Budgies and Zebra Finches
- Written by Tom Shidaker, Edited by Angel Shidaker
- Jan 5, 2017
- 7 min read
As you know, if you have been following along..back in beginning of October, I adopted Pumpkin and Spice during the last day of the Michiana Pet Expo, from Heartland Small Animal Rescue . We had been talking about getting a pet bird for over a year, but kept putting off. We had always thought it was to expensive to get started. Well, I found these two adorable keets, with a nice size cage, for less than the birds alone would of cost. So, needless to say, we gave them a home.
These two really have stolen our hearts...
Well, roughly the second week of November, I ran across an ad on a Facebook garage sale site. They were trying to rehome another keet. I waited and waited. No one was taking him. I messeged the person and said that if he hasn't got a home by end of week, I will give him a home. Well, no one did, so i did.
Though the poor bird was in good health physically, mentally... I really dont think so. The cage was honestly a travel cage. Cheap and good for transport, but not meant for a bird to live in. It would be like Harry keeping Hedwig caged.
And this cage was a total nasty mess. I had to scrub it out. Yes, I know, before you leave nasty comments, you are supposed to quarantine new birds a minimum of 30 days. Really, the only way to truly quarantine is at someone else's house, or a sealed room. We can't do either of those, and I could not stand seeing the bird cooped up... So, I took a chance.
At first I took a few nasty bites, and some major ear ringing from his squawking bloody murder when being picked him up to clip his wings. Sadly, to this day, he still squawks horribly when you pick him up or touch him. I then put him in with Pumpkin and Spice, who took the newbie in whole heartly and warmly.
That puts us at three in a cage. Getting a little tight, but they are only usually in the cage for bed time. Otherwise, they are out of the cage or in their playpen... or running around on the floor terrorizing the cats. Yes, we have 5 cats that are terrified of three little keets. To be fair, the budgies tend to dive bomb the cats, and Harley has squawked at them a few times. The cats just lay there and ignore them. Of course, I do keep a close eye on them when they are loose in same room. This doesn't make me a bad bird owner.
I saw for Black Friday that Petsmart had birds half price. I figured "Why not? Let's even out the flock and get another keet."
So, we trudge over and Angel sees the zebra finches and falls in love. I agreed to get a pair of finches. I figured they can stay temporarily in Harley's old cage until I can search for the best deal on a large cage. As I was trying to move them from the pet store box to the cage, they escaped.
I literally spent half an hour chasing, and unsuccessfully catching, these speedy birds. I set them up, sat them next to the keets, and went to a family Thanksgiving meal. When we came home, we had let the keets out to stretch and play.
Not nowing much about zebra finches yet, I gave them one of the parakeet's honey treat bars, to see if they would eat it. Pumpkin noticed it and went over to their cage and started eating the treat right through the bars. I noticed that there wasn't any fighting or arguing.
As I am researching zebra finches and looking everywhere from Amazon, Walmart , to ebay, Chewy, Petco, and Petsmart, on a seemingly endless search for cages, I find myself watching how well the keets are interacting with the finches. It triggered my curiosity. I was wondering if there was any way that they can live under same roof. Some misguided souls think it isn't plausible, but I am home to babysit and referee. And, quite frankly, the way that Pumpkin and Spice accepted Harley, I wasn't that worried and willing to take a chance.
It worked quite well, and now they coexist happily together, though they were a bit cramped at night.
I was then on the hunt for a birdie manson. Something that wouldn't put us in the poor house. I found the perfect one on ebay but was worried about getting something like that from a place like ebay. So, my search continued. I found myself continuosly searching Chewy, where I had previously bought toys and food, but it was a no go. They just had small cages, at least compared to what I was looking for.
After a few deadends and the price not being where I wanted it to be, I finally found the cage of any bird's dream on Amazon, $120 with tax and good reviews. Prevue Hendryx Pet Products Wrought Iron Flight Cage 23" depth 37"across 47" high. Exact same cage and price as Walmart, but it was Amazon fulfilled, so none of the worry.
Now that we have the cage, next thing is accessories... Rope perches are a must and should be as long as possible. We found a Booda Comfy Perch , though the budgies do love their smaller rope perch that I got them from Chewy back in October.
Big perches, smaller perches...I had so many options. In my research, I ran across Wild Harvest P-84136 Chewable Perch for Cockatiels/Parakeets/Caged Birds, 1.76-Ounce . They looked kinda neat and not real expensive, so we decided to give them a shot. *Update* The birds love the perches. And birds should have various styles and sizes of perches to give them exercise and keep their feet healthy. However, they are a nightmare to clean!
Moving on...bird bath(s). Now that was the challenge. Bird baths are not always necessarily a necessity, but definitely a help. Not just to keep your feathered babies clean, but as an extra source of drinking water, plus an option for them to clean their food, if they so choose. But, trying to decide was proving to be slightly difficult. I wanted something that would hang outside of cage, to save room for other toys and things inside of the cage.
So, I settled on these nifty little things, JW Pet Company Insight Bird Bath . Some reviews said that they had problems with leaking... Well, Duh! It is common sense that they leak if you fill it over half way. Think about it. A bird getting in just like a human would in a real bath tub. The water will rise with the addition of the body. Fill it too much, yes it will over flow and leak.
This ended up being a two day project. The cage arrived on a Thursday, but the perches and accesories came in on that Friday. The box was fairly huge. I am almost ashamed to admit the hilarity in the fact that we have an older lady mail carrier. I look out as mail is arriving to see her dragging my package up the side walk. No joke. She was literally dragging the box across the cement path.
Now, the fun begins. Luckily, Angel had the day off. The spare pair of hands made it so much easier to steady the cage walls as I put it together. If you read the reviews, there is alot of complaining about how bad the instructions are, and how pieces are not properly marked. Well, look over the pieces and find the the five pieces that are not like the rest, then locate the big black tray and grate with the handle. Sit those off to side, those will be last. You should now have two leg sections with tracks for the big black tray. Make sure the tracks are facing the same direction. Take the peice that has four solid edges. That is your bottom rack that connects into the legs. I am not going in depth with the rest of the build. It was not that difficult. Maybe half an hour at most. But, if you ever need help with a cage like this, just send me an email and I'll help you out.
As I am building the birdie mansion, I decided to try my hand at some homemade birdie muffins. i threw together a couple boxes of cornbread mix (follow directions), dont worry about removing egg shell from your eggs. The shell is actually an excellent source of calcium for birds. Then I added some peas, corn, jalepino, apples, oranges, and some pellet feed. All things safe for birds and that they enjoy. Then I topped it with some bird seed, and baked according to package directions.
Our keets don't always take to new foods well. So, in a matter of speaking, I kind of force them to eat healthy by temporarily taking the seed and any other treat or food dishes away...thus, kind of forcing them to investigate what they have been given.
Luckily, the finches will try anything right away. So, as the finches are eating, the budgies curiosity gets the best of them and are too tempted not to follow suit and try what the finches have.
A small update on the newest addition to our zoo. On 12-8-16, we went to the pet store at our local mall to see what we could find. We really wanted a mate for Harley. This pretty girl caught our attention, all alone in a cage very similar to what Harley had lived, with only a mirror to keep her company. We just had to recue her and now she is part of the flock as well. Loyal readers, meet Luna...
**Final update** All of the birds are totally in love with their cage, the perches, the toys... and enjoy all the room they have. Plus, most of the day we leave the cage doors open and they have all of the freedom of being allowed to free fly around the room, even though the budgies would rather sit on top of the cage and look out the window or jump up into there playpen and forage for seed. Currently, I am watching each budgie jump all around as the finches swing from our dining room chandelier. They are entertaining and relaxing to watch, for sure...
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