New aviary! In Texas...

[EGByrd]

Good news- We're breaking ground on our aviary tomorrow! Bad news- We live in Texas. We have to find a way to make it (and the birds) withstand freezing temps, 100+ degrees for days on end, heavy rains, strong winds, hail, sleet, and tornadoes! Ok, I know it's a tad unrealistic to tornado-proof the aviary, but we have really diverse weather here. I've been looking at wire mesh and roofing materials and am completely stumped and confused. Galvanized after and before welding, PVC coated, vinyl coated, hardware cloth, weaved, hexagonal, there are so many options! And I don't know the difference between most of them. If there's anyone who can make this choice easier for me I'd appreciate it. I know the cloth isn't a good idea for the exterior walls, but could I use it between the aviaries to save money? I have two very vigilant dogs so I don't think animals getting in would be a problem. My next problem is the roof. I think I want to roof the whole thing to make it easier to wrap it to keep the cold out in winter. What material(s) should I use for the roof? We have an arbor that we will build the aviary off of. The arbor is 4' wide and 14' long. We want to make the middle of the arbor the entryway to the aviaries, with one exterior door opening to 4 aviaries. We will likely start with 2 aviaries and finish splitting them into 4 later. We don't know yet what species we want to keep. We want to extend the aviaries 8' from the arbor, making 2 aviaries 3.5'x12' and 2 3.5'x8', all 8'high. If anyone has suggestions as to what species we could keep they'd be appreciated. The next problem we have is making sure their water doesn't dry up. Has anyone set up a drip system or any other way of keeping water dishes full? In the middle of summer I don't want to risk the dishes drying up. We fill up a small plastic pool every 2-3 days for our dogs with a pot of water in the shade filled every day. A shallow dish doesn't stand a chance. We will have an indoor back up plan in case we have another heat wave but this is Texas, the heat wave starts in May and ends in September. I read that someone puts oscillating fans in their aviary and that does the trick, but if anyone has more ideas I'd love to hear them! I'm sure I have more questions but this is more than enough for now.

[Sally]

I haven't built an outdoor aviary, but here is a thread on the aviary that mickp has built. On page 6, he has a photo of how he set up his watering system. He also has a misting system, which I think would be a must in our hot Texas summers. Mickp hasn't been on the forum in a long time, but you could always try sending him a PM, just in case he still gets them. The Aussies mostly do outside aviaries, so they have lots of experience with them.

http://www.finchforum.com/viewtopic.php ... lit=aviary

[debbie276]

Are you going to be able to walk in these aviaries? If so 3.5' enough room for you to be comfortable catching, cleaning and/or changing out dishes?

[EGByrd]

It should be enough room to work, though probably just one at a time. At first we may just split it in two and plan to make it 4 down the road. The good news is there should be plenty of room to expand if we want to, and knowing us it's a good possibility! We got posts set today and have already had our first change of plans. The roof will slope from 8ft to 6ft, since we could only get 8ft posts. I'll post pictures tomorrow most likely. If anyone has ideas for what kinds of finches we could keep out there let me know! Also if anyone knows how a single orange weaver male would act in a mixed aviary, I would like to know what to do with the two we have. We are thinking about trading or selling one and getting females for the other, but I don't know their background or age. One is banded and the other is not. The house finch is being taken to the local rehab center tomorrow. Of all the finches she is by far the least happy about being in her cage. I really wish I knew how she came to be someone's pet. I doubt she'll ever be released but I know she'll be happier with other house finches.

[EGByrd]

Update! Finally... We're shopping around for hardware cloth, anyone have thoughts on 1/2"x1"? I have found plenty of wholesalers but I can't find prices on their websites. Has anyone used a particular website to buy standard galvanized mesh? We're trying to save money where we can and we need 200' of 48" wide mesh. For the roof we're planning on laying more pickets on the roof of the arbor to seal the gaps and over the rest of the aviary we are thinking about clear fiberglass corrugated panels. If anyone has thoughts on that let me know! The boards you see in the pics sticking way up above the top of the aviary will be cut at an angle to allow the roof to be sloped from the 8' arbor to the 6' back of the aviary. We will have safety doors under the arbor and we are thinking about putting sliding doors between the aviaries to allow us to open sections up to the adjacent aviary. We eventually want four aviaries here, but will start with one, then split it in half, then add the other walls to make four. We bought a misting system to beat the Texas heat. By the way, I had to figure out how to make the picture small enough to post so it's a picture of a picture taken on the lowest setting of my phone. So not a good picture. Sorry.

[debbie276]

I wouldn't go smaller then 1/2 x 1/2 inch, especially outside with all the predators. If you have lots of small snakes in the area and are thinking about housing the smaller waxbills you might want to go to the 1/4 x 1/4 inch.
Looking good!

[EGByrd]

Update! We were fortunate enough to have a roofer friend come out and put the frame of the roof on in exchange for a few beers to get through the job. We have laid pavers down but we still need to pick them back up and level the ground. I'm getting so excited. I know there's still quite a bit of work to get done but I'm ready to put the wire up and let the birds loose! Please ignore the mess in the backyard, we recently replaced a portion of our fence and haven't figured out what we want to do with the part we took down. We also have dogs that seem to think we have gophers that need to be found.

[Sally]

Looking good! I need to find someone who could put up an aviary for me--I have lots of beer! Thanks for keeping us posted, I think everyone likes to see how people construct their aviaries, flights, cages.

[dcompt]

No advice, but I grew up down the road from you in Fort Worth, so I definitely know about the weather. That's going to be a challenge. I'll be looking forward to more pics as the work progresses.

[debbie276]

It's coming along nicely.
Can't wait for more pics

[EGByrd]

It's coming along! We have framed out the catch, it will be large enough to double as a small storage area. We have started to paint it as well. We are looking hard for the best deal on 1/4" hardware mesh. We will need about 200' of it. Our local hardware stores don't have the dimensions we need so we are likely going to have to order it. We're getting so excited!

[limeslide]

It's looking great!
On the temperatures, I face the same problems. I offer plenty of water, especially in trays for bathing... they like to bathe in them when they are hot. The birds do great in the summer here as long as water is available and plentiful.

My experience is only with society finches, zebra finches, and canaries however.

[Ginene]

Looks great!!!

[EGByrd]

We have a misting system that we will set up in the aviary and I'm trying to find an automatic waterer like the ones for dogs that will work for a barring dish. I'm nervous that a shallow dish will dry up too quickly. I was even thinking and something like a paint dish that's sloped so the birds can choose the depth they want, but also won't dry up as quickly. Maybe I'm thinking too much into it

[debbie276]

Wow, that looks wonderful!!