I thought for interest sake it would be a good idea here to share the essential needs in an aviary to keep the birds health and safe.

Aviaries can be of any size, but of course, the larger they are the more freedom birds have.

One really important part of the Aviary is to have a safety door, so that when you are entering the aviary, there is no chance of the birds escaping.

If you have ready access to tree branches, it is very easy to make your own swings using a reasonably thick branch and heavy duty wire which is wound round the branch and hooked onto roof of the aviary. The birds love the movement.
Another one they really like is an old wheel of a bike, again using heavy duty wire to hang it up. Placed evenly around the wheel - through the spokes are pieces of dowling so that when the bird hops on, the wheel goes round.

Corners can be filled with tree branches again wired to the corners for stability. These need to be changed once a year, as by then they have been well chewed up, and also so that they have clean trees to climb in.
Fresh branches of willow once of twice a week, keep their beaks sharp and stop normal damage to your aviary.

Water is essential, and they love a bird bath, which can either be purchased from a garden shop, or I used an old handless frypan (large size) sitting on a concrete block.

Birds love a variety in their diet, even the cockatiels love canary seed!

Chickweed, silverbeet, lettuce grass, seed heads, broccoli heads (for canaries)
are treats they really look out for.

Maybe you have different ideas, you you want to know something please feel fee to share here.

OK, the first cages I made were from what is called Welded Fence Fabric. This comes in a number of different sizes. I used ½ x 1" which means the spacing is ½ x 1" wire is 16 gage. This is costly but is very durable. I would cut off a suitable length and then cut it into the pieces I needed. I would then make bends by kneeling on a 2x4 wood placed at the correct place. Then pull the wire mesh up. You have to further complete the bend to make it sharper.

I always left some short wires protuding on the cut edge. I then could loop these ends into the other joined edge which was cur flush. On edges that dont have ends sticking out - you can use loops of wire fed into one edge and twisted back around another wire on the side to be joined. They also make cage clamps and a tool for this. I would join the cage part to a wood frame bottom by using what is known as staples - they are U shaped things that are hammered in. I made a low opening on one end and made a tray that would fit this. Then I could slide the tray out with all the gravel and droppings and change the paper. I bought a large roll of brown paper to use. I still have about half of that left, after all these years.

Most of these cages were 2x3 ft floor plan. The largest cage I built for sale was 3ft by 6ft.

Next post will be on my building Aviaries.
--Ðøug

Doug, that must have been fun making your own avery.
I know when my dad did the extension flight for me, I really enjoyed halping him do that. Because it was already built when we got the origional avery, it had the wire on which is what we call here in NZ bird-netting. It has double wire to make it safer.

Also, one thing I really with I had is concrete flooring to keep the mice out.
Yesterday I caught 7 mice in a couple of hours - and that was without any bait on the trap! Another adult waiting for me this morning. I refuse to feed them bait this winter, they eat it like it is going out of stype, and it can become quite expensive!

I rather prefer the square mesh for averies, just has a nicer look about it.

Zita, I know what you mean by mice. I had dirt floors in the big aviaries with trees and bushes growing inside. Some seeds would sprout so the birds always had greens to eat.

One time I saw mice in there. I couldnt trap them for fear of catching a bird. But I did put bait outside the cage area. One day I took a shovel and was able to club many of them to death. They had made tunnels in the top part of the dirt. So I clubbed all those areas.

Also watch out for these large toads. I dont know if you have these dry land toads down there or not. I had a couple of toads inside the aviary and thought the birds were safe. I kept missing some birds and never found any bodies or skeletins. But why sich huge fat toads. I am guessing but I think they caught the small finches and thought they were some large bug.
--Ðøug

OK, here I want to tell how I built my big Aviaries. The easiest way it to make a wooden frame work out of 2x3's using a 4 ft spacing. The welded fence fabric comes in 4ft widths. You could have 2ft spacing if wanted. This framework in put on a concrete base. I used to be able to buy a concrete piece that was 2 ft long and had a L shape. The L is perfect to hold the frame. They have inside and outside corners. But there can be small gaps which I filled with bricks. So the concrete rests on the dirt and the wood frame is on top of that.

Then I nailed the wire on with these U shaped "staples". These are a standard fence attachment method and are in most hardware stores. Its very simple to cut the correct lengths and nail them on with the U staples. You can also engineer a "bird lock" door system. I call it a "bird lock" since its like an air lock door. One door opens and the other is closed so those little tweeters cant fly out.

But the best way to build aviaries is to make them in modular sections. This is my view after several moves which were always a chore to take down and re-install all the cages and aviaries. This method is far more complicated and takes longer and is really hard work. But the sections can be removed and moved and re-set up.

The basic element of construction is EMT electrical pipe. This is bendable with these electrician pipe benders. There is another type that is ridgid and looks like plumbing pipe. I didnt use that. Rather the somewhat bendable type is used. Out here they call it EMT. It comes in 10ft lengths - so I cut 2ft off to get 8ft. Then I could get two 4ft lengths and a 2 ft scrap out of another piece. I bought hundreds of these things.

Then I hammered a flat spot on each end and drilled a ¼ inch hole on each flat spot. Then using ¼x20 bolts I could bolt the ends together and make a rectangular piece roughly 4x8 ft.

For the roof on these avairies I had to entend these EMT pipes to 12 ft. I used some tricks to do this. Then I had to reinforce the ceiling (roof) with 2x4 wood to hold it all up. The roof had pieces of wood and aluminum roofing pieces to keep rain out. But that was only in some places. The birds had access to rain if they wanted it.

So to these rectangular sections I fastened the ½x1 welded fence fabric. (looks like 16 gage wires welded together at ½ and 1 inch intervals.) I could loop a length of wire around and bend it back to make a tight clamp on everything. I would cut hundreds of these wire lengths since a certain length worked best.

So now we have many of these 4 x 8 ft sections all finished. Next step is to join them into the walls. I stood them up and used very thick heavy wire to make big loops to twist around the two edges of each 4x8 section. Hard work. I dont know how I was able to assemble these aviaries all by myself. But if there is a need - I will invent a way to do it.

The outer "bird lock" door was spring loaded so it slams behind me. Then the inner door had a system of pulleys and a rock wired up and attached to the door thru the pulleys. I didnt want a spring on the inner door for fear that small bird feet would get pinched if they landed on it. Both doors opened to the outside so I could push them open if I had to catch a sick bird and get him inside quick. The outside of the Bird Lock had two doors. The main people door was 2 ft wide but there was a special door that would open 4 ft of width. The inner door was actually 2 doors that opened in the middle and both swung out. One of these was usually held closed. I thought it would be a good idea to be able to have a space 4ft wide in case I had to get a large cage inside or back out. Then there was no bird lock, but usually I made so much comotion that all the birds were scared to the other end.

All of my aviaries were locked with a chain and padlock.

Next, how to catch a bird that gets out.
--Ðøug ™

I have occasionally found my birds outside of the aiviary. One time there was a hole and they got out.

I had some of my smaller cages which originally were mounted on a wood frame work - in which I removed the frame work - thus leaving only the somewhat ridgid cage wires.

You will need this cage part and a short stick about 6" or more, some string or twine, and some seeds.

Put some seeds in a small pile on the flat ground or patio, tie a long string to one end of the stick, put the cage over the seeds and prop it up with the stick. The string should be near the bottom and must be somewhat tight = no big loops in it. The string leads to your hiding place. Patience pays off as the bird comes down since he recognises the seeds. AS soon as he is completely inside - jerk the string with a very fast movement. The cage drops around him and will scare any other wild birds away. I was careful to not try to crush any wild birds. Since the cage has a door (fixed closed) it is easy to open it and its small enough to catch the small critter by hand. Be sure to hold him firmly but not to pinch the life out of him. I always had my bird net there so I would put my hand inside and NOT let go until I was inside the aviary - then I'd release him and all the other birds tweeted at him. They were all happy to see him back.

I've even caught some wild birds this way.
--Ðøug

Quite often I have found other peoples pet birds hanging around my avery, attracted by my birds. It is always very frustrating that you cannot catch them, as they wouldn't survive long in the wild. I try leaving the safety door open, but mostly they fly off somewhere else.

I used to feed wild birds which attracted all sorts of em. But seeds under a open bottomed cage propped up with a stick and string always worked for me. The key word is patience.
--Ðøug ™

I have just come back from a lovely trip down south to Timaru, where I stayed with a friend for 5 days. One of the days, her family was coming in for the day, so I left at 8.30am and drove even further south, a 2 hour drive to Moraki Bay which has round boulders on the beach.
It was raining and cold, so only stayed 20 min and then started the return trip. I had seen a bird sanctuary on the way down, and I wanted to call in and see it.
I made enquiries in the town of Oamaru, and was told there were more than birds, there were lovely gardens as well.
I couldn't resist, so drove in and paid the $5 enterance fee.
I could have stayed all day, if it wern't for the cold. The birds were delightful, all various parriot types, from Mawcaws down to small native parriots.
Most of the birds came over to me for a talk, some even spoke my language. Obviously they had been house birds at some time in their life.
Only the cold dragged me away.
The gardens were something else. They had cleared the land and created beautiful gardens, and dug out a large pond which had various ducks swimming about.
I was accomianied on my tour by the owners cat and dog, a delightful pair.

I certainly intend to return in the summer months and enjoy a longer stay using the picnic tables inside the enclosures.

[ May 02, 2003, 04:06 AM: Message edited by: Zita ]

I enjoy your descriptions of places and scenery too, Zita. BUT PLEASE include place names - even if you think we won't know them! Sometime - sooner rather than later, I hope! - I am definitely going to do the Milford Sound trek - and along with that I am making a list of places that I would like to visit.