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Date Posted: 14:46:15 02/20/09 Fri
Author: Ursula
Author Host/IP: 99.166.101.214
Subject: Re: Help, Jumpers!~!~
In reply to: Rhonda 's message, "Re: Help, Jumpers!~!~" on 09:45:17 02/20/09 Fri

Sure, we're all crazy here! My husband and I turned a beautiful serene sunroom into an aviary with free flying parakeets, finches, and buttons, and people think we're nuts... ;-)

I think Thomas has a good point though. If you try to keep the buttons in a big cage at night you can keep track of them and see if everybody is there and well. To be frank I would be afraid of accidentally crushing some if they hop into bed with me. I've heard of accidents like that with parakeets that people kept free flying in their bedrooms.

I had a cordon bleu finch disappear in my aviary, and that's with 11 by 11 feet really not so big that there are spaces I can't get to. It was during a time when I had some trouble with the parakeets (they had mites) and maybe didn't do a daily headcount on the other birds, and when I noticed it I simply couldn't find one of the finches anymore. I still haven't found any remains, I have not the slightest idea where they could be. There are no nooks or anything in the room, just planters with life plants and some fake plants, and wood shavings on the floor. She just vanished. That was pretty upsetting! Since then I make sure that even if I have not much time I do a headcount at least every other day.

Another thing I would watch for is also if all of the buttons really get along. After having baby buttons I had 12 in my aviary and thought all was well, but only up to when they were about 3 months old and I realized that I couldn't keep them all because the males started seriously fighting for the females. I gave away 2 pairs and then 2 females died (one had an accident and got tangled up in the net in front of the window and the other died of no visible cause, I don't know why), so now I am down to 6 (4 males and 2 females). They usually get along great but one of the females got always plucked by the males when mating and I had to separate her out. She's now in a big cage on the floor where they all can see her and be close to her but can't peck her anymore. That works out pretty well and her feathers are growing back nicely. I tried to put her back with the others at one point but they were fighting over her again and plucking her so badly that I had to put her back in the cage after 5 minutes. I also tried to put her usual mate in the cage with her, but he kept pcking at her back and I had to take him out after a day or so. Don't ask me why the other female doesn't seem to have that problem, she gets along fine with the 4 males and doesn't have any feathers missing... I guess you can never tell who gets along and who doesn't.

Sorry for that lengthy post but my point was that you will have to see how it goes, and just because they all get along now doesn't mean that it would always stay that way. 22 sounds a LOT to me no matter how big your space is. But I hope for the best for you!

By the way: Your setup is really something! I especially enjoyed the pictures with the Christmas tree, especially your parrots sure are having a lot of fun in there. :-) I have a couple parrotlets too, but they are in a separate huge (double!) cage within the aviary and only are allowed outside when I'm in there or at least can keep an eye on them from the living room. They do like their own space and would chase the parakeets and finches from their food if I let them fly around with them all the time. That's why I decided that the current setup with them being separated is better.

Ursula

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