Outdoor aviary

[marions91]

I'm thinking of building an aviary in my back garden for my two greys.

It will give them more space to fly.

Will this move revert them back to being wild or should I leave them indoors in their cage?

A couple of mths ago I went away for a few weeks and my grey...Bobby plucked out all his feathers, he didn't stop untill I brought him down to our pet shop and caged him in with another grey. They get on graet together now, but I'd like to bring them back home now.

What do you think ?

[harmonicaman68]

Hi Marions91,

 

An outdoor aviary is a great idea. One of the simplest to construct that I have seen is the type that Steve Hartman builds at his aviary. If you click on my profile and look at the photos, you'll see some photos that include his style of building. He uses wire fence that has a 1 inch by 2 inch opening in the fabric structure. He uses a structure of galvanized steel water pipe and the fence fabric is "stitched" together at the edges of the fence with a steel staple that can be crimped into a circle so the points are turned in and not sharp. For water, he runs a "drip" of small 1/4 inch hose or aquarium tubing. Practically any tubing like flexible PVC tubing would do, getting the water to the end, but then use a transition fitting to reduce to the small tubing. He turns that water on for a slow drip and the birds notice it and learn to fly to the end and get a drink from the downward pointing hose ends. I've noticed that he provides a few sheets of plywood here and there wired to the top of the fence fabric roof and then places branches for perches that are in the sun and in the shade. The birds are intelligent enough to choose their perch in sun or shade as they desire. The larger flights have the natural ground for floors and some parts are weed whipped short while the remainder may have plants that are allowed to grow to to 5 feet in height or taller. The baby cage has a concrete floor, because young birds aren't foraging yet and it allows easy wash down with a high pressure hose. Food is placed in troughs that are constructed of 6 inch diameter PVC pipe that has been cut in half lengthwise and wired to the side wall of the flights under the plywood shade of the partial roofs. That allows the food to remain dry if it is raining. The PVC trough is sloped so that one end is low and one high. Then Steve can wash down a trough at the end of the day before new food is added.

 

In the situation where fewer birds are in a flight (home use instead of breeder) the food trough could be shortened. I think that Steve's method of getting water to the birds is superior to a water bowl because it doesn't require washing out the bowl and matches more closely the hygiene of large bird raising operations that have been developed to limit the transmission of disease between birds. Food can't be dropped in the bowl and cause build-up of bacteria.

 

I've been considering an aviary as well and this method is easy, economical, practical to build, maintain and repair, and when landscaped, can have a nice appearance.

[Luvparrots]

Others have outdoor aviaries for the greys that they take them out to during the day and return inside to their cages later in the day. So so I believe it would be a great idea, Marion.

[she]

I have an outdoor aviary for my birds and they love it.I put them out in nice weather and bring them in later in the day.I have pictures on my profile page.I have not found it makes them wild at all infact they appear calmer and very content when I bring them in.The grey had such fun yesterday chatting to some builders who were working on the roof of a school next to my house. They were shouting down to him from the roof and he was shouting and whistling back to them.I would recomend it.

[Jane08]

Like the photos. We are also getting ideas for an aviary. The only thing is we don't want a cement bottom but a more natural bottom so we are trying to think of how far into the ground we should place the fencing or what other ways there are to do it.

 

Harmonicaman you say the larger flight have natural ground, but what do they put on the ground to stop other animals from burrowing in under the ground into the cage?

[harmonicaman68]

The bottom is addressed by having the 2 inch diameter galvanized steel pipe running horizontal and touching the ground. The wire fence is tied to the pipe by steel wire at intervals close enough to keep animals from pushing between the fence walls of the flight and the pipe. Ohio has its share of burrowing animals like groundhogs. I can think of a couple of ways to stop the critters from burrowing underneath, but I'm going out to Steve's aviary tomorrow (Saturday) and will take a couple of photos that can be posted here. The photos I have already posted show the flight wall meeting the concrete of the baby cage, but I don't have any for the flight wall fencing meeting turf in the adult flights.

 

Tying the fence by wiring to the bottom horizontal rail allows the fence walls to touch the concrete floor by running past the bottom horizontal pipe as required to achieve closure. I don't think that Steve buries the fence in the ground where there are turf floors, because that would eventually corrode due to interaction of the metal with the soil. That said, it would require that the owner of the aviary inspect the bottom periodically to assure that other critters weren't digging underneath the wire to gain access to food that has spilled. Burying steel edging as used around landscape planting beds to separate lawn from mulch would hinder burrowing, but a determined large animal would be stopped best by our own periodic visual inspection.

 

I'll get the photos and post them tomorrow late afternoon U.S. eastern time when we return form Hartman's. Steve may have a recommendation. I'll ask.

[harmonicaman68]

I just posted aviary construction photos in the photo album. I remembered incorrectly on some of the construction techniques. In the photo album I posted the photos as "Hartman Aviary" with keywords "Aviary Construction".

 

Enjoy.

[Jane08]

Cheers for the photos they were great, very interesting.

[harmonicaman68]

I'm glad you liked the photos. They don't show all of the details, but they give a sense of how to do a moderate cost, functional outdoor space that the birds love. Last week Steve installed a large cargo net that had been surplus when a children's playground was being changed. I helped Steve Hartman put it up in one of the flights for moderate sized birds (Amazons). They love it. It moves as they climb over it and we dangled shiny hardware from various points. It makes me think how important the contents are as the perimeter fades into the background.

 

Someone had posted that they heard the birds don't concentrate on the perimeter and therefore zinc coating of the perimeter doesn't matter. From what I've seen this is true for some bird kinds. The only variety that I've seen hanging on the fence perimeter frequently are the Macaws and Cockatoos (hanging). They don't seem to chew on the fence walls and roof even though they hang (and climb) there from time to time. Most varieties of parrots seem to enjoy the natural wood branches that are chained, wired or otherwise supported across the aviary flights.

 

For members of this post who have the resources to provide larger flights that appear more "finished" (less industrial?), there are always opportunities to spend more on the outdoor flights. Steve has chosen to spend less on the basic structure and more on contents and the landscape (even interior natural plants for the birds). The flights will eventually need maintenance and his approach allows easy replacement of components without him relying on a custom manufacturer still being in business to provide the custom part. I believe he chose the materials he did for these practical reasons, and the method has worked for him. He has been raising parrots in these structures for over 30 years and has species such as Macaws which have been bred for gentleness by him to the point that he is now breeding the great grandchildren of his first birds to get the 4th generation (to my knowledge). It may be more. The materials have held up well and the birds are healthy and well adjusted.

[Zoomommy]

I just posted aviary construction photos in the photo album. I remembered incorrectly on some of the construction techniques. In the photo album I posted the photos as "Hartman Aviary" with keywords "Aviary Construction".

 

Enjoy.

 

How may I view the photos? I didn't see them in your profile but I could easily be missing something as I'm new