Frequently Asked Questions
What is the best bird species for beginners?
There is no right or wrong answer to this, as it is influenced by multiple factors. Those include:
- Your budget - both purchase price and upkeep.
- Time available for that bird (both long and short term)
- Purpose: Do you want a hands-on pet or not?
- Space for them
For a hands-on pet, more intelligent species with longer life-spans are recommended, such as parrots or parakeets. If you would like birds for an aviary in the garden, maybe a finch or softbill is better.
However, these are my general suggestions:
- Parakeet: Budgerigar, Lineolated, Cockatiel, Lovebird (x2), Conure.
- Finch: Canary, Zebra Finch, Bengalese Finch, Silverbill, Java Sparrow.
- Softbill: Pekin Robin, Bearded Reedling.
What size cage does my bird need?
This is entirely based on the species you intend to keep, and how many you keep. A parrot requires more room than a canary, which is based on both bird size and its activity.
My suggestion is to provide as large as possible, which gives the birds the maximum room. Cages which provide more height than width are not recommended, as birds spend more time flying side-to-side than flying to a single perch up high. Here are a few dimensions for general rules:
- Finch = 2ft long x 1ft tall x 1ft wide MINIMUM (e.g. canary, zebra finch)
- Parakeet = 3ft long x 2ft tall x 2ft wide MINIMUM (e.g. budgerigar, lineolated, lovebird)
- Parrot = 6ft long x 6ft tall x 3ft wide MINIMUM (e.g. African grey, Amazon)
Please do bear in mind that this does depend on how much time you are willing to allow that bird free-flight out of its cage. If your bird will be allowed out for several hours per day consistently, then a smaller more practical holding cage would be suitable; but still enough for the bird to stay active.
Why aren't my birds breeding?
There are multiple factors to consider as to why birds aren't breeding, here is a checklist:
- Are they of reproductive age?
- This differs with each species, but expect finches to breed from approximately 8-10 months, parakeets from 1-2 years, and parrots from 3-4 years.
- Is it breeding season?
- All birds have breeding seasons which are usually influenced by light, humidity, temperature and the availability of high-quality food. This may deviate in captivity, but still check when each species natural breeding season is.
- Are they a pair?
- Often peopel may incorrectly identify a bird sex, or even buy pairs which turn out to be two males or two females. My recommendation is to have them DNA sexed. This is relatively inexpensive (usually £8/birds) and non intrusive (via feather samples). This way you can verify you have a pair, particularly important in non-dimorphic species.
- Have they got enough space?
- This is a simple mistake, where minimal space does not allow the birds to perform natural behaviours or escape their partner in the event of aggression. For most species, when breeding, aviaries are better than cages, although there are some exceptions in species like budgies and canaries.