May 7, 2020 23:43:49 GMT
destinycall
Brand New Budgie
Posts: 65
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Post by destinycall on May 20, 2020 20:02:03 GMT
Inspired by a recent visit to a parakeet aviary at a local wildlife park, I've decide to finally build my own outdoor bird aviary. I have wanted one for many years, but kept putting it off or getting distracted by other projects. I am converting an existing structure - a rarely used greenhouse - into a space dedicated to birds. The greenhouse is 26 feet long, 10 feet wide and roughly eight feet tall at the highest point. The roof and exterior walls are clear polycarbonate panels. It is attached to my garage along one wall and has a gravel floor with raised beds on both sides. Significant modifications would be necessary to make it suitable for birds. The first step was removing the polycarbonate from the long wall and replacing it with plywood siding and coated wire. In the summer, the screened opening will allow greater airflow and ventilation, to prevent overheating. In the winter, I will be covering the screened part to help trap heat. The solid siding will also provide a visual barrier to deter predators from menacing the birds from outside the aviary. I decided to leave polycarbonate in place on the roof and shorter sides. The roof is in good condition and I like the natural light. I live in a rainy climate, so it is very important to provide good shelter against the frequent wet and rainy conditions. Inside the structure, I removed one of the raised planting beds completely, exposing the dirt floor. Here is an interior shot taken after the exterior wall was completed: While cleaning out the unused greenhouse, I saw clear evidence of snakes and burrowing creatures, so installing a solid, dig-proof floor was certainly a very important part of the design. The greenhouse had many small gaps and holes that would need to be properly covered. My area has small nonvenomous gartersnakes and wood rats that would love to eat small birds or bird eggs. We also have larger nocturnal predators, like opossums, raccoons, and cats. During the day, hawks are another potential threat since they can menace caged birds and even kill perched birds through wire or frighten birds into self-injury. And my own dogs could be a problem, if left unattended for too long. For the floor, I initially planned to install a poured concrete floor, but due to technical limitations and cost, I ended up changing my plans to using gravel and concrete pavers. Under the gravel, I will install heavy duty hardware cloth to deter digging animals from burrowing into the aviary. I also installed a large catch basin with a drain, so when I clean the aviary, the water can drain away rapidly. This should make clean-up easier and prevent standing water inside the aviary. Here is the drainage system immediately after installation: So much digging!!! And here it is after I finished burying it:
A little more plumbing is necessary before I can get to work on the floor itself. I need to move a hose bib from the middle of the room over to the wall. It should be a pretty simple job, but I need to get the proper parts first. In the mean time, I have been working on a few additions. I removed an exhaust fan from the rear wall, because it was rusted and not bird-safe. This left a large hole which I decided to utilize by adding additional space to the aviary. I added an "outdoor" area by attaching a small pre-built aviary kit onto the exterior wall. This extension measures three feet by six feet. This side of the building is shaded by trees and being all wire, I expect this part of the aviary will offer the birds a cooler area during the summer time as well as acting as a visual break, creating a more private spot for birds that need some distance from the main flock. The entrance provides added ventilation and airflow in hot weather for the fully enclosed area. During the colder months, I plan on closing off this area to prevent the birds from going out when it is too chilly and to cut down on drafts in the main aviary. For this extension, I used a pre-built outdoor aviary purchased off the internet, rather than building my own. This made assembly much easier, since my wood working skills are marginal, but the quality is not great. The wood is quite lightweight, the roof is a joke, and the wire is thin and looks galvanized. I'll be treating the wire with vinegar to remove any surface zinc, but I suspect that the entire structure will need to be replaced in a few years. The construction quality is not great and I expect that it will degrade quickly in my wet climate, exposed to frequent rains. I have added an additional coating of water-based wood finish to help protect it for now. I also plan on adding solid wood to the bottom half of this enclosure to make it sturdier and to prevent my dogs or other predators from harassing the birds through the wire. Overall, I think this "aviary" would be better suited as an exercise/flight cage on a covered porch or even as an indoor aviary, if you made sure to address the zinc risk and figure out a good flooring solution. I would not recommend using this type of product as a stand-alone backyard aviary. It does not look like it will stand-up to the elements and provides no shelter for the birds. Rain blows in quite easily. I think it should work for my purposes, although I expect that I will need to construct a better replacement eventually. This is a close-up of the pass-through between the two sections. It is not present in this picture, but I have installed a "landing pad" on both sides to facilitate movement between the areas. Last weekend, I focused on designing the entryway, since I want to add a second door for safety. I am going to wait until the floor is finished before closing it off completely.
Miraculously, I managed to get the door properly fitted on the first try. I will be putting up a wall to the side of the door to create a small storage space and viewing area. There is still so much to get done, but I've come a long way since I started this project in late March. I just wanted to share my progress and show everyone a glimpse into the building phase behind turning a greenhouse into a proper garden for birds. Here is one last picture of the aviary with my peacock, Indigo, visiting to see why we are making so much noise under his favorite tree.
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Post by tweetiepiesmom on May 20, 2020 20:53:09 GMT
That's quite an undertaking and should be great once you've finished it. You've been busy! So glad you thought about the flooring and burrowing critters who might get at the birds. I did read about a very sad woman who had wire mesh and critters were able to get through that and got a couple of her parrots one night.
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Post by clt80 on May 20, 2020 20:58:49 GMT
Crikey you have been busy, lucky birds! Look forward to updates.
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May 7, 2020 23:43:49 GMT
destinycall
Brand New Budgie
Posts: 65
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Post by destinycall on May 21, 2020 0:25:25 GMT
That's quite an undertaking and should be great once you've finished it. You've been busy! So glad you thought about the flooring and burrowing critters who might get at the birds. I did read about a very sad woman who had wire mesh and critters were able to get through that and got a couple of her parrots one night. Yeah, it is a real concern. I live out in the country and have chickens so I am very mindful of nocturnal predators. They can do a lot of damage if you are not diligent. It is easy to underestimate the predator load in your area since the best hunters are very good at avoiding notice until it is too late. Prevention is key. Prior to this project, the greenhouse was largely unused for several years, except for random storage. While emptying out the lawn chairs and other random things, I uncovered not one, but two large snake skins, shed by one of our native snakes. I suspect they liked the warmth and dry air inside the greenhouse. The snake that shed the skins was a good two feet long. My old dachshund was an avid snake hunter. He would frequently go for snake hunts around the outside of the greenhouse, but he never caught one that large. I'm glad that we do not typically have any poisonous snakes in my area.Snakes can squeeze through very narrow gaps, so it is tricky to keep them out completely. Even so, I plan on doing my best to stop them from returning. The wood rats also left behind evidence of their presence. While digging out the raised bed on the left side of the greenhouse, my dogs unburied a large rat nest and several tunnels extending under the outer wall. It was an old nest and probably long abandoned, but it gave a clear indication of the digging ability of our wood rats. The rats had dug their tunnels a good four feet into that raised bed and the burrows extended underground by more than a foot. I dug them all out and surrounded the outside of the building with flat stones to make it harder to dig under the wall, but rats can be very persistent, especially when they can smell birdseed. The hardware cloth under the pavers should add an additional layer of protection, although rats can chew through wood and thin wire. I have even heard stories of rats chewing through solid concrete, but I hope that was an exaggeration! Fortunately, my dogs love to hunt for rats and dig out the burrows whenever they find them. We had a bad rat problem a few years back due to the rats getting into the chicken feed. Too much food access resulted in a rat population explosion that was really quite terrible. Since then, we have changed how we store the food bags and I let the dogs patrol in the chicken area regularly to check for any activity. They might not be the best rat hunters, but they have a whole lot of enthusiasm for the job. I can be 100% sure that the greenhouse is completely rat-free right now. I just have to keep it that way! My Rat Pack :-)
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Post by bud9 on May 25, 2020 18:29:09 GMT
WOW i have really enjoyed reading about your conversion and wish you well once you start with the birds.
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May 7, 2020 23:43:49 GMT
destinycall
Brand New Budgie
Posts: 65
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Post by destinycall on Jun 17, 2020 4:53:02 GMT
Time for an update! It has been a busy few weeks and I am happy to report that I've made decent progress on the aviary. First off, I finally got the faucet moved over and properly secured so I was able to start work on the floors. It looks a little silly, but it should do the job. I am happy that I will have easy access to fresh water. It should be very handy. The next task was clearing, leveling and compacting the existing dirt floors.
Then I laid out metal hardware cloth to deter digging predators and pests. I made sure to bring the wire up over the wood along the outside wall several inches and used a staple gun to secure it so that rats or snakes could not easily push through. Hopefully it will do the trick. Here you can see how I did the edges. I figure this is one of the major points of entry for anything trying to burrow under the outer wall. After that, it was time for gravel. Buckets on buckets of heavy gravel. Oh joy.
After finishing the gravel and tamping it all down, I had a surprise visit from our shy peahen, Jade. She is in search-mode right now, looking for a safe spot to build a nest. After a quick look around, she opted for a different location. Aviaries are not really her style. In addition to Jade's visit, I also discovered this little guy, hitching a ride in one of the gravel buckets. He is a cute little baby - only about eight inches long and the width of a pencil. I put him back in the forest to hunt crickets.
Next step ... sand! I decided to do the bagged sand, because it is a little easier to carry and my project area wasn't that large. Getting a full yard of sand delivered would have been more cost-effective but I would have needed to transport using a wheel barrow and would have ended up with a lot of excess sand. I debated going that route, but decided that it would be simpler to use the bags and would cost a little less than getting twice as much bulk sand. Of course, I ended up miscalculating how much to get and needed to buy even more sand. So much for saving money ...
Smooth!
Now comes the tricky part. Laying pavers is time-consuming and kind of finicky work. I don't think I am going to give up my day job to become a patio installer any time soon. It is hard work to make a nice-looking floor. Fortunately, my dog Bear was tirelessly dedicated to his job and made sure that the sand stayed nice and flat for me.
My objective was to lay out the pavers with a slight slope toward the drain at the far side of the room. Unfortunately, this is easier said than done. I definitely ended up with a lot of uneven edges, small imperfections, and a few low spots. I probably should have dedicated more effort to leveling and grading the sand layer. But honestly, I am just really relieved to finally be done with the floor. Well almost done. The final step is adding polymer joint sand. This sand fills the cracks between the pavers. Unlike regular sand, polymer sand hardens like mortar. This keeps the sand from being washed away. You pour out the sand, sweep it into the joints, knock the tiles to encourage the sand to shift down deep into the cracks, then hose it all down to activate the polymer sand. And here is the finished floor. After many hours of hard labor ... it is done! In addition to working on the floor, I also made a minor addition to the exterior flight cage.
I added cedar fence slats to the lower half to provide additional protection and structural support. I was worried that ground level predators, like my dogs, would try to attack the birds through the wire mesh. With the extra wood, the occupants should be harder to see and better protected. Here is what it looks like after I added a coat of wood sealer and stain. Pretty! The last major change is one that I have been looking forward to for a long time. It is time to start planting! Over the last few months, I have been accumulating a wide range of herbs, bushes, and small trees for the planted part of my aviary. I focused on getting plants that are bird safe and reasonably sized for a small area.
At the center, I planted an espalired apple tree. It is grafted with branches from six different varieties of apple and trained to grow in a very flat, space-saving shape. It will require regular pruning to maintain its form, but should produce regular apple crops for years to come.
I also have a variety of potted citrus trees. I am going to try keeping them in the aviary. But I might need to pull them out, if the birds do too much damage to them.
This is a tray of sprouted seeds I made by combining every type of bird seed I had available to me. I decided to let it keep growing to see if I could make some fresh seeding grasses for my birds.
In this planter, I planted a lavender "tree" and some mint. I positioned it in front of the faucet to obscure it a little.
I also have a few nasturtium plants that I plan on keeping in pots to provide a little natural ground cover on the paver side. These plants grow quickly and produce edible flowers.
In the main raised bed, I planted a total of twenty two different plants - a dwarf blueberry bush (Jelly Bean), flowering currant (King Edward VII), manzanita, dwarf fig tree (Little Ruby), three types of pepper (Biquino Yellow, Amazing 2, Antohi Romanian), wintergreen, and a wide variety of herbs (Silver Thyme, ARP Rosemary, Tricolor Sage, Celery, Florence Fennel, Sweet Marjoram, Triple Curled Parsley, Golden/Greek/Italian Pizza Oregano).
It is very likely that the birds will destroy most of these plants within a few weeks or months, but with any luck some will survive. And if not, I am sure the birds will have a lot of fun foraging for fresh herbs and fruits while they last ... and I will have fun growing replacement plants. Next week, I will be adding perches, toys, and feeding stations. I also need to get pea gravel to cover the soil around the plants and do a few other finishing touches. The aviary is finally starting to look like a real aviary ... but there is still one major issue.
I need to finish the entryway so all the birds don't just fly out the door. The wire will arrive on Friday and I should be able to finish everything in the next week or two. It feels like I have been working on this project forever. I can't believe it is almost ready for the birds.
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Apr 19, 2024 16:24:20 GMT
Deleted
Posts: 0
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Post by Deleted on Jun 17, 2020 19:53:15 GMT
You've created a beautiful aviary, it's really interesting to read through your progress.
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May 7, 2020 23:43:49 GMT
destinycall
Brand New Budgie
Posts: 65
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Post by destinycall on Jun 29, 2020 7:02:15 GMT
Time for another update! My next task was adding perches and toys. Although I have a lot of trees on my property, most of them are large conifers and the branches are not well-suited for making bird perches. Too straight, too soft, too sappy. Also kind of boring. I decided to purchased manzanita wood branches online. I have used this type of wood to decorate aquariums and reptile terrariums in the past. Manzanita wood is hard, beautiful, and highly branched. Very nice wood. After it arrived, I trimmed and shaped the branches to my liking and disinfected them. Then I mounted the larger branches on wood blocks using long screws. Because the dried manzanita is very hard, I pre-drilled the holes to prevent the branch from splitting apart as the screw goes in.
Then I mounted the block to the wall to create a beautiful new perch.
I also directly mounted some of the branches to the ceiling braces.
The branches are mounted every two feet along the length of the aviary's exterior wall.
After that, I started adding toys. Lots and lots of toys.
I also added hanging platforms that will act as feeding stations. And these "privacy perches" to give stressed birds a safe spot to hang out if they need some time apart from other birds. The solid sides protect the bird from being harassed or chased off the perch by another bird. I want to make sure that there are always enough places for everyone so competition is low.
I also added a birdbath. It is heated, so the water will not freeze in winter time.
However, it isn't winter yet. Right now, the weather is quite hot, so I also added a ventilation fan that is controlled by a thermostat. If the inside of the aviary is too warm, it will help vent the hot air and draw in fresh air.
To prevent the birds from injuring themselves by flying into the fan or window, I installed a layer of black hardware cloth over it.
And I finished the entryway by adding coated hardware cloth to create a wall that also allows me to view the interior of the aviary without opening the door.
To help prevent escapes, I added artificial vines in front of the door. They will provide a visual barrier so the birds are less likely to fly over my head when I enter or leave the inner aviary. If a bird does get past, it will be contained in the entryway.
At this point, the aviary is almost ready for the birds! The first residents will be these tiny button quail. They are small ground dwelling birds that are often kept in aviaries along with other small flying birds, like finches and small parrots. They startle easily and will "jump" or fly vertically when frightened and can injure themselves if they are kept in the wrong type of cage. Button quail prefer to live in pairs and can be prolific layers of very tiny eggs.
I will also be housing four Lady Gouldian finches. These finches are native to Australia, same as budgies. They are a peaceful and very colorful finch. My finches are all male and quite lively.
I will be releasing them into the aviary as soon as I have a day off from work. In the meantime, I have moved the quail and finch cages into the aviary to give them time to acclimate to their new environment.
Soon, birds. Very soon.
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Post by jellybean on Jun 29, 2020 7:16:59 GMT
What a transformation, you really have put some work and thought into your aviary.
A birdie paradise, hope they enjoy it, look forward to your next update to see them enjoying their new home.
Well done.
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Post by blue48 on Jun 29, 2020 9:03:28 GMT
That's amazing! The amount of thought you have put into it is awesome. I hope your birds enjoy their new home.
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May 7, 2020 23:43:49 GMT
destinycall
Brand New Budgie
Posts: 65
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Post by destinycall on Jul 2, 2020 4:19:19 GMT
Release Day has arrived! First, I setup a number of waterers and feeding stations all over the aviary, so the birds will be able to find food and water no matter where they go. I will be offering a couple of different types of pellets in hanging feeders, as well as various other foods in different parts of the aviary. On the left is a blend of TOPS Small, Harrison's HP Superfine and Mazuri Small Bird pellets. Middle is Roddybush crumbles and Lafeber parakeet pellets. On the right is a mix of Higgins Intune Natural, Zupreem Fruitblend Small, and Tropical Carnival Parakeet pellets. Yes, I know. I have way too many different kinds of pellets. It's a problem, but I am working on it.
The top tray is Goldenfeast Australian blend, middle tray has Nature's Salad, bottom tray has a ABBA 2100 parakeet treat mix. Also have several hanging platforms that can be used for food or water. I'll be slowly replacing the seed trays with other options, like sprouted seeds, fresh veggies, and chop, once the birds are settled in and familiar with where they can look for yummy food. After all preparations were complete, I released the quail! And they totally refused to leave the cage. I could practically hear them thinking "Nope ... that is clearly a trap. No way, lady. Not gonna trick me so easily." After about five minutes of anxiously watching the quail slowly circle around their cage, ignoring the wide open doors, I shrugged my shoulders and moved on to the finch release. This time, I got immediate interest. Jasper, my yellow finch, hopped to the front and tilted his head back and forth, scoping out the room. I grabbed my phone and was scrambling to take a video when three out of four finches suddenly burst from the open cage simultaneously and started zooming around the open aviary like tiny, brightly colored missiles. They landed in three different spots, scattered around the aviary. Then took off again, zoomed around and landed/crashed in new spots. I'm not sure who was more surprised, me or the finches. They were out!
It took a while for the finches to figure out how to land properly. Many of their initial "flights" were incredibly scary to watch, because they were flying full tilt and clearly didn't know how to stop. They would just zoomed about until they hit into wire, the floor, or just happened to end up close to a branch. And when one of them took flight, that would startle the others so they would also fly in a random direction. Eventually they started to settle down or maybe they were simply too tired to keep zooming.
Meanwhile, the button quail just calmly sauntered out of their cage and started scoping out the aviary. The button quail are super adorable and always move in a cluster. They even sleep as a group, cuddled up together.
I will be waiting a few days before introducing my parakeets. I want to give the finches and quail time to adjust to their new level of freedom and also let the finch figure out the whole "landing safely" thing first.
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Post by tweetiepiesmom on Jul 2, 2020 15:58:22 GMT
I'm just catching up with this thread. Amazing! Seems that you have thought of everything to make the birds happy and easy for you to keep up with the maintenance. Congratulations on a job well thought out and well executed. I'm looking forward to reading more about it and seeing the pictures.
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May 7, 2020 23:43:49 GMT
destinycall
Brand New Budgie
Posts: 65
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Post by destinycall on Jul 2, 2020 17:00:51 GMT
I do hope I have thought of everything, but as this is my first aviary, I expect that I will discover many little things that I could have done better.
That being said, I really love how it has turned out so far and it warms my heart to see how happy the finches and quail are in their new, much larger home. The finches have settled in very quickly and they are flying much better than they were on the first day. Watching the quail explore and interact with the plants is lovely. They have been trying to make a spot for a dust bath under the flowering currant, but the pea gravel is getting in the way. I think I will offer them a little tray with sand, wood ash, and fossil flour to see if they will use that instead. My chickens love dust baths and they always look so happy and fluffy after they are done. I'll be offering shallow bowls filled with water for the other birds, but the quail would rather play in the dirt. :-)
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Post by ffiscool on Jul 2, 2020 23:38:02 GMT
Wow. Amazing. Well done
Love the colourings of the birds
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Post by skysmum on Jul 3, 2020 18:19:47 GMT
Ive been following progress on your transformation from greenhouse to aviary destinycall and i don't know about the birds but i myself would be more than happy to move in there . It's beautiful and you have indeed thought of everything. All you need now is a comfy chair a little table and a nice cuppa, sit back and enjoy what you have created, a paradise for your birds
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