Finches vs. Canaries

[Ziekenzie]

Hello everyone. Currently, I'm choosing between some finches or canaries. I've heard good things about both, but I was wondering what you guys thought. I'd prefer a bird that was on the larger side and it would be great if they were known for getting along with other birds. Also, I'd love to hear everyone's experiences with their finches or canaries! To those who have had both, which one did you prefer more?

Thank you in advance!

 

[FeatheredM]

I don't have any, but @finchly might be able to help

 

[Sparkles99]

I’ve never had either, but like both.

 

[Zara]

 

[fashionfobie]

I do not have experience with canaries, but I do have two zebra finches.

I simply adore them. I love their antics, their vocalisations and they are beautiful/cute. Zebra finches are small only around (12g) each. They are not birds that typically like being handled, nor should they really be since they are so tiny. However handling isn't that important. They do get comfortable with you and my finch Zippy will follow me around. He doesn't perch on me, but will perch close and watch what I'm doing on the computer. He is a very curious guy. Zebra finches should have a pretty roomy cage or aviary so they can fly within it. They are grainivores and finch diets are easy to feed. Make sure you have at least a unique eating port per bird (I have a two port feeder for 2birds and no fighting ever happens over food). You can also give them some fresh veggies, my guys really like pea shoots. For toys they like branches with leaves on them, and will rip the leaves off. They will also pull on and rip up toys that have natural fibers or paper. They also benefit from some open pan foraging with some hemp or birch chips, that they can search for seeds in. Zebra finches can be kept as 2 birds or 6+ bird. If you have 3,4 or 5- they can fight and bully the others. Zebra finches are generally easy to sex the males have orange cheeks, the females do not. I personally keep two males, so I don't need to worry about eggs. If you have females they could overlay eggs which is dangerous to their health (so don't keep nests) if you keep a male and female together they can breed rapidly and in a year you could have 40birds. If you keep a male and female don't keep nests. Breeding is a serious undertaking and not something you should intend to do until/unless you get experience with a mentor or someone who can guide you. Especially when you consider that getting homes and cages for all the babies, it is actually very expensive to have breeding finches.

All in all I have had zebra finches for 3years, I love them. I couldn't imagine my house without their lovely little beep sounds and happy little songs. They are wonderful birds who take good care of each other.




Someday I may get another enclosure and also keep Bengalese finches (or society finches). They are really neat, a domesticated finch. I don't have experience with them yet, just Bengalese finch curious

 

[Ziekenzie]

Thank you everyone for sharing your experiences! Please keep them coming!

 

[Kate&Bean]

I have two zebra finches (m/f) and they are fun and sweet! They buzz around quite a bit and for me their fast paced life did give me a little anxiety for a minute. I was nervous to get a canary- I was worried it would get lonely. I’m not sure what I’d get if I could do it again. I have to worry about my finches having babies but they also keep each other company so I guess it’s a toss up ! Canaries seem a little more into interaction but I never had one so I’m not sure.

 

[.........]

I have both and I really have a hard time saying which I like best,
The zebra finches are (very) active, and they beep and sing all day. They're pretty brave but more cautious than my canaries and will generally follow each other, and also more likely to revert to their instincts (flying away usually) in stressful situations, while the canaries are more likely to keep calm and cool. One of my male canaries sits there and sings his heart out all day, my other presumed male doesn't sing pretty much at all. My canaries are much more willing to try new things, especially fresh foods, but the zebra finches are not at all fussy in my experience. The canaries are more likely to have a small bond with their owner, such as recognizing you and getting excited for feeding time, ect and are a bit more intelligent than zebra finches in my opinion, not to say zebra finches are not smart though, as they certainly are and can learn things too. They squabble about the same amount, although canaries will fight less often but more aggressively, and the zebra's squabble more and less aggressively,I don't feel the urge to step in to these fights since nobody ever gets hurt and it only lasts for a few seconds. The diets are about the same. You can keep both together inside of an aviary but I don't recommend it inside of a cage, although some people have successfully caged them it really depends on the individual personalities.

 

[Kate&Bean]

I have always wondered if anyone had ever kept them together !! This is literally the only time I’ve ever heard of it. It is like a dream of mine so I’ve googled it more than is probably normal lol

 

[Rædwalda]

I keep two Canarys (M/F) and 9 Finches together in an indoor aviary and I've had 3 more Finches who died (I buy all my birds unwanted/neglected so some were not in the best condition).

You'll need a large cage for Finches, and personally I recommend keeping at least 6 so they get the interaction of a full flock instead of just keeping them as a pair. Also if you have just 2 you need to think about what happens if one of them dies as the other one will not want to be alone.

You also need to think about the breeding, egg-laying is tough on the females. The best way to deal with this is to provide only perches, and no nesting or nesting materials whatsoever, that way the birds will still have sex, but the females wont lay any eggs.

If you have a big enough enclosure, you could keep Finches and Canaries together, mine do really well.

My first Canary lived alone for about three months, and he seemed to do fine, but when I added the Finches I think he was a lot happier (then recently I added the new Canary and they have paired off)

I can post pics, videos, or more information another time, or if you have any questions I will do my best to answer.

 

[Rædwalda]

I should add I get the occasional egg (usually a few in a row) laid in the food bowls. I personally remove my food bowls every evening to empty and clean for the next day, and the birds all know this, so I figure it's fair enough, I know from experience they will abandon the egg in the food bowl come night time to sleep on their perches and wont keep the egg warm anyway. Any eggs I get I will feed back to the birds the next day (this is recommended) to give back nutrients, sometimes boiled and then crushed. I also feed boiled chicken egg shell occasionally.

I don't really recommend going with the nest and dummy eggs route, too complicated. Some may slip between the cracks and you end up with hatchlings. You are much better off having them sleep on perches.