SteveD

Thanks for the replies. Too bad we aren't closer. According to the map of my site, the closest person to me is in California! Bummer. I'll take some pics and post them, once I figure out how... B)

Hi. My name is Steve and I'm new here. I have several birds and am looking for some local supplies for an aviary I'm building. Here's the story. When I married my wife 8 years ago, she brought with her a Minah, a Collared Macaw and an African Grey. The Collared Macaw, (Michael), fell in love with me the first moment he saw me. I'd never been a bird person, so he bamboozled me for a while, but we've gotten closer over the years. The Minah, (Fred) passed on a few years ago. Later, when my sister in law became unreliable for pet care, we inherited a Blue and Gold Macaw named Tango. He was aggressive and angry, and his favorite word was "SHUTUP!" :-( (He's doing much better now that I speak to him softly and sing to him daily, and NEVER tell him to shut up.) The African Grey, (Panchito), is female and is the subject of this message. Late last year, she began cutting her feathers. I took her to a vet and he said she was emotionally stressed for some reason, or reasons. I explained that yes, there were some chnages in her life and asked what I could do to help her. He recommended a wonderful DVD about Home Foraging, which I don't have in front of me, but would also recommend. By giving her something to do besides preen, it keeps her mind busy and lets her have a little fun, too. One plan I'd come up with was to build a larger aviary for the birds we have. I figure it will give them all something to do and more space to do it. I plan to add foraging trees and branches and ropes and such. The two smaller birds will have enough room to fly, but Tango is just too big for his space. His new space will be ~5' wide by 8' long, while the others are 5' wide and 11' long. (I figured Tango wouldn't be able to fly in 11' anyway, but the others could, so they get the big rooms. Tango is currently in a 2' x 3' x 4' cage, so his space will increase by a large factor.) Anyway, I've drawn up plans on CAD and taught myself to weld and began welding wall sections this last weekend. What I'm looking for are recommendations on types of wire mesh to contain the large birds and keep out the considerable sparrow population, and if anyone knows of a supplier in the Phoenix area, that'd be great, too. Thanks for hanging in there with me and my rather lengthy story.