Help for moving them outside!

[Biggles]

Having (hopefully) conquered the brambles in the garden, my son's hoping to get an outside aviary for most of the budgies shortly. 
We have one cage with an old (around 14yo) budgie and one who can't fly properly, who will stay inside, but the others, hopefully, will move outside.

Much as he'd like to build his own aviary I don't think he has the knowledge and I don't know anyone who could help him on this, so we're looking at getting a ready made one. Although his first idea was basically to turn the entire garden into one, so it may be a good idea I'm not letting him get on with that!

Does anyone have any recommended places that do aviaries near Surrey? I've found some places online but they're more up north. They'll deliver, but it would be nice to go and have a look too.

His ideal aviary has: Outside flight area which he can walk into (he loves to sit with his budgies round him), and an inside area for night/winter. Safety porch and an inside area he can keep things like seed in.

Is there anything else that people with experience would like to suggest that they have/wish they had known?

Also one of his worries is that it doesn't look like we'll get the aviary before end of September at least. Will that be too cold to put them out in it? We can wait until the following Spring without an issues.

He also wants to know if they need different food when outside, and how you know how much to feed them, because currently he checks their food every time he goes past. 

He's also asked if anyone has ever tried having rabbits in the same place? I'm not convinced but I said I'd ask!

Thank you!

[Ira]

I was recently told about Rosemead Aviaries here, which sell custom aviaries, but I'm not sure Cardiff is any better for you than the places up north.

[skysmum]

A couple of things, make sure you ask for 4-5 mil mesh on the outside flight to make it rodent proof.
I probably wouldn’t put them out there in September unless you were going to heat it, you have to acclimatise them.
Feed inside only so as not to attract vermin, no special changes in food are needed.
I also insulated the inside of mine and put laminate flooring down which aids cleaning.
Hope this helps a bit 😊

[Hezz]

I’m no help with getting a custom-made or kit aviary for you in UK but there are a few things you need to consider for outside birds. The safest floor to have is concrete. Even pavers can and will be burrowed up between by rodents. As skysmum has said, some form of cover such as linoleum makes for much easier cleaning. I used water-proof shade sail for mine, depends on what works out the cheapest for you, I think. The next biggest safety issue is double meshing to keep the little guys safe from raptors and owls. It’s best if there is a space between the two layers of mesh and one of these should be rodent-proof. Here it is called snake and mouse proof mesh and has a mesh size of about 6mm - mice can squeeze through the smallest spaces. The move should not happen when the weather is predicted to change and warm weather rather than the middle of winter. Some meshed-only roof for the birds to get sunshine for Vit D, but plenty of undercover space for those not-so-nice days as well.
I’m sure you can buy aviaries in kit form in UK as you can here, but much depends on how big you want to go and how much you wish to spend. I suggest you do some internet research and find something you like and take it from there.