SRSeedBurners

Found some more pics of move in day on my phone that wifey took... GreycieMae supervising securing the top rail hose clamps Excellent supervision: GreycieMae is pretty excited about her new digs:

Recently discussed here.

The door is framed out in 3/4" x 4" x 8' WRC (western red cedar). I went thinner than standard 2x4 to try and shave weight. On both sides anchoring the door are 4"x4" WRC posts. They are mounted in concrete deck blocks which are just below ground. Along the ground are some pine 2x4s I had in storage for years waiting to find a use. The non-painted boards were there just to prevent an escapee. Those will dissappear when I get the dig-wire in place hopefully this week. All of it, base boards, gate, posts are stained in a semi-transparent all weather stain. Somehow it matches the color of the structure itself. The boards along the ground are in a channel of pea gravel to help keep them from rotting. Don't forget to see the GreycieMae in the middle pic

Opening Day has arrived!!! I still have a lot of stuff to do to get the aviary fully functional but the birdys got to investigate. GreycieMae took a few minutes to warm up but she gave me the feather wag that lets me know she approved. Toby can't stay out of the dang dirt - didn't expect that. Rio did what Rio always does - "where's the food?". Tools are all over the dang place. We still need to bury dig wire and secure the bottoms. Right now the aviary is not where I would leave them in it unattended but we're only a day or so away. Wife has lots of plans to beautify the place with flower pots along the outside. Rye grass is growing inside and soon the dirt will be nothing but bright green. A special note about the door. I struggled for a while trying to figure out what to do and I didn't want some damn boring door. My wife came up with the BRILLIANT idea to use these screen door decorative irons we've had stored away for nearly 15 years. These door grates (for lack of a better name) were attached to the house that my maternal Granddad was born in, my mom was born in, and I lived in for a while. This house, we always called it "the old house" was well over 100 years old and sat on my mother's family homestead which I grew up on. This homestead was one of those homesteads that settlers went westward and staked their claim. My Grandmother had the homestead deed hanging on her wall that was signed by I can't remember what president. McKinley? Who knows. All I know is, my Granddad meant a hell of a lot to me and now I have these cool door irons on the aviary. 'B' was for Blancett, my mother's maiden name. Can't believe how good the door came out with the color (my wife's idea) and the silver hardware. I didn't even plan on it looking as good as it does. Pics don't seem to do it justice. Lots of work still to do to remove excess wire, bury dig wire, finish out the bottom boards but we're there now!

I told my wife: my job is to get it functionally complete. Her job is to get it look'in purty.

We're coming along. Planned to take a 4-day weekend and try and knock this sucker out. Nothing is as easy as it seems. And to top it off, I've been called back into work after only three days. This is the latest accomplishments: - wired all the sides. I really screwed this up. The bottom diameter around the aviary is wider than around the top as the legs are naturally splayed outwards. So trying to wrap all the way around (like they say to do at the link I'm following) DOES NOT WORK. This roll of wire was hella-expensive so I had to salvage what I had already done and not start over. I had to make it work. With a lot of cussing, swearing and GreycieMae telling me she loves me (one of her few phrases) we finally got it done. - I got the top corner triangles wired. Those required buying more wire. I found a 3ft - 1x2 16 gauge GBW wire that I used for that and the door when I get to it. - I had to re-dig 4 of the concrete pylons as they were off by several inches and this really played heck with getting the structure to stand true with the wire tied to it. Getting the structure to stand even and straight TOOK ALL DAMN DAY. That was a nightmare. I actually got depressed and wanted to quit that day. I ended up tying on with our truck and the car to winch it in different directions to watch what the wire was doing so I could figure out where the problem was. Most of it was in the corner where I started wiring and I found I had wired it incorrectly as the wire was trying to rise up onto the roof with the truck pulling it back to straight. So I ended up moving and shifting some wire and re-strapping it along with the moving some pylons and she straightened right up - WHEW! I really struggled with how to design the door but my wife came up with a brilliant idea. I'll hold off on that until I get it done as there is a good story behind it. We just started playing with the door posts by the time I called it quits for the weekend. My three feathered supervisors spent nearly the whole time out there supervising unless we were at the store buying stuff. They'll be glad to move in I'm sure.

Nothing like that sinking feeling when you notice a bird is sick.

Very cool. We have a birthday coming up next month and #1 and #3 might just end up in the bday pile.

As for plastic - our birds, Grey included, tear up the plastic wiffle balls that you see in pet stores that are sold for cats. I come home daily to bits and pieces of plastic. I've closely watched our birds and if they swallow a piece it would be by sheer accident - ours do not eat the plastic. I'm interested in the outdoor temps as well as I plan on taking a 4-day this weekend and finishing our aviary.

We have a Caique that was in the same boat. He constantly had to hail a taxi while the others were freely flying anywhere they wanted too (except out the door). Took about a year for his flights to grow back in and he spent a few months gingerly testing them out. I helped him along by giving him short tosses on the couch so he had a soft landing spot. Very uncontrolled at first. He kind of went through two stages: one where he figured out how to fly and just kind of floated around, occasionally hitting his intended landing mark, then stage two was when he learned tail up, nose down and now he's the zippiest bird in the house. He now sounds like an over-weight hummingbird zipping through the house.

We had an CL ad relayed just a couple days ago here on our DFW parrots about someone wanting to rehome their B&G as they have "a new baby is coming in the family". Of course I couldn't resist responding to the ad and offering to get rid of the baby for them. No response received I'm unapologetically parrot-centric.

Right now we're tossing around ideas about the door but most likely I'll use a 6'x3' chain link gate frame wired the same as the aviary. Hanging the gate will require adding a horizontal chain link fence rail along the bottom of one section then T a vertical rail from that which the gate will hinge from.

If you have to deal with predators then yes. In our case, our dogs will be out when the birds are out. Unless a bear gets in the back yard, we're good. My dogs will take care of anything smaller. Also our biggest bird is GreycieMae and she's not really a type that will try and break the wire. We are going to also have to use a bird netting to keep the dang hawks from sitting on top and trying to reach in and grab. That's out biggest problem.

Update 9/24/2014 - Step 4: complete - Wire the top and lift Another all day effort. I'm regretting using 14 gauge wire. If I had a helper it would be ok but by myself, it's a nightmare to maneuver and hold, stretch, j-clip and finally strap it to the beams. GreycieMae would have done just fine in 16 gauge wire and I'm sure it weighs about half. The wire is so stiff, I have to use a rubber mallet to pound it around bends. What a pain-in-the-buttfeathers. The roll we bought weighs around 300lbs. My wife did help me insert the legs while I lifted each side. I was going to have to use ladders to hold it otherwise...so that sped things up. Started to put the side wire on and realized my hose clamps are not big enough as the diameter of the legs are quite a bit bigger than the roof. Also what you can't see: I planted some winter rye and watered it real good. That should be coming up soon and the dirt patch will turn greeeeeeeeeennnnnnnn. GreycieMae is getting excited to move into her mansion.

I don't recall my Tigger doing that. But everytime someone mentions an Amazon behavior I'm always compelled to mention my Caique. You wouldn't believe how similar the two are. Both are clowns of the parrot world. Btw...my Toby squeaks/squeals when I have him next to me on my shoulder. It's the cutest thing. I don't know how I ever lived without these guys.

You actually trust her to be out on her own for her to come and get you up? I wish I could trust GreycieMae. Our ceiling fan would be wood chipped, any glass would be smashed all over the floor, chair backs would be chewed, curio cabinet - history. I would love a morning wakeup from my Grey baby. If there wasn't such resistance from my wife, my Grey would have her sleep cage right next to my bed.

I like the idea of Bamboo because of how sturdy and fast growing, but the shoots are straight up vertical - no good perching options. Will have to look into a palm tree. Trying to stay away from grapes/climbing plants as I don't want it in the wire.

I'll update GreycieMae's Aviary thread with pics tonight - if I can remember. Where do Jave tree playstands come from? When I search Java Tree online I get a bunch of Java programming language crap. I need something that will stay within about 6-8 feet in height and has some medium sized horizontal branching for the birdys to perch. Paging Muse: do you know what Project Perry uses? Do they have any live trees/shrubs in use or is it all non-live stuff: ropes, branches etc?

GreycieMae's Mansion is coming along...slowly. Need to update the aviary thread but we now have the top up with the wire. I've planted winter rye for now which will displace the weeds for this winter. I'm looking for ideas for a trees/shrubs that are parrot safe and will provide some perching. Got any ideas?

I know what I'd do at this point: a fashionable parrot sweater, with some buttons on it for picking at. I keep seeing pics of birds with hoodies and GreycieMae keeps getting threatened that all I need is an excuse to start playing dress up with my birdy.

SO lucky. Lesson learned the hard way as most of us have to learn it that way.

We can only hope. She's doing it daily now. And that damn Toby the Caiquey taught it to her. Now he's doing it all the time too.

Wife planted her flowers this year and wouldn't you know it, hummers started showing up. We put up three feeders and they started doing battle over them. My grandmother used to have hordes of them at her house in Northern New Mexico where I grew up. Every year a bird would take over the nest built just outside her kitchen window and would raise some babies. We always got a thrill watching them grow and fledge. One year something happened to the mother and the babies ended up getting brought inside for me to raise. I did it at the instruction of my grandmother, but they ended up learning to fly around in her house and we eventually let them out. I have a special place for those little beauties.

I liked the siren sound too...that was cute. Wish I had a stay-at-home SE job. Looking for one though...

Never heard that before but it's the case here. GreycieMae talks, what little she does, in my wife's voice.