Finches and canaries suit owners who love watching and listening to birds rather than handling them. They are active, sociable little birds that bring colour and song to a home, and with the right setup they are relatively easy to care for.
Space to fly
These are flying birds, not climbers, so they need a long, wide flight cage or aviary rather than a tall narrow one — horizontal space matters most. Provide perches of varying widths at different heights, but leave clear room across the middle for flight. They are generally hands-off birds and do not need taming.
Company and diet
- Finches are social and should usually be kept in pairs or small groups; a lone finch is often unhappy.
- Canaries can be kept singly, and males are the famous singers.
- Feed a quality finch or canary seed mix supplemented with fresh greens, egg food in moulting season, and a cuttlebone for calcium.
Daily care
Provide fresh water for drinking and a shallow dish for bathing, which they love. Keep the cage clean and out of draughts and direct sun. Watch for fluffed-up posture, inactivity or laboured breathing, which signal illness in these small birds — they hide sickness well, so any change warrants a prompt avian-vet check.