Do you have an aviary?

[Stephanie]

Wow, there are some really spectacular aviaries here! I love seeing everyone's creative ideas.

I made a video update of my outdoor community aviary; it's come quite far: http://youtu.be/amktKfqcolg

[EyesofFreedom]

So what size does a cage cease to be a cage and become an aviary?

[Stephanie]

Hmm, good question. One I've pondered myself.

I think there's a natural divide: When a cage gets too large it becomes impossible to catch birds in it, yet it's still far too small to climb into. So no-one builds 'XXL cages' or 'XXS aviaries' - it jumps straight from 'large cage' to 'small aviary with a human access door'.

So the dimensions are vague, but does that make sense?

[debbie276]

So what size does a cage cease to be a cage and become an aviary?

And where does a "flight" fit in??

[EyesofFreedom]

Stephanie I can buy that... an avairy is something you can physically walk into...

Debbie you are so silly I would call a flight something long and or tall enough that they cant hop but must fly to cross horizontally or vertically...

So going with these definitions I would classify my cage as a large flight

[Ginene]

I am in awe of ALL of the pics!!! Oh how I wish I could have a walk in aviary... For now I am very happy with my 2 large flights and 1 smaller flight. We love having them right in our family room, as we spend most of our time there. It's a train-wreck for breeding...so I have slowly removed all nests and have only 1 nest remaining in a small breeding cage. Hopefully, some day I will be posting pics of our bird room. Happy finching all

[Sally]

The terms cage, flight, and aviary seem to depend on what part of the world you are in. In the U.S., we tend to call anything you can walk into an aviary, and large cages are referred to as flights or flight cages.

In Australia, from the videos and magazine pictures I have seen, cages are anything you can't walk into, flights are walk-ins in the range of say 3x6, 4x8, and aviaries are quite large. What we in the U.S. will call an aviary is often referred to as a flight in Australia. But in Australia, it is quite common to keep birds in much larger accommodations than we do in the U.S.

[Stephanie]

I think in Aus we tend to refer to flights as a shape as much as anything else. So banks of long narrow 'aviaries' may equally be called 'flights'. Or a long section of aviary attached to a hexagonal end section might also be called a flight.

Then there's the 'flight cage', which is a long cage that provides flying opportunity.

[nicolino]

Here is mine .

[debbie276]

Beautiful!

[nicolino]

Some more pics. Nesting zebras are kept in a smaller cage on the side of the aviary . They are ( at least my birds ) aggressive towards other birds in the aviary disturbing their nests and or pulling feathers from youngsters.

[Ginene]

nicolino
Very pretty

[ann]

I build this cage about 12 years ago, and it's held up very well. The frame is pine, the wire is 1/2" welded wire. I had a stainless pan made for the bottom. What I like most about this design is that there is no cage bottom, which makes it so much easier to clean - no more seeds stuck into corners and under the pan. I used to keep potted plants in there, but parrot finches are too hard on vegetation. Now I just cut fresh shrub or tree branches every day or two and hang them in the cage.

[debbie276]

Gorgeous cage!!

[Weew]

I have an aviary... sort of...

One day, having never owned a bird in my life, I was compelled (by my significant other) to get a pair of cheap zebras and just let them loose in my pool enclosure. I had a voice in my head saying "this is a really bad idea"... but another voice said "but this is also a really cool idea, if you can pull it off!" And so I did it. What the hell, I thought... at the worst, I'd be out ten bucks.

Three years later, I have a mix of exotic finches living and flourishing on my back porch. The enclosure itself has been sufficient to contain the birds, and I've had few problems with it. The enclosure has a lot of open space and several large potted trees for roosting. Their poop is contained to their roosting areas, which clean up easily with a hose (I have a dog anyway, so I'm used to cleaning the porch).

Most of my problems/hard lessons came from sharing human space with finches. Case in point: I never lost a bird in my pool; they're smart enough to avoid it... even fledglings. I have, however, had a gouldian drown in a simple garden watering can.

Yes, it is high risk. I could write a book about the things I learned and the creative solutions I've found to unforeseen problems. I've lost finches, sometimes due to stupid mistakes. There is also reward, though... letting these birds fly free in a semi-wild setting makes a huuuuge difference in their well-being. I swear it must do something good to their little birdbrains to just cut loose and fly in the sunshine, peck at stuff on the concrete, root in the dirt of potted trees, etc. And a chick born and raised in that environment grows up to be robust and gorgeous, especially the gouldians.

Speaking of, Gouldians are by far the most daring, acrobatic flyers. They're like little jet fighters that will zoom past your ear and startle you. They're also the most "friendly", playful, and curious. If I didn't know any better, I'd say they were studying me.

One big down side: it's tough to have a herb garden with finches. The green singers love to eat holes in basil leaves, the gouldians devour the strawberries (leaf, stem, everything), and the zebras do this weird thing with the chives where they chew the length of the stem to squeeze out the juice, leaving a limp green stringy mess behind. Jerks.