I often see new finch keepers asking about what type of cage to buy for their new pets or will a certain cage be big enough for the birds they are getting. In my opinion, the simple answer is to buy the biggest cage you can – then you have room to buy more finches!
I have also had a few different cages myself before my flight was up and running. So here I am going to look at the pros and cons of some of the most popular.
Liberta Lotus Large Cage
The Liberta Lotus is a tall, slender that is 90cm in height so is one of the tallest available in the UK. It has the right bar spacings for finches and a base size of 46×39.9cm. It is recommended for finches as well as canaries, budgies and even bigger birds such as lovebirds.
The door system features two very large doors on each half of the cage, each of which has three smaller doors in it – one for each of the four feeding stations and an extra in the centre of each. When keeping finches, using the smaller doors reduces the risk of an escapee!
My opinion – great value cage, not the sturdiest bars but if you are planning to keep finches or canaries, this isn’t an issue. Plenty of height for them to fly around the good mess reduction methods.
Vision Cage – Various sizes
The Vision cage range come in three different sizes and two heights so there is a cage for many spaces. The small short or single height cage is 50.8cm high and has a base that is 38.1×48.3cm so is longer than the Lotus cage.
The cage also has a clear plastic section between the bars and the base to help minimalize mess. The three sections of the cage can be taken apart to help with cleaning – the solid base, the plastic section then the bar section.
Bar spacings on the small and medium cages are perfect for little finches as well as bigger birds. There are doors on each side that allow access to the feeding stations provided and two doors at the front in the centre that open independently.
My opinion – mostly, my favourite types of cages. While there are some little issues like the horizontal bars, they are very sturdy, easy to use and come in a whole range of sizes for different species. We always have one in the shed, just in case.
Liberta Jintu Cage
This is another Liberta cage and is slightly taller than the first one. Plus it has a bit more style to it so if you want a good size home for your finches that also looks nice for the living room, it has the style for it.
It is 104cm high and 40cm wide with 51cm depth. The bar spacing are 1cm so fine for most smaller finches. There are four feeding points, each with their own door to allow easy access. Then there are the two large doors with smaller inner doors.
The very top area is an ideal place for a nest to hang, although I would do this before you put the birds in and finish putting the cage together or it can be tricky.
My opinion – I liked this cage but found it was a little harder to work with than the first Liberta one. Sure, it looked nicer and was plenty tall enough for a few finches. But the ornate section caused a few issues to use for anything apart from a perch or two.
Finch space
These are three cages I have personally used and they are all of a good size. There are much smaller cages on the market that are reasonably priced and look nice but the only problem I have with them is that they aren’t really spacious.
Remember, these may be small birds but they need room to flying around. And even if you keep two birds of the same sex, most will like to roost in a nest at night and need to bath daily so one or both of these may need to be inside the cage.
If you only have a small cage, adding a nest box won’t leave much room for the finches. And of course no room to add more finches…
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