Dural Aviary

Well, I have finally finished off the security door for the aviary so I have now put birds in, and opened up both sides of the aviary now. I am very happy with some of the stock that I have now and the clock is ticking for when we get into a property next year and properly begin my breeding program. But for now things are going well.

How to Breed?

Once I had decided that I wanted to breed Selfs I had to work out how I would do it with my aviary set up at home. At the time my enclosure had multiple nesting baskets for my finches, I only had one pair of Bengos and I quickly learned from my friends that I would struggle to successfully breed more than one or two pairs. Generally, when there are a group of Bengalese in a small enclosure like mine they will all try and pile into one nest on top of each other and because of this often breaking eggs and restricting the rearing process of young finches.

 Aside from that in a group like this it is impossible to chose which finch will pair up together so any effective form of selective breeding is not possible.

I decided that I would build a cabinet to selectively breed my pairs of finches and remove all of the nests and nesting materials from the main Aviary and designate that as a holding flight for my flock. Following this I started the process of designing what I would do. Unfortunately since I am living in a unit my ideas were limited to one cabinet but since the Bengalese Mannikin can breed in quite small cages I decided to divide the cabinet in two. Now best practice is to give them more room than this for their condition and fitness but my plan is to rotate the birds into the holding cage after each clutch and not keep a pair in the cabinet for any long duration. You can see in the top image the Budgie cabinet that I selected and when I bought this I also bought two more of the same cage fronts so that I could use the doors. I  put two doors on the front and one as the divider between the two halves so that the whole cabinet could be open if the divider door is open. Next I made a screen to protect the finches from the local Noisy Miners here in Sydney and I did this by making a fly screen like you would have on your house windows you can buy the materials from Bunnings. I have trialed this with my pet shop Bengos and it works quite well. So at this stage I am ready to go!!

Should I join a Finch Club?

I had been completely enjoying my aviary and watching my finches and I quickly discovered that I was now more interested in fiches than I could remember for a while, I guess absence makes the heart grow fonder and after 6 years or so of not being able to keep them I was making the most of this simple pleasure of mine.
After my months of searching and inquiring about Self Bengalese I had almost given up and after some consideration I decided to look into visiting a finch club to meet some like minded people that shared my interest in Finches and possibly the Self Bengalese Mannikin.


In my experience of finches, growing up in my home town Strathalbyn S.A. I had been quite spoilt because during my youth I befriended a couple of men that kept finches and had quite considerable aviaries. I would visit regularly and this would fuel my boyish interest in finches and also expose me to what being a fincho is like.
I visited one of my friends Peter more recently and I've included some images to see. When I first met Peter his aviaries consisted of those pictured in the top image, a long corridor that begins with a bird room that has his seed, hospital cage and some holding flights and then moves off to have multiple aviaries on either side. It was in these aviaries I discovered many of the wonderful finch species that I love today and I would savoir the moments that I would visit and this would help me enjoy my humble Zebras and Bengos that I had in my first Aviary.  


In more recent years Peter had extended his set up to include a very large flight which now has fruit trees vegetables and natural brush. 
I have found myself many times there and enjoying the wonderful and peaceful environment that it creates just watching the finches and blue wrens that he keeps.


It was with confidence that there were other people like Peter here in Sydney that I was considering checking out a Finch or Avicultural Club to find my Self Bengos.

Getting Started

Just to be clear, this Blog is not written with any "significant" experience in the world of Bengalese as some authors on the subject have dedicated many, many years to the study and breeding of these lovely finches (often the Lonchura family in general) and have the earned authority to speak on the subject and be respected for their views following.

My primary drive for attempting to share my opinion about the Bengo is because of my recent investigation into the keeping of these birds.

I have not been keeping finches for the last 6 years or so and prior to that point and they have been a fundamental element of my world since the age of 9 years old. After staring a new life with my lovely wife I had decided that I had been missing having finches around and after a discussion with my wife we both agreed that we would attempt to keep some finches on the balcony of our unit (apartment) in Sydney Australia.

We agreed to set up a medium sized enclosure on the balcony and I quickly engrossed myself with building an aviary that would suit our place.

Below are some images of the enclosure in the build and finished phases. You could almost say that it ended up looking like an antique cabinet.