what does everyone think of this aviary stock?

[rosella]

hi everyone,
i have been having a hard time sourcing out a rosella and i have been looking at possibly starting an aviary with a few medium small sized parrots. the aviary will likely be 4-5 feet long by 3 feet wide by 6-8 feet tall. i want to know what everyone thinks about housing a princess of wales parakeet, cockatiel and kakariki together?. am i looking at any potential issues? should i introduce anyone first?. im thinking of possibly adding a rosella.....i know so many will tell me that this probably will not end nicely but what is everyones opinions? not all birds are the same, i know rosellas can be aggresive but i love them and really want to give them a try. lastly i want all these birds to be tamed and im wondering if (assuming i get them all as babies) it will be possible to have them really tamed even with all those birds together. they will all have out of cage time, they will have a few hours everyday of free time so thats not a concern to me.
thanks

 

[MikeyTN]

My only issue is the kakariki in that list...but it varies from bird to bird so it might work.

 

[rosella]

My only issue is the kakariki in that list...but it varies from bird to bird so it might work.

really? hmm why is that? i was under the impression that they were really nice birds, are they more aggressive then what im thinking? or is it that the other birds are larger.......
thanks for the input though

 

[MikeyTN]

The Kakariki i used to have tries to attack any bird that gets too close to her cage. She was fine with people but not other birds....

 

[FutureDVM]

I don't think there's any way you can absolutely guarantee they will get along. It may work out, and it may not. I would highly recommend having separate cages ready for each bird in case they don't get along. Plus, if you are going to get them from different sources you'll want to quarantine them separately anyway. I guess if I was going to go through all that trouble and buy all those cages, I would probably just keep them separate permanently. That's just my opinion....

 

[rosella]

The Kakariki i used to have tries to attack any bird that gets too close to her cage. She was fine with people but not other birds....

WOW!!!, i had no clue they could be aggressive at all. from all the videos and info online i was under the impression that they were very kind and fun loving birds....im going to have to speak with the breeder before adoption to see what their opinion is about the bird.

I don't think there's any way you can absolutely guarantee they will get along. It may work out, and it may not. I would highly recommend having separate cages ready for each bird in case they don't get along. Plus, if you are going to get them from different sources you'll want to quarantine them separately anyway. I guess if I was going to go through all that trouble and buy all those cages, I would probably just keep them separate permanently. That's just my opinion....

i totally agree that its never possible to guarentee if they will be ok together but i just wanted to make sure that there was nothing that would obviously not work....such as putting budgies and finches or similar because of the budgies bossy and sometimes aggressive nature. i am definitely going to quarenteen and i agree that i would prefer to have all seperate cages but that would take up a ton of space...its not that i dont have the space but it feels unreasonable to have 4 huge cages in the house, and i would never want to put them in anything small so i came up with the idea of an aviary.....perhaps i should really rethink my idea. maybe i could downsize to a princess parrot and a rosella in the aviary but think up a new aviary design with new dimensions. i could do without the cockatiel but im having trouble choosing between the princess parrot and the kakariki....rosella STAYS lol:red:

 

[FutureDVM]

i totally agree that its never possible to guarentee if they will be ok together but i just wanted to make sure that there was nothing that would obviously not work....such as putting budgies and finches or similar because of the budgies bossy and sometimes aggressive nature. i am definitely going to quarenteen and i agree that i would prefer to have all seperate cages but that would take up a ton of space...its not that i dont have the space but it feels unreasonable to have 4 huge cages in the house, and i would never want to put them in anything small so i came up with the idea of an aviary.....perhaps i should really rethink my idea. maybe i could downsize to a princess parrot and a rosella in the aviary but think up a new aviary design with new dimensions. i could do without the cockatiel but im having trouble choosing between the princess parrot and the kakariki....rosella STAYS lol:red:

I agree that you may want to start with a couple of birds. Of course, the decision is ultimately yours to make, but acquiring 4 new birds all at once sounds like a large undertaking. If it were me personally, I would probably choose the princess parrot over the kakariki, but it all depends on what you're looking for in a bird.

 

[IcyWolf]

I can't be of any help with ideas on them getting along as I have never kept different species in the same cage but I can say that I have never known or really even heard of anyone that has aviary birds that are hand tame. Not to say you can't try but I think you may want to be prepared for an aviary to become more of a look but don't touch situation.

 

[Pedro]

Rosella, not sure of your location, would be great if your in Australia as it's likely you could source all birds from the same place. However i can't see why it won't work if all birds are of the same age & sex. It is also better to release all the birds into the aviary at the same time. But you would also need to have a plan B just in case you have a bit of aggression. Set your aviary up as a enrichment cage with lots of boings, perches & tree branches to hid & play in.

Icy Wolf, It's also possible to have very tame birds in an aviary. Most of my birds live in aviaries & I have the best time playing with them everyday. Only on the weekend I was cleaning in my breeding pair of eclectus aviary, I spent about 30 minutes playing with the male, he was climbing all over me & even laying on his back in my hands. They also have a chick in the nest. My parrots probably are treated the same as your birds except the all live outdoors & not in my house.

 

[IcyWolf]

Icy Wolf, It's also possible to have very tame birds in an aviary. Most of my birds live in aviaries & I have the best time playing with them everyday. Only on the weekend I was cleaning in my breeding pair of eclectus aviary, I spent about 30 minutes playing with the male, he was climbing all over me & even laying on his back in my hands. They also have a chick in the nest. My parrots probably are treated the same as your birds except the all live outdoors & not in my house.

That's awesome! I hope no one thought I was saying it was impossible, it just seems like more often than not, aviary birds aren't as tame as individual, caged birds are. And I know rosellas are notorious for being a bit wild to begin with.

 

[MikeyTN]

My aviary birds were quite friendly when im in it. I play with them in there quite often when I used to have a walk in aviary years ago. But I was keeping keets and tiels.

 

[rosella]

I agree that you may want to start with a couple of birds. Of course, the decision is ultimately yours to make, but acquiring 4 new birds all at once sounds like a large undertaking. If it were me personally, I would probably choose the princess parrot over the kakariki, but it all depends on what you're looking for in a bird.

the more i think about it the more i like what your saying lol, it would be quite a hard job looking after 4 birds right away and taming all four and it could take quite some time to give each one daily attention so i might even start with just one......just wondering what the princess parrot has over the kakariki?

I can't be of any help with ideas on them getting along as I have never kept different species in the same cage but I can say that I have never known or really even heard of anyone that has aviary birds that are hand tame. Not to say you can't try but I think you may want to be prepared for an aviary to become more of a look but don't touch situation.

i have seen it being done and to be honest my "aviary" won't exactly be a huge aviary....i guess more of a really large cage and i think giving them more freedom within their cage/aviary would cause them to love me even more....although i agree that it can backfire and make them even more feral

Rosella, not sure of your location, would be great if your in Australia as it's likely you could source all birds from the same place. However i can't see why it won't work if all birds are of the same age & sex. It is also better to release all the birds into the aviary at the same time. But you would also need to have a plan B just in case you have a bit of aggression. Set your aviary up as a enrichment cage with lots of boings, perches & tree branches to hid & play in.

Icy Wolf, It's also possible to have very tame birds in an aviary. Most of my birds live in aviaries & I have the best time playing with them everyday. Only on the weekend I was cleaning in my breeding pair of eclectus aviary, I spent about 30 minutes playing with the male, he was climbing all over me & even laying on his back in my hands. They also have a chick in the nest. My parrots probably are treated the same as your birds except the all live outdoors & not in my house.

I WISH I LIVED IN AUSTRALIA!!!! but i live in canada....believe me i love it here but here its really easy to find conures,budgies and cockatiels and everything else is a little more difficult to source. thats a cute story and thats exactly how i want my aviary birds to react to me when i come and see them.

That's awesome! I hope no one thought I was saying it was impossible, it just seems like more often than not, aviary birds aren't as tame as individual, caged birds are. And I know rosellas are notorious for being a bit wild to begin with.

i think the reason for this is because with more freedom they prefer to be alone in their aviary as opposed to coming out because with an already large space they don't feel the need to make contact with us. and unfortunately i have to agree that rosellas are notorious for being a difficult bird to work with but i think with some TLC they will make amazing pets.

My aviary birds were quite friendly when im in it. I play with them in there quite often when I used to have a walk in aviary years ago. But I was keeping keets and tiels.

thats some good and encouraging information. im starting to like the idea of an aviary even more.....but keets and tiels are way easier to tame down than rosellas so i may be dealing with a difficult idea. i could start all my birds in a cage and after bonding for a month or two i could release them into the larger aviary.....but i might just stick with one bird at first and then ill rearange the aviary and reintroduce both birds {such as is done with tropical fish} so they both have a fresh start in a new aviary.



what does everyone think?

 

[MikeyTN]

So that you know when you introduce them into a Aviary, they may freak out. I highly suggest on leaving a night light on for them. Then I slowly wean them off night light.

 

[IcyWolf]

I love hearing that you guys had such a better experience. And the more I think about it, you guys are much more knowledgeable and experienced than the few people that I have known who had aviary birds. I really hope you are successful and I'm sure your birds will be much happier being in a place where they can really spread their wings. We have a greenhouse attached to our house that I really would love to turn into a daytime summer aviary but unfortunately most of our birds are less than friendly with each other.:20:

 

[Anna]

With my two rosies I am keeping them in small cages till they learn basic taming and training e.g. step up. I have larger cages in my shed in flat packs ready to go so that when the babies are tame enough I can give them a bit more space. Maybe you could try it that way. Get the hardest to tame first and work with them, then the easier ones and when they are all tame put them in the communal cage. The benefit of this is that you could also see how they all interact together by letting them have supervised time out together in your house.

While I don't plan on keeping them caged together I am hoping I can eventually have two tame rosies, a tame tiel and a tame lovebird all able to have time out together. It is a shame you don't live in Australia, I could get you a rosie (the sibling of my rosies) to work with. As it is, I may end up with 3 rosies instead of 2.

 

[rosella]

So that you know when you introduce them into a Aviary, they may freak out. I highly suggest on leaving a night light on for them. Then I slowly wean them off night light.

good idea, i think they would freak from all the space because they would not know what is in there with them lol

I love hearing that you guys had such a better experience. And the more I think about it, you guys are much more knowledgeable and experienced than the few people that I have known who had aviary birds. I really hope you are successful and I'm sure your birds will be much happier being in a place where they can really spread their wings. We have a greenhouse attached to our house that I really would love to turn into a daytime summer aviary but unfortunately most of our birds are less than friendly with each other.:20:

its always good to hear encouraging information and i think they would be much happier aswell. i like your idea of turning the green house into a daytime aviary but aside from the birds aggression towards each other i would worry about ventilation and heat and since its a green house im assuming it gets a fair amount of sunlight....that could be dangerous

With my two rosies I am keeping them in small cages till they learn basic taming and training e.g. step up. I have larger cages in my shed in flat packs ready to go so that when the babies are tame enough I can give them a bit more space. Maybe you could try it that way. Get the hardest to tame first and work with them, then the easier ones and when they are all tame put them in the communal cage. The benefit of this is that you could also see how they all interact together by letting them have supervised time out together in your house.

While I don't plan on keeping them caged together I am hoping I can eventually have two tame rosies, a tame tiel and a tame lovebird all able to have time out together. It is a shame you don't live in Australia, I could get you a rosie (the sibling of my rosies) to work with. As it is, I may end up with 3 rosies instead of 2.

that is exactly my plan, i want to give them a smaller cage so that they will bond easier with me and when i feel that we are sufficiently bonded i can release them into the larger aviary because if i released them directly into the aviary i would be constantly chasing them around and that would severely damage our relationship off the bat. i like the idea of getting the hardest to tame first which is undoubtably the rosella and then comes the princess parrot or the kakariki so that would work for me. thank you so much for the offer, i WISH!!!! i lived in australia {such a beautiful place}, if i did i would have been there to take the rosie within 2 seconds of this post lol...and i wouldnt think 3 rosellas is bad .....im dieing for ONE lol