Just ask anyone in the Franklin area, directions to the Bird Farm, and they'll probably know where to send you. That's what all the locals know it as. I built my large aviary building in 1981, but even before then local people called the place, The Franklin Bird Farm. Today my main bird house contains 76 walk-in flight cages. As you walk down the central hall way, there are cages on either side. Each flight cage is adjacent to the next. Each individual flight measures 12 feet long, 4 feet wide, and 7 feet tall. Most flights contains a variety of birds, Zebras, Javas, Button Quail, and doves, making each one a small community onto itself. Many flights might contain but a single variety of dove, Zebra Finch and Button Quail. I often breed the Zebra Finches in small groups of 3-7 pair depending upon the variety and quality. A few flights contain large numbers of birds, perhaps a couple of dozen. These serve as both holding flights for larger birds and breeding flights for finches. The feed is placed in large circular pans on the floor of the flight; usually there are two pans, one with finch mix, the other with dove mix. There is a feeding platform about 4 feet above the floor near the entrance door. This platform is used for placing daily rations of nesting food and to hold the containers of grit and egg shell. The flights all have concrete floors with pine shavings as litter. The flight cages are scraped clean periodically, as needed. This usually means they are cleaned 3-4 times per year depending upon the number of birds housed in each cage. Nesting material is placed loosely on the floor for finches to use as they need it. In winter living potted plants often are stored in the flights.
I also have two additional smaller buildings which house over 200 breeding cages for my choice Zebra Finches, and my large collection of Society Finches. The Society finches occupy both buildings and the total number of breeding cages devoted to Societies is 155. Each Society Finch cage is 18" across X12" tall X10 "deep. I have about 40 larger cages for the Zebras. Each of these cages is 20" X 18" X18".
