British Birds In Avicuture - an indepth view of breeding British softbill & hardbills

Finch & Canary Nests Bowls by Bernard Williams

I use two types of nest sites for breeding in my shed, the one on the left is for British Bird pairs and mule and hybrid pairs where the female is a finch, the standard bowl on the right is for my canaries and mule pairs where the female is a canary.
Finches require a more natural nest bowl but canaries are less fussy and a standard bowl is adequate.
Below I will describe the way to make the nest site on the left for the finch species and the type of bowl I use for my canaries

To make the Finch nest site I use in my cages you will first need 1 piece of 4mm plywood, 130mm wide by 115mm high, sloped on both sides with a screw slot in the centre top,
and 1 piece of 10mm ply, 130mm wide by 100mm deep, drilled with holes in each corner and 2 holes in the centre 30mm apart, then glue and panel pin them together. Then using a standard wicker basket fix the basket by bending the piece of wire that comes with the basket into a u shape, push it through the nest basket and through the 2 centre holes in the base of the wooden frame and twist them from underneath tightly using pliers, then in the 4 corner holes push a small branch of evergreen shrub, the picture on the right is using artificial christmas tree this can be washed and reused year after year, a tip I picked up from a good friend Jeff Hulme

I use plastic bowls with holes in the bottom for ventilation and a felt liner.
I glue in the liner with 4 dots of silicone sealer and leave overnight to dry.
The liner will pull out easily after the breeding cycle, it also pays to spray the liner with a good anti mite spray.
Behind the nest bowl I fit a 6"square of plastic tile, between the bowl and the cage,
this helps to keep the cage side clean from faeces that the young deposit.

Fit a 6" square of linoleum tile with a hole in the middle over the screw in the side of the cage then fit the bowl to keep the cage clean.