Well in case you end up getting finches in the future...
I know they need their own specific feed and can't easily eat hookbill seeds, but can they tacke crushed budgie pellets? I've crushed mine into fine powder or my birds don't touch it, so the size isn't an issue.
I feed my society pair fresh sprouted seeds and pellets specific to finches. The pellets are more of a backup as they prefer their fresh foods first.
Vegetable-wise, what do they need? I've heard they need a lot of leafy greens.
I feed them a little bit of everything both fruits and vegetables cut up very small so they can easily pick at it, but their hands down favorite are leafy greens, corn on the cob, and sprouted seeds.
I've heard they like jingly bells and swings. Are there other toys they might like?
My pair does have several toys, bells, and such available but they're not crazy about them. I do hear bells jingle every once in awhile, but its not from them playing with them, more just landing on them.
Letting them out and about with my parrots would be a bad idea, right? Would keeping them in their cage while my lovebirds fly free in my bedroom/bird room be okay once they're out of quarantine, or should I just not even take that chance?
Yeah probably a good idea. My finches live with their foster sister (Lada - Female eclectus parrot). They of course have separate cages and for the longest time I tried to keep them separate, but both they're cages are open pretty much throughout the day if I am home as I have conditioned them to keep to the kitchen. Lately the finches like to sometimes go inside Lada's cage. At first Lada definitely didn't like this and I prevented it as much as I could, but now, they pretty much keep away from each other and don't mind each others company. They will sit together relatively close, but Lada still gets a little nervous sometimes when they start flying around her. 99% of the time though, everyone is happy. I do worry about the one time one of the finches accidentally flies right into Lada's face. That may end badly and as a result, I usually shoo the finches out of her cage if they get a little too adventurous. At the end of the day though, I have an unusually chill parrot so please be careful if you try this.
Is four months old too old for hand-taming?
Never too old in my opinion and I have had both good and bad experience with my pair. It is a LOT of work no matter what you do.
Do I need to grate their cuttlebone, or can they scrape it like parrots?
Nope, they will chew it up just fine on their own. I have crushed it in the past though. They would still sometimes go back to the intact bone even with the crushed bone underneath.
Is there a way to tell if they're actually both boys? Even if they weren't related, I don't want eggs. I have a second empty cage I can use if they're not the same sex, but I'd prefer to keep them together. I don't particularly care about song, either. They just need a home and I'm willing to give it to them.
The males will sing. With time you will know. If you want to be double sure, you can do a feather or blood test. By the way, my mated pair live together just fine without eggs. There are methods to prevent egg laying. Just remove anything that encourages nesting behavior and most of the time, that will fix the issue. Could go into a lot more detail here of course, but just look into this in the future if you have a need.
Should I cover their cages at night like I do with my parrots?
I started out covering them, but don't any longer. I then just started turning off the lights downstairs to not disturb them. Over time it became apparent that they had their favorite sleeping spots in the cage and a favorite bedtime and even if I was still working in the kitchen, they would snuggle up and pass out. They now sleep through some of the noisiest things imaginable lol. Of course I don't intentionally go out of my way to keep it loud and bright in the kitchen late at night, but I don't necessarily tip toe around them anymore. Once they decide to snuggle up for the night and go to bed, that's it lol, they are out for the night and nothing I can do will get them up. Even giving them a little pet usually has them peeking up at me, making a meh expression, and snuggling down again. I guess what I am saying is eventually they will get very comfortable in whatever environment you provide them and they will form a routine. My pair get plenty of sleep, plenty of exercise, eat better than I do, and are very happy little finches
Do they need grit? I'm seeing conflicting information and I don't want to get them sick. I have none of my birds on the stuff, but I can easily get some if I need it.
No, they do not need grit.
Hope this helps answer your questions. Visit my YouTube channel "AtomiFlock" to see for example their cage setup, routine, habits, etc.
Cheers
Can’t wait to see pictures!
