Chook Me!

I want to build a a large bird cage, one that I can walk around in, something?

like a chicken coop that I can sit in and play with them. If I decide to get chickens later will they beat up the smaller birds or do they live in harmony? Also will they freeze at night since it sometimes drops to 30 degrees at night? I mainly just want finches, doves, and parakeets, and a couple lovebirds, maybe chickens later on

Public Comments

1. All of those need their own cages. You can't just let them all in together unless you have something the size of a soccer field, planted with trees, with enough space for all of the birds to hide from each other. Some of those species just aren't compatable. You need to do some more research into birds. Making a cage isn't hard. There are several websites.
2. Chickens would work with doves but not the other birds. Lovebirds cannot be with smaller birds or non-hookbill birds. You can have an aviary with doves, finches, a male canary, Rosy or Bourke's Parakeets, and for the bottom, instead of the chickens, try Button Quail. 30 F is too cold. 45 F is about as low as you should go. You can design an effective aviary heating system using hot water pumped in under the floor. Look up aviary plans on the net. Good luck-it's a fun project.
3. Chickens need their own coop and they need to be let out to roam daily. The other birds would be fine together as long as you have enough space. We have lovebirds with finches in a very large aviary and they respect eachothers space. As for the temperature, some finches especially need to be bought in over winter or they will certainly die. It seems a bit cold unless you have a heat lamp in one end.
4. This is called a flight cage or an aviary. All the birds you mentioned can be kept together as long as the cage is at least 12' x 12' and you don't put too many birds in at once. However, no chickens. You will have to build a place for them. Finches, lovebirds, parakeets, and doves will be ok together. I see it in aviaries all the time at zoos and other places. The thing is to have some shade, some bushes that they can hide in, nest boxes, many food and water dishes. Now, I'm gonna tell you what is gonna happen if it isn't kept clean...everyday clean it. The food and poop is gonna attract mice and rats. Mice and rats are gonna attract snakes. Snakes will eat your birds in a heart beat. They will crawl into the nest boxes and eat the birds and the eggs. I work for a very large bird breeder. Most of our birds are inside in huge buildings with different pens that contain cages. There are some other breeders in the area that have all of their birds in pens and cages outside, and they have a terrible time with the rats. They have done everything they know, and have spent a lot of money trying to make everything rat proof, but because there are so many birds and so much food, they still have rats. My point is that if you do this, keep it simple, don't put too many birds in, and above all keep it clean at all times. As for the temperture, as long as it doesn't get any colder than 30 degrees they will be ok.
5. I'm not sure you could leave them out at night.