Alarm for my aviary - would the alarm sound harm my finches?

[finchbob]

Like most outdoor/backgarden aviaries, mine isn't amazingly secure against thieves, I worry that over night someone could steal my birds, although it's unlikely to happen it could and an alarm would greatly decrease the chances of any being stolen, perhaps even deter thieves from even trying.

I found a fairly cheap alarm that will go off within 15 seconds if the door is opened and the keycode is not entered into the keypad. The alarm is deafening almost, to test it you have to muffle it under a cushion or towel to get rid of the ear-drum bursting sound. Actually, after a re-test, i found I could cope with the sound just about but it wasn't pleasant.

I worry that the alarm may end up going off to a false alarm or a fault or something at some point and it may harm, deafen or even kill my birds.

This is the alarm I bought - It has a warning that prolonged exposure to the alarm sound could cause permanent deafness in humans.

http://www.c-p-p.co.uk/product/asp/Prod ... f/page.htm

The sound is 130dB output, anyone know anything about loud sounds harming birds?

[Sally]

Can't help you at all, have never used an alarm around the birds. But I am moving this to General Questions.

[CandoAviary]

I too had the same concerns. I was worried about the loudness of most of those devices so I decided against it. I was wondering what if we were not home and a squirrel or racoon triggered it... that would be bad. My husband will be tying in the bird buildings to our home security system. If alarmed this will notify the service that we use and they will call us ..... so the birds will not be blasted with loud sirens.

[cindy]

I would avoid having it sound in the bird building, we had an alarm system at one point in one of homes that was very loud. If it went off at night you may end up with birds panicking and knocking babies out of nests, parents flying into cage walls.

I would look into a silent alarm that possibly sounded elsewhere in the main house house or called a cell phone, home phone and the police (911). There are ones that trigger all the lights to go on, a red flashing light outside the door to go off also. Have a battery back up also.

In Ft Myers our friends got hit twice, they cut two fences and the main power to get at very expensive larger parrots. They watched and hit during a storm when the owners brought their large attack dog in. They disabled the alarm system somehow. The theft wiped out 2/3 of their birds. We also had a friend whose partner was shot when the alarm sounded, and he went to investigate and try to stop it himself (unarmed).

Be careful and safe

[cartel]

AT 130db anything with ears is going to feel it I think Cindy is going in the right direction.Something that alerts you, flashing lights along those lines.Whats wrong with a good old fashion lock

[cindy]

If the people that robbed and shot my friend can cut through heavy locks and a double FPL fence, a heavy lock on the barn/aviary...I think an alarm system is the way to go! Just have the alarm sound in the house but loud enough to be heard outside, also have it trip the flashing lights on the outside of the aviary and trip a light inside and out for the main house.

They also have recordings of very mean dogs (unless you have a dog). Warning if the robbers really want your birds and you have a dog, they won't care if you love the dog they could harm it or worse. My friend lost a dog in one of the incidents. By the way his birds were never recovered even though they were chipped.

When I had an avairy in the back of my house and was just collecting pairs of larger birds that were hard to find in the area I met a woman that befriended me. After two months of going to shows, buying birds together I was given a wake up call.

I went to take my daughter to school but realized I had forgotten something she needed. I was 5 minutes from home, turned around only to pull into my driveway to find the woman's truck in my driveway. I opened the car door to get out and was surprised to see her walking to the side of my house with empty cages.

I told her to get off my property, I called the police and decided a better security system was in order. Luckily none of my birds were distrubed. She lived 30 minutes from me, knew my schedule and must have waited for me to leave (she had to have been watching the house). We then took our security system and extended to the aviary room. It was for piece of mind.

[CandoAviary]

Thieves are lowly. If they really want something they will figure out a way to get it. Some even give their lives to the cause. Many thieves are shot ..........
A sign I saw once that I really liked was:

"A way to meet God is through prayer.... Stealing is quicker"

Maybe an inexpensive deterent would be a thief beware sign and a motion detector light. Thieves like the darkness.