While providing your finches a healthy diet and a clean cage is a great way to keep them healthy, there are many times when your finches get sick anyway. If this happens, it is important to take decisive action to identify the symptoms of the disease so that you can take your bird to the avian vet and tell him what is happening. The sooner you can take note of symptoms and seek treatment for your finches, the better their chances of a full recovery.
However, in addition to this, there are many steps you can take to protect your finches from potential illnesses. The most important thing to do is keep their cage clean. Below you will find an overview of the recommended daily, weekly, and monthly cleaning tasks for your finch cage.
Daily Cleaning Tasks
On a daily basis, you need to replace the finch cage liner, clean the food and water dishes, and clean and refresh your birdbath. You may also want to clean your bird’s toys and accessories if they get dirty.
Because the cage liner needs to be changed daily, you may want to use newspaper to line the cage instead of buying cage liners; this will save you a lot of money. Another trick to save time is to place several layers of newspaper on the bottom of the cage. Then when it’s time to clean, you can simply remove the top layer.
When it comes to cleaning the food and water bowls, as well as the birdbath, it is necessary to clean and disinfect the object. Wash dishes in hot soapy water, then rinse well. To sanitize, soak dishes in a mixture of 1/2 cup bleach in 1 gallon of water. Let the dishes soak for 5-10 minutes, then rinse well and dry completely before refilling and placing them back in the cage. Daily cleaning and disinfection are very important.
Weekly And Monthly Cleaning Tasks
In addition to cleaning the finch cage accessories on a daily basis, you should clean the entire cage thoroughly once a week. If you have only one finch (not recommended), you may be able to wait and clean the cage only every two weeks or even once a month.
However, for multiple finches, it is best to clean the cage weekly. To do this, you will need to take your birds to a safe place; you’ll want to keep a backup cage for this purpose.
To clean the cage, remove anything that is not permanently attached and clean the items individually with hot, soapy water. Again, sanitize everything with a bleach solution, then rinse well and dry them completely. To clean the cage itself, you must use a bird-safe disinfectant spray and clean the entire cage. Once the accessories are clean, disinfected, and dry, you can reassemble the cage.
Quarantine New Birds Before Introducing
Depending on the species you choose, you may be able to keep multiple finches together. If this is something you are considering, the best thing to do is buy them while they are still young and raise them together.
However, if you decide to add new birds later, you will need to quarantine the new bird to ensure that it does not introduce any disease.
Here are some tips for quarantining new birds:
- Quarantine is always recommended for new birds; this practice should not be reserved for breeders.
- The new bird must be completely isolated during quarantine; keep it in a completely separate room, if possible.
- Turn off the air conditioning/heating to and from the quarantine room to avoid air pollution; you may need to draw in fresh air from outside with a fan.
- Keep a close eye on your bird during the quarantine period for signs of illness.
- Maintain quarantine long enough to ensure that any illness ends its incubation period; this could take up to six weeks.
- During quarantine, be very careful not to share accessories or tools between the two cages; You should also be careful about changing your clothes and washing your hands.
- Only if your bird shows no signs of illness after the six-week quarantine can it be considered safe to introduce him to your other canary.
If your new finches successfully make it through the quarantine period without incident, you can take the necessary steps to get them into their cage.
Again, this is a process that should not be rushed for the safety and well-being of all your birds. You can start by placing the two cages in the same room so the birds can get used to each other from afar, then slowly bring the cages closer together over a period of several weeks and give the birds limited time together in a shared flight cage.
When you are ready to permanently combine the birds, make sure the cage is completely clean and arranged so that each bird can have its own territory.