1. Finch Ownership
Are you ready to own pet finches? Finches are known for ease of care and can be nifty pets for almost anyone, including apartment dwellers, those with kids, and even those with other pets. That being said, you should make sure that other family members are really ready to have finches in the house, can they be considerate and careful around finches, can you keep your current pets under control around the finches, do you have a proper place for their cage, etc.
2. Finch Varieties
Which finch variety should you get? These active small birds are colorful, have varied patterns and personalities. They come in many popular varieties including the Zebra Finch, Gouldian Finch and the Society Finch. Ask your local bird seller for their opinion and recommendations.
3. Keeping Finches
The fact that finches are very friendly birds allows you to maintain them with other of these diminutive birds or even with other hard billed birds if you have a cage with enough space.
Because aggressive behavior can be exhibited by bigger bird species toward smaller bird species, it is not a good idea to keep finches with hook billed birds like parakeets and lovebirds as these birds have a more belligerent nature. In order to avoid feather picking do not keep too many of these tiny birds in your cage.
Finches are normally social birds but when grouped with other types of birds there may be some aggressive behavior among them. While some species of birds, like Parrots, may sulk when they cannot interact with their owners, these tiny birds are different because they are so gregarious and will be quite happy to play among themselves when left alone.
4. Taming Finches
Because these diminutive birds are so gregarious among themselves, they probably won’t become tame enough to perch on your finger. Although, there are some owners who have successfully finger tamed their pet finches, with enough time and patience. Most finches will not be able to be easily handled.
When you do need to handle your pet bird for performing activities such as nail trimming, the best way to hold your bird is to grasp it over the back and place your thumb and forefinger on opposite sides of its head. It is rare that a finch will try to bite and even then its bite isn’t harmful or very dangerous.
5. Caring for Finches
Although most finches are very easy to care for, you must make sure that they have enough space in their cage because they are very active. It is important that they be able to fly from perch to perch so keep their cage accessories to a minimum to give them room to move about freely.
All they need is a single toy, a mirror, and a couple of branches or perches that can be changed around within the cage periodically to provide the birds with diversity. Toys that are advertised as safe for parakeets are also very good for your finches.
You should let your finches bathe at least twice a week by placing a bird bath in the cage. This gives your birds something else to enjoy. Wild finches bathe by rolling around in dew covered grass, so you can simulate this by making your bird bath out of damp dandelion leaves or moist grass and putting it on the cage floor for a couple of hours.
6. Enjoying Your Finches
Other species of birds can be more rambunctious and noisy, but these hardy diminutive birds can still be very entertaining. Another plus to owning these little birds, is that they can be less costly to buy when compared to the purchase of parrots and other soft billed birds.
Be assured that your finches will give you hours of enjoyment with their individual dispositions, lovely voices and playful interaction.
