http://www.avianweb.com/greensingingfinches.html
Thank you for the birdbreeders link. I looked on there and found one (1) aviary that breeds and sells green singers. They are in Arkansas. The base price (not including shipping) is $100 - $120 per pair. That is a bit out of my price range, not to mention the additional cost (and risks) of shipping. So, still no local breeders. I do watch for them - there is always the chance that I might get lucky! | |
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December 10th, 2009
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| | Moderator
| They're cute little suckers. I can see why you like them. I don't blame you for being concerned about shipping birds. I'm not sure how these breeders are able to ship them. They need food and water so often. | |
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