SRSeedBurners

P.S. I did have a question about members thoughts as to placing an aviary over soil. Several places I see where people discourage against it using the 'predator' and 'contaminants' justification. I'm not buying that as I see more of a threat as far as disease coming from local wild birds. There's really no way to stop their influence. Also mosquitos ability to spread West Nile is a bit of a worry. We do plan to plant some cintronella plants and marigolds outside of the structure to help with the bugs. We planted a cintronella plant in a corner of our house that was breeding mosquitos due to the constant moisture. The plants totally eradicated them. Hopefully the birds can be near them but they won't have access to them. The only predators that worry me are the airborne variety. Anything gets on our two-acres that can't fly is usually torn to shreds in short order with our dogs. They also go after hawks and predatory birds but have never landed one as far as I can tell. They won't let one sit around and hunt though which is good as they constantly harass them till they fly off.

Right now I'm leaning towards setting a frame on pier blocks and securing the poles the wood somehow. It does not come with a bottom or bottom railing. Sinking the poles in concrete would loose too much height and I would actually gain some height by using a framing on top of pier blocks. Plus that keeps it somewhat non-permanent. I hate to lay concrete as it's always a beast to remove. Would love to know what your source was and any additional info you might have about this pet project Where do you get your Sunshade? The canvas it comes with is ugly. Like I mentioned, my wife had to beg me three times to go look at it in Costco. I couldn't stand the look of it but I finally started realizing the framing was not such a bad deal. We do plan to put one end of the aviary near a tree that will provide some shade from 10-11am onward as it gets pretty hot here. Not sure what kind of heat they can acclimate to. Maybe even a fan and some misters. We'll leave it up most likely. Without any siding or a roof, it would probably be the last thing standing in a tornado. I want to keep it as open as possible with some added shade in one area. The idea is to get them as much 'out[of]doors' as possible, at least as much as an aviary can provide. Keep the comments and suggestions coming. Wifey is demanding I take a couple days off next week so we can get started on this. I think she has Greycie on her side too.

There's been lots of chatter and pics of outdoor aviaries (jealous). We've been mulling over ideas for a few months. We've considered everything from custom made pergolas with wiring to custom builder options ($18K and it barely extended out from under our patio) to kits, garage/parking structures - you name it. Today we were in Costco and they had this thing setup in the middle of the warehouse. My wife had to get me to look at it three times but I finally came around. My thoughts are: where else are you going to find this kind of solid steel construction for $240? I hate the canvas but I won't use it. Instead I'm thinking of strapping wire to it. We liked the idea so much we bought two. Now we're trying to figure out where to put it and whether to set them side-by-side or end-to-end. I like the side-by-side option as I can take the wire all the way across connecting the two top cross members. They'll have to navigate around the metal side members which will be inside of the aviary but I think that's a pretty small risk. The whole thing won't be a flight cage - just an outdoor place to hang. What do you all think? They are 10ftx20ft. Not sure about the height but I can easily stand in them (6'2"). Costco has a great return policy so it's possible they'll go back but I couldn't resist the price considering the stuff we've looked at that all cost in the thousands and (ridiculous) tens of thousands. The steel frame is very solid: Good shot of the structure without the tarp: I won't be using the canvas as seen here but gives a reference for the size:

Good for Peck! One of many reconnaissance flights. His biggest challenge will be that Megan I'm sure. Those girls...

Never heard of these. I'll have to try. Same as Greywings...I'll be sneaking stuff into them and I'll end up with 15 ingredient pancakes.

I'm planning to take a couple of weeks off and build an aviary. The difference between Greycie sitting in her bird room and sitting outside (currently in a cage) enjoying the air, sunshine and the noises is quite noticeable. Toby doesn't seem to mind either way but I swear he only has a pea for a brain. We're heavily sourcing ideas right now - what to do.

Damn, I forgot to mention, this is not Greycie. This is Seawee, my managers Grey. He showed me the pic at lunch today and I said you have to send me that picture. He said she at some of the meat too! He's chinese so they do things a little differently Not sure I'd give my Greycie a crawfish but I'm sure she'd not mind.

They're oh so irresistible if you season the lil buggers just right!

Definitely get some window decals of some sort before he injures himself: Example

Ditto! And we'll take that rain too!

So beautiful seeing them together. Greys were definitely meant to interact with each other. I can't wait for the day until I get my first one back and introduce to Greycie.

I agree. My life practically revolves around these feathered brats and I love it. I've had both types of brats: human and psittacine, I much prefer the latter. Now if we lived in the age of little house on the prairie where families stuck together and there wasn't so much external influence taking charge, it would be a different story.

The things these guys will do just cracks me up...

First time I've seen sparrows being kept as pets!

Damn...makes me sad to just see a picture.

I have no doubt she'll remember you. My Grey that I lost to a divorce around 25 years ago remembered me after not seeing her for 20+ years. Must be super exciting to be reuniting with her.

Saw a young green cheek in Petsmart yesterday. Made me really miss my Stewart. She had pulled a millet twig to her perch and was eating it. Pretty friendly little girl too. I initiated the begging sequence and my wife quickly shut it down.

Sounds like a blast. Just imagine how boring the house is without these sweetys around.

Don't discount a re-homed. In my experience they usually turn out to be the best birds. I love my Grey that I got as a baby but the conure and the especially the Jardines were special birds. The Jardines touched me like no other bird has simply because she came from such a bad situation and really blossomed in our home. Your friends Grey sounds almost like the perfect situation: take the Grey in your home and if he doesn't hit it off with you maybe he can go back? 5 years old is still young. No way I'd pass that up.

I have heard of others losing a young bird out of the blue. My Amazon did nearly the same thing, fell over face first in his food bowl and out like a light, but he was around 15. It was also 20+ years ago when I got him and no one knew what the heck we were doing especially in the feeding department. It's very tough losing a bird and then dealing with the guilty feelings of wanting another. You're not disrepecting the memory of your passed-on little friend. They make such a mark on you that really it would be highly unusual for you not to want to fill that void again, although you can never replace them. There are several around here that have gone through some heart wrenching losses including myself. Recently Muse just lost one of her birds out of a beautiful pair. She has taken in another that would most likely end up who-knows-where but is better off for it now. We lost a sick little Jardines that I was highly attached to and I never thought I would get over it. As for food - I wouldn't change much of what you were doing, especially until we hear back from the vet report. I see nothing wrong with what you were feeding. Supposedly Harrison's is the best of the best, it's what we feed outside of fresh veggies/fruits and sprouts. The ingredients list is very different than most.

Wow, sounds like a page right out of healthy feeding for Greys. Would really like to hear the results of the vet report. Sounds like you did nothing wrong. My only qualm is, I won't feed any pellet that starts with 'ground corn'. I think RoudyBush does. So many manufacturers use ground corn to fill out the product for sales esp. in dog foods and I notice parrot foods too. I highly doubt that had anything to do with it though being he was so young. I'm leaning toward a congenital condition of some sort.

Our Roma tomatoes in the stores here are coated in an oily substance. I never figured out what that was. Btw...I printed this article out almost two years ago and it still sits on my desk, mostly unread. What a procrastinator.

That's terrible. Losing a bird is losing a member of the family. Hope to hear back what you find out and if you can deduce what may have led to the cause. From the sounds of it though, may be congenital. May I ask what your feeding program was?

Looks like a normal Grey with that beak trim. Hopefully the vet will work that quick back and get that toenail down to size.

Sorry to hear. Yes, best to use a trusted breeder and stay away from the backyard breeders. One of the petshops around here is nothing but a backyard breeder and thankfully they closed down a few weeks ago.