my DIY aviary, starting from day one. [pics heavy]

[javansparrow]

phew! my days turned out to be very productive for me. but despite all of my 'business' I spent some 2-3 hours every other day (evening) to finish the aviary. and here it is.







I put 2 tamarind trees for perching, and a medium bucket filled with aquatic plants fot the birds to drink and bath.

edit: current inhabitant; 2 pairs of timor zebra, and 3 strawberry finch (possibility 1 male and 2 female)

[debbie276]

Beautiful!

[Lorddaxter]

Love it

Question as I like your idea of the bucket with aquatic plants, do you have to aerate it with a pump or will the plants you have keep it from stagnating?

[FeatherHarp]

Wonderful looking aviary with all the plants! But I too, am curious about how you take care of the aquatic plants?

[Sally]

Me too, same question on the aquatic plants. Also, since it appears to be fairly deep, will the birds use it for baths? I love the tamarind trees. Very nice!

[finchmix22]

The trees are great! I want to know about the standing water with plants? Is there a way for them to perch in the water? Will it draw mosquitos and get algae? How do you prevent bad water without a running source to replenish the water? Very nice looking setup!

[javansparrow]

Beautiful!

Thanks Deb.

Love it
Question as I like your idea of the bucket with aquatic plants, do you have to aerate it with a pump or will the plants you have keep it from stagnating?

Wonderful looking aviary with all the plants! But I too, am curious about how you take care of the aquatic plants?

Me too, same question on the aquatic plants. Also, since it appears to be fairly deep, will the birds use it for baths? I love the tamarind trees. Very nice!

The trees are great! I want to know about the standing water with plants? Is there a way for them to perch in the water? Will it draw mosquitos and get algae? How do you prevent bad water without a running source to replenish the water? Very nice looking setup!

Thanks all.
about the bucket with the aquatic plants (and with guppies, forgot to mention), that's the magic part. I dont need special treatment for it. just feed the fish occasionally. actually I had have this bucket (and a few others) for long time. I think the plants keep the water from fouling (algae do appear when the system is immature, but as the plants get older, the algae vanish away) and the fish will keep it from mosquito. all I have to do is just top it up every other day when the water evaporates enough.

about the deep; yes it is. that's why I put that dead tree trunk, which has pretty lot of branches, some of it submerged only an inch or less under water, which I hope the finches will use it when they are bathing. but as I witness it today, the finches just take bath from the side of the bucket. they just dipped their head a bit. (next I'll try to capture it on vid).

[javansparrow]

this is another sample of my 'outdoor pond'



it is actually a used all-glass aquarium which I dont want it anymore in my house. put it outside. throw some coarse sand, aquatic plant and some guppies. and they work just like magic. the water is clear (after the plant mature) and the fish bred like crazy.

also these buckets will attract some local munia (the javan munia actually) to drink and bath from it.

[debbie276]

What a great idea!

[nelloyello11]

I just bought this:

http://www.kmart.com/stor-4-shelf-stora ... 220070001P

phenomenal price, sturdy plenty for an aviary set up such as fits my hopes.

Wire or plastic netting can easily be attached to the shelves. Easily. I can lower the shelf that is just up from the bottom shelf; and I can raise the one that is just below the top shelf........to the height i want for the flight.........THEN I can simply attach the wire or netting to those two shelves all the way around, and voila! There is the flight cage! I can just lay paper or something on the bottom shelf of the flight cage---the shelf that comes with the unit itself, and I got my flooring all set............ I think this--brand new!!!-- is a phenomenal deal.

Not only that, you can still use the shelves above and below the flight part for storage of bird stuff--or setting a light stick on, etc.

If you reflect a little, the possibilities with this unit are quite nice. I would have to pay, I bet, a few hundred dollars to get something like this from 'bird store'.

I hope some find this helpful. I sure do!!!!!!!!!!! BTW, this unit is metal, not plastic.............

I actually used the slightly shorter version of these shelves for my 30x18 cages. They worked great for 2 cages and some storage space on the bottom. You could likely just use small zip ties to attach wire, too! The shelves have a lip on them (where the zig zag design is) on the "bottom"; if you put them "upside down," you can use this lip to keep your paper from sliding around in the bottom.
AND you could put a cage on top of the flight, on the top shelf too!
One word of caution, before you set it up, check all the connections and end points of the metal on the inside edges of the shelf - on mine, some of them were kinda sharp and might need to be filed smooth.

[nelloyello11]

Jim- your aviary looks great! The mini ponds are awesome!!! Looking forward to some video of your birds in it!!

[Finnie]

I love your aviary, too. And I especially like the small doors you have to access the feeder cups.