Any FINCH Owners?

I recently took in a Zebra finch from my daughters school who's teacher owns the parents. Just call me a SUCKER LOL! He was the only one left out of six and was put in a tiny cage by himself so I felt bad and took him home. I bought him a friend today, a society finch and they love eachother. I researched on line and found that these two species get along well. Seeing as how I have such a big cage I may get two more, Does anyone know what other types would get along with these two species? Thanks!

i adore, absolutely adore, finches. They are my most favorite of all the birds they had at the animal warehouse. WE had them all in a big flight pen, zebras, strawberries, red ear, green singers, which are my 5 star top of the list wish oh wish and tripppple wish i could have a pair , and so many many others. A happy little bird that rewards their family with song and cheer..you are very lucky. Beep em beep beep!
Most finches get along with other finches. Treat yourself and get a green singer if you can,you dont have to have a same type pair, they are expensive but next to a canary their song is tops. The Strawberry finch is very pretty with his little white diamonded back and has a song that reaches far back into my childhood.. I got finch stories i do if you ever want to here some..

One short one, I called my mom up and told her i had a bird here with no legs and my inn was full. Did she want it? It would have died shortly there in the compitition of all the others sitting on the bottom of the flight pen because it couldn't perch meant peril of other sorts as well for there were rats and an ocassional lose snake as well as the damp after being hosed. SHe said yes so i took this bird home to her that night. She had a small cage set up with a shelf covered with a washcloth that could be changes and a ladle with a small pad affixed to the inside of the cage. He could eat his seed on the shelf and slept in his ladle. My mom was soooo awesome like that.

For 12 years that bird sang his heart out. Never a day did i stop by when i didn't feel the joy just pour out of his little soul no bigger then your thumb.
They are precious each and every one.

Zebras are probably the messiest with their scatter of seed chaf and are the noisiest as well, but they are still a delightful little bird and i hope your new arrival has a long and happy life in his new home. One thing to remember is that they have a very very high metabolism and can die of thirst in a very short time and starve in a matter of a day or two tops. Many new bird owners(especially finches) don't realize that the seed cup has filled up with chaf and tho it appears to look like it has seed in it there is really only hulls. Mom used a small nasal aspirator (sp?) and would puff a few puffs of air into the seed cup to blow them out so not to waste the seed that is below. I think your so lucky. I really miss not having birds. i have to be content with the ones outside my mocking bird helps

wanted to add they are quite fond of spray millet and should have some regulary along with their seed cup, should have different size perches to avoid foot fatigue (i used fresh limbs since they are not the chewers that parakeets are and they really enjoy a swing.... oh and do not ever try to breed two pair in one cage. Ok..i will stop i promise

THANKS Smkie! I am going to have to look into the green singer. The Zebra finches seem a little high strung and move around alot where as my new society finch is very relaxed. I read that the Zebra's are not only messy but noisy as well. Will the singing type finches still sing with other varieties in the same cage do you know? Thanks again

all finches are high strung and move alot..their little hearts beat about a million times a minute. They rise with the sun and are busy busy until it sets.
They don't do well in drafts (no bird does) so keep them away from air vents. A breeze from a window is a different story, fans are bad too if pointed right on them.
They like a daily bath if your "nice" at least a couple times a week.
Different size perches will help keep their nails down if not they are not that hard to cut. If they do get to long it can be bad for them.
I use to sprout a little bird seed too but i cant remember if that was for the finches or the keets. One of them liked it, if they don't they wont' do anything but play with it. I think finches are all about the song and communication. your little bird might be happy with a mirror in the meantime.
They love music and running water, both sounds will make them active and vocal. They will sing no matter what, it doesn't matter who their cage mates are. THe little strawberry wasn't like the green singer, but when she did sing it was special. The green singer had stamina quite like a canary. Only thing i can liken it to is a ginny wren, just a little prettier sound for the finch then the wren.

We had a little strawberry when i was growing up, i think around 7 or 8 when i saw her in the Grant's dept store pet section. Her toes were bleeding and something was obviously wrong to i hounded mama until she came to look and of course the bird came home with us. Many of her toes did turn black and fall off but she was still able to perch. She sang the prettiest little melody especially when i practiced the piano. She lived alone in a cage and was quite happy for oh shoot a long long time. Mom had a sparrow named sperrow the sparrow for 12 years. She was very good with birds.

OH YOU already have a finch! Then you know what i am talking about i am sorry i didn't realize that. I was telling you all the stuff i always do when people got their first ones. sorry....yeah they are high strung and a bit messy but still delightful. I always covered one side of the cage with a clear plastic to protect the wall, it really wasn't any big deal, no worse then a parakeet. I still like a meep em meep meep when i hear it.. I saw a man home where he had taken the corner of a room and built a very small flight pen complete with little tree. He was a very nice finch daddy I wish i could do the same.

I don't know what other birds will get on with the finch.
I used to have 5 Zebra Finch......great little birds.........very noisey too

Thanks again Smkie, you know your stuff! I am seriously considering building an inside flight enclosure in the near future and having quite a few varieties of them. I would really like to get a red cheeked cordon bleu which are beautiful as well and also sing and next I would like the strawberry finch. They are beautiful little birds, but I think I will stay away from the zebra's, one is enough. Can you house a Canary with the finches as well?

I used to have zebra finches I miss them! We got our first pair cuz this lady didnt want hers any more and was going to turn them loose outside so we took them. They had such a small cage so we built them an aviary in our living room. It was as tall as our roof to the floor and 5lx5w We build a pond in it and added a water fall and some gold fish to clean the water. Then surrounded it by edible plants and a young maple tree. and a dead tree branch. They loved their plant light. At first they nested and layed in their food dish. Then we got them a nest and after they got used to it they nested and hatch three babies!!! which we kept.

Along with finch food and spray millet They love boiled eggs chopped fine. (even some shell for calcium) And romain shredded with shredded apple and carrot.

lol I tried to find photos but I lost them in the move
Here is a pic of the water fall set up before we put it in and added the plants

mandie *n* Love

Now there is a very special finch family!!!!! You built a finch resort Bet they looooovvved you!

I think it best to keep same type birds together. I have horror stories about birds that were shipped together you don't ever ever want to know and i wish i had never seen or had to care for. I forgot about the blue ones. It has been such a long time since i was around that many birds. The very first day i worked there they gave me a net and told me to catch all the escapees in the flight pen. I was so dizzy, at first it was easy but when you got down to the last dozen or so it got tricky. I never knew how such big personalities got in such teeny tiny bodies.

Once i found a drop of blood at the bottom of the flight pen and could see where a wing had been wrenched off on the wires. I followed the trail of blood fearing the worst for how much blood could one tiny little bird have! Finally i found him in the corner behind the barrels fortunately still alive. I dressed the wound with quickstop and wrapped him up so he couldn't struggle the wound back open, figured he was probably a goner but put him in a warm spot until i could get home from work and treat him better. He lived a long sweet life with me blessing my efforts with his song as well. I will always have a soft spot for finches.

There were all kinds of birds there. The noise was deafening at feed time. We had flight pens of all kinds of parrots from quakers (i do not like) and love birds to amazons (my personal favorites) and more, macaws, indian ringneck parakeets, mynahs, and canaries along with snakes, rodents, lizards, alligators,and more. I stayed there because i thought i was making a difference in their lives, doing the best i could for their awful journey. Now i don't know if what i did was right or not, i hate the pet trade with a vengence. EVery step of the way is sooooo wrong. We won't even discuss the turtles or the hermit crabs.

yeah lol

my weakness is spoiling my pets!