At the moment, the following species of bird live in the aviary:
– Japanese quails
– zebra finches
– house finches
– canaries
– Java sparrows
– diamond doves
– Bengalese finches
Aviary birds in the wild
Canaries like the ones in the aviary cannot be found in the wild. But in Limburg, the serin can still be found in the wild. It likes to live in parks, orchards, and cemeteries.
The quail can also be found outside the aviary, on farmland. They live in the Netherlands during their breeding season from the end of April until the end of July. They spend the rest of the year in warmer climes; in southern Europe or even in the Sahel.
Care of aviary birds
Employees of the Daalhoeve farm come to take care of the birds daily. They change their water, keep the sand clean and raked, top up food, and bring in fresh greens. During the breeding season, the birds are also given so-called ‘egg food’, a mix of egg yolk and seeds. This has a higher concentration of proteins and gives them extra energy.
Every week, the aviary is thoroughly cleaned. The perches and walls are given a good wash.
Twice a year, the birds are dewormed (before and after the breeding season) using a special remedy that is mixed in the drinking water.
There are few plants in the aviary because of the simple fact that most plants die quite quickly. The reason for this is that the birds often sit on the tips of the plants, peck at the tips, and severely damage the plants.
Reproduction in the aviary
The birds can also reproduce in the aviary, so the number of birds varies from year to year. From March to October, nesting boxes hang in the aviary. The diamond doves cannot get enough of it; they breed one after the other. Canaries and zebra finches often breed in the nesting boxes. The Japanese quails regularly lay eggs, but they have never hatched. The employees do not know if this is because their brooding is too inconsistent (the eggs must be rotated regularly by the adult birds) or that the eggs simply are not fertilized. The Bengalese finch cannot reproduce, because there is only one in the aviary. It does sit on one of the canaries’ nests regularly.
If there are chicks in the aviary, the parents feed them with a mush that they make in their mouths from seed and vegetables. The chicks are unable to eat seed like adult birds do.
