My $50 aviary and my birds! (Lotsa Pics)

williep · Post by **williep** » Wed Apr 23, 2008 10:33 am

I know some of you are wondering who this guy is that's been posting on this forum the last couple of months, so I thought I'll share some pics of my aviary.

Basically my entire house is build around this aviary, It was intended to be an indoor garden by the original owner but I used a couple of pieces of 1-1/2"x1-1/2" pine bar and some wire mesh and turned it into a 15'x8'x7'high aviary for less than $50, so here is the result. There is a large glass door that gives access to the aviary and 4 windows look into it. The stained windows are bathrooms so I don't open them. The roof is about 60% covered with transparent "IBR" to let in light but keep the birds and nests dry, the birds spend a lot of time in the uncovered part during the day.

Here is my fake "waterfall" which is also used by the birds to drink water on occasion although this was not the original intent.

Here is the aviary plants where the birds can seek shelter during the rain and some nests are also placed in there.

The other, non feathered, inhabitant Leonardo the leopard tourtise.

And here are some of my birds.

FeatherHarp · Post by **FeatherHarp** » Wed Apr 23, 2008 1:03 pm

Wow....it is gorgeous..and what beautiful bird photos!

I like leonardo too but I can't tell which end is which...LOL!

L in Ontario · Post by **L in Ontario** » Wed Apr 23, 2008 1:41 pm

Wonderful! Very nice set up! I can't believe you have a totoise in your aviary - I love him!!

HepburnShoeMee · Post by **HepburnShoeMee** » Wed Apr 23, 2008 2:29 pm

Everyone looks very happy = just beautiful!
Thanks for sharing.

Post by **Sally** » Wed Apr 23, 2008 4:48 pm

Beautiful setup and beautiful birds! I would love to be able to look into an aviary from inside my house.

poohbear · Post by **poohbear** » Thu Apr 24, 2008 4:07 am

Nice set up...good to see when people build housing that suits the birds not just themselves.
One reason why I don't like all wire cages or aviaries with no cover...no privacy or feeling of security.At least in yours a nervous bird can hide in the greenery if it wants to.
Paul.

mickp · Post by **mickp** » Thu Apr 24, 2008 6:59 am

great set up you have there willie, keep up the good work

williep · Post by **williep** » Fri Apr 25, 2008 3:01 am

poohbear wrote:Nice set up...good to see when people build housing that suits the birds not just themselves.
One reason why I don't like all wire cages or aviaries with no cover...no privacy or feeling of security.At least in yours a nervous bird can hide in the greenery if it wants to.
Paul.

Funny you should mention that Paul, I try to stay away from the planted area unless absolutely necessary as most of my nests are there and I give the birds as much privacy as possible especially the BCCB's. The plants are so thick that I thought both my male BCCB died as I did not see them for a couple of days but they were just in the plants somewhere. My star finches also love hiding in there so now I've learned to do my head counts over weekends and not panic so much if I can't find a bird.

FeatherHarp wrote:I like Leonardo too but I can't tell which end is which...LOL!

L in Ontario wrote:Wonderful! Very nice set up! I can't believe you have a tortoise in your aviary - I love him!!

Thanks, he is a real joy to have and my son (3years old) absolutely loves him. The story behind him is somewhat sad though. We rescued him from some rural people who where about to have him for lunch, I noticed them walking down the road with the tortise in a plastic bag, obviously not intending to keep him alive. When I confronted them they said that was the only thing they could find to eat, so I bought them about 3 days worth of food and ended up with Leonardo. He was very dehydrated and had a sore on his right foot but he recovered within 2 weeks. It took me about six month to obtain a permit to keep him. Now he eats about half a head of cabbage a week and has grown a bit (although they grow very slow). He is now 23 years old, you can accurately determine the age of a leopard tortoise by counting the rings on one compartment of his shell, kinda like year rings on trees. He is a male, and even though FH can't tell which end is which, the left side is the rear and the shell extends to the bottom of the shell, on the female there is an opening there for obvious reasons

FeatherHarp · Post by **FeatherHarp** » Fri Apr 25, 2008 6:23 am

That is a great story about how you rescued the tortoise williep. Bless your kind heart for saving the turtle and also buying food for the hungry people....you are the kind of person that the world needs more of! I am glad to hear Lenoardo is doing so well in your loving care.

Fancie Flight · Post by **Fancie Flight** » Mon Apr 28, 2008 2:54 am

the aviary is AWESOME and the tortoise COOL< Glad ya rescued him, he must love that new home,

rkn · Post by **rkn** » Thu May 01, 2008 10:58 am

Love your aviary! gives me some ideas....so can I pick your brain? What kind of flooring and walls does it have? and is it enclosed with mesh or wire? where do you live that you can have them out side year round? sure is nice set up, you must enjoy it! the turtle too is a nice addition!

rkn

mickp · Post by **mickp** » Fri May 02, 2008 5:44 am

I can answer that question for you, willie is in south africa. his climate is very similar to mine in australia. where we are able to have our birds in outdoor aviaries all year round. I dont even use lights in mine for warmth in winter as the coldest it gets here is about 6 degrees celcius and the birds seem to cope quite well

mickp · Post by **mickp** » Fri May 02, 2008 5:46 am

havent seen willie for a few days now, hope all is ok for him and family.
he'll have to tell you about the floor and walls lol

jamezyboo21 · Post by **jamezyboo21** » Sat May 03, 2008 12:33 pm

Wow, thats is a cool aviary you got. I hope to one day have an aviary like that.

williep · Post by **williep** » Tue May 06, 2008 6:32 am

Thanks for the concern mickp, we had 3 public holidays here in the last week so we all got the whole week off, gave me some time to spend with my family. I'm back now but we are going away for the rest of the week. We a going to a game farm in the extreme north close to the Botswana border where I hope to see Blue-breasted Cordon Bleus in their wild environment (amongst the game of course).

rkn, mickp is correct we live in the northern half of South Africa and the weather is quite warm year round the coldest minimum temperatures we have is around 2-3 degrees Celsius. Like mickp said, the birds seem to handle the relative cold very well. The aviary is enclosed by four walls and some windows (an indoor garden) but the roof was completely open. I covered it with wire mesh (small chicken wire). You can basically see into the aviary from our guest bedroom, our second lounge and a passage leading to the guest bedroom and lounge. The other 2 sides (to the right of the plants on picture 2 and the right of picture 1) are bathroom windows and I keep them closed.

The big plants were in the indoor garden and I added some dead local tree branches for perches (8 perches that vary in length from 2' to 8')

I covered about 60% of the roof on top of the mesh with transparent roof to keep my nests and birds out of the rain. I think the biggest reason for the success is that there is no wind that blows into or through the aviary.

The floor is basically ground (garden) but there is a drain (behind the waterfall) that drains any excess water under the house.

I wouldn't recomend building an aviary like this from scratch, there are cheaper ways like mickp or phoobear did, but since it was already there when I bought the place it was a cheap and effective solution for me.