Miggy Posted August 31, 2012 Share Posted August 31, 2012 We have a nice big WIR that is 15ft long and 4ft wide and 6ft5 high. As our 3 hens live on the ground I wondered if it would be possible to have a couple of Budgies or Parraketts living in there as well. Anyone tried this? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plum Posted August 31, 2012 Share Posted August 31, 2012 Interesting thought. Mine chase blackbirds so there may be some bullying if they were to go down to low level. Shall watch this thread with interest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
surf_space Posted August 31, 2012 Share Posted August 31, 2012 I went to a garden centre the other day and they had this set up. Three white silkies on the ground- with perches and plants, then zebra finches and budgies flying at the top- with a built in nest box above the chickens coop and other mini nest boxes around the edges (they also had a high feeding platform for the flying birds). It look like it worked well and all the birds looked happy, although I suspect it would take a lot of cleaning out from time to time. Hope this helps Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chortle Chook Posted August 31, 2012 Share Posted August 31, 2012 This sounds fascinating and very pretty. I expect that you would need to use birds similar to those that the garden centre seems to have used i.e. gentle chicken breeds and birdies that don't come down to the ground very much. I have doves and chickens together and they all mind their own business but when the doves do come down they are clearly lower in any pecking order so I don't think it would be a good idea to effectively cage them together. (They all FR together in my garden). I think you would also need to watch numbers or the poor chickens would be pooped on rather a lot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Egluntyne Posted August 31, 2012 Share Posted August 31, 2012 I'd be concerned about the transfer of disease from one species to the other. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HennyPenny59 Posted August 31, 2012 Share Posted August 31, 2012 For me personally it would be a bit stressful ... Everytime I would see a Budgie or a Parakeet land on the ground of the run, I would be running out to make sure that the chickens leave it alone, but I am a bit of a worrier with things like that Is there anywhere in your garden you could have a separate aviary for them? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
