FINCHforum

Hi there everyone,

I realise it's been a while since I last posted and in that time I have been extremely busy with a little project.

As I live in the northwest of England, I was a bit hesitant with my current build as the weather isn't great. But I decided to go forth with it and face the problems as they arise.

Having a small back yard, self-contained with four concrete walls and a concrete floor, I decided an aviary built onto my shed might be a cool way to brighten the place up.

I must say, even though I do so myself ;), that it has been a tremendous success. Please see the images attached.

I have a few questions for the community and I hope they might just be able to help...


....I have built my aviary in the hope that at night, the birds would get accustomed to roosting in the nestbox I made that is inside the shed, but so far, they are unwilling. They seem perfectly happy to sleep outside but there is one problem with that. The neighbour's cat. He likes to sit on top of my aviary and toy with my birds' nerves as they think they are going to be hunted. I had hoped the nestbox (long cage I made myself, not really a nestbox as such, more of an indoor enclosure) would provide them with respite and some warmth at night.

How can I get them to move indoors at night? Do they need to?

The finches tend to explore the nestbox a little, but the canaries seem a little more 'dim' to put it nicely.

I am also hoping to add some shards of glass to the roof of my shed and the top of the aviary to ward off cats, should I try anything else?

I hope you enjoy the pictures.

Not sure what your weather is there right now, but you may see them make more use of the inside nest box when it is cooler, especially at night. And I'm sure as they adjust and get more comfortable, they will gradually explore more and make sure of all of the space.
By the way, it looks great!

Birds generally prefer to select the highest perch in an aviary to sleep on at night, so i'm thinking they might not be so keen on the night shelter as the entry is quite low down. Does the shelter go up to the same height as the flight? if so, it might work to move the perches in the flight down a bit so that the ones in the shelter are higher. You might also think about moving the entry to the shelter higher and perhaps make it a little bigger as well as it looks a little narrow for the canaries. An easy-to-land-on platform or perch on either side of the hole will also make it more user-freindly for the birds.
One last though, any chance of letting a little more light into the shelter? That might also encourage them to use it.

Nice job on the aviary! Looks like your birds have lots of space and should be very happy.

As an alternative to glass shards on top, consider something simple like clear plastic; a shower curtain or even just Saran-wrap might do the trick. Most cats dislike the feel of plastic on their paws and will avoid it; since it's clear, it will still let in lots of light for the birds. The poor cat can't help it, those are tasty morsels to him, he's just following his instincts. Just make sure the plastic is secured tightly so no ends are flapping to scare the birds.