Abstract
As with most novice bird raisers, this writer's enthusiasm far outstripped his knowledge. If it had feathers, I had to have it. Fortunately, my limited bankroll stopped me from turning what had become a complicated situation into a disaster. All of this is just a sneaky way of leading into the real subject of this article - the keeping of more than one species of birds in each flight of aviary.
Game birds and waterfowl were my first love and have remained my old faithful, so to speak. Those of you who have observed the quiet elegance of Mountain Quail, the brilliant colors of Golden and Tragopan Pheasants or, if you have been in the right place at the right time and seen the territorial or courting display of Mandarin Ducks of Palawan Peacock Pheasants, will understand my feeling for this group of birds.
We now have the proverbial fly entering the ointment ... having game birds, but at the same 'time coveting psittacines, softbills, and finches, and having pen space for only one or the other. For me this was not unlike having to make a decision between Farrah Fawcett or Racquel Welch. As must be obvious to you by now a man, or a lady for that matter, does not make a decision as monumental as this one on the spur of the moment. He throws his hands up in the air and cries HELP. In my case the cry was answered in the form of one Francis Billie, a gentleman endowed with the patience of a Saint, who towed me through his aviaries and answered as many of my inane questions as humanly possible.
It soon was apparent to even a thick skull like me that Francis and his wife Erma were not just collectors of birds but able to identify different species and to tell a cock from a hen, but had a profound knowledge of the birds behavioral characteristics ... not just of a species as a whole, but of individual birds within that species. By the time I had tried the Billie's patience to the breaking point and Francis had shown me the door, it was clear that yes, you could mix birds - but no, there were no pat answers ... only generalities.
In the 10 years that have passed since my first cry for help, more aviaries have been built slowly and more birds acquired quickly - with the end result being 27 p-ns ranging in size from 3 x 8 x 8 ft to 25 x 35 x 12 ft housing fifty-six species and eighty one varieties of quail, pheasant, parrots, ducks, doves, finches and soft bills.
Now for specifics. My usual practice is to put a pair of gallinaceous or other ground birds in the pen first. After a week or 10 days, I add a pair of arboreal birds such as doves, finches or small parrots. Birds should only be introduced when you have the time to observe them closely for a few days. I will then pay close attention to the newly integrated aviary early in the morning or late in the evening, periodically for about a month. If after this length of time, open warfare has not broken out, you can assume you have compatible birds. It is also good practice during the breeding season to watch for overly aggressive behavior. If at any time I observe serious aggressive action by a bird or pair of birds against other birds in the aviary, I immediately separate them.
It has been this writer's experience that the larger the pen the better if you wish to mix birds, and that extreme caution should be used when trying to integrate any birds in a pen smaller than 6 x 12 ft; keeping in mind that we provide our captive birds their only environment and, unlike our government's social experiments, our birds can't move if they don't like their new neighbors. Common sense will tell us large or extremely aggressive hook bidls should always be kept by themselves, or that if you put Cranes and finches together you're going to wind up with fat...