Future Aviary: Am I brave, or just dumb?

[finchandlovebird]

I bought this at St. Vincent DePaul; 15 bucks; solid wood, 2 doors on the bottom to hold gear. Four 2" slats on each side. Nine square "dowels" inside across the width. It will be 34Wide 24Deep 41H. With the slats & dowels & corner frames there is plenty to staple "hardware cloth" to. It has a hinged top & solid back. I have looked at the posts under "housing" and see there are 24 pages; I'm only on Page 2; I want to learn how others built cages/aviaries. What they used, etc. Tricks of the trade. Failures & successes. What can I say: help! help! help!

One question in the beginning: hardware cloth .... Is the vinyl "bird netting" a good alternative vs. the wire hardware cloth. Our hardware store also has what they call "deer fencing" which is the same vinyl, 3/4" material.

I repeat: help! help! help! I'm in no hurry; just something to dream about until I get it figured out. Supposed to have our first big snow storm tomorrow ... lots of time to dream

[ashgate]

I like it and it looks promising. I will be watching to see how it goes

[summert85]

if u finish it, i bet itll be beautiful. can't wait to see the finish pic. keep us posted.

[nelloyello11]

LOTS of potential in this one for sure!! Awesome find for $15 too!

Somethings you might consider:
Would you keep the dowels or remove them? One idea, if you do remove them, is to use plexiglas on the two sides, to keep seed etc from spilling out the sides.
As for the mesh netting, I don't know if I would trust it over hardware cloth. If you just use hardware cloth on the front, you wouldn't even need much. If you spray it black, or get the plastic coated stuff, you will be able to see inside better.
How will you do doors? If you do large doors, I recommend making smaller ones inside them, so you have less area to cover when you open up for feeding and maintenance etc.
Lighting- you can mount an under-cabinet light inside, on the top to provide them with full-spectrum light.
You might also think about putting wheels on it, either castors or making a wheeled base, to make it easy to move for maintenance, cleaning, etc.
Flooring- you could cover the bottom with a piece of whiteboard to make it easy to wipe down.

Those are just some things that came to mind.
I'm looking forward to seeing this progress, as it looks like it will be really cool as a flight!

[6finchfriends]

Or partial plexi-glass like we put in?
You can see the plexi-glass around the bottom except for the door in the middle. It keeps the floor so much cleaner! and you have a clear view of you finches when they're on the floor of the enclosure.

I think you can make that into a very beautiful flight. One you'd be proud to have in your living room or anywhere. Keep us posted and good luck with your plans!

[debbie276]

Looks like a great project, can't wait to see more pictures as you go.

[finchandlovebird]

Good ideas folks. I did buy casters to make it moveable.
Trish; what kind of hardware cloth or netting did you use.

[Ursula]

Do NOT use the mesh netting! It is much too flimsy! I used it in my walkin aviary in front of the windows (to prevent the birds from flying into the glass, and I had 2 birds getting tangled in the net. One I was able to rescue in time and the other was unfortunately already dead when found. Needless to say I removed it. I am now using wooden bars.
If I was you I'd use hardware cloth and/or plexi glass.

[finchandlovebird]

OK Ursula; this is the kind of thing I want to learn before I do stuff wrong

[Ursula]

OK Ursula; this is the kind of thing I want to learn before I do stuff wrong

Forgot to mention: screens that go in a screendoor aren't good either, the mesh is too fine and the birds nails can get stuck in them. I never had that but read of others who had that happen.

[finchandlovebird]

I do understand Rancel. If you check out my new post on Housing, you'll see I'm going to use 3 nursery flats for pull out trays. The front of the cage will be plexiglass & I'll allow plenty of room for pulling out the trays; probably will add a vinyl flap to hang down from the plexiglass to prevent ESCAPES lol.