Camouflage

[Sitting Duck]

I live in California where often hawks and very often Turkey Vultures soar over my aviary, casting a large shadow which FREAKS my birds out. They fly around crazy for a brief time them freeze and stay motionless for quite some time. I just draped a 6'x8' length of camouflage netting over the corrugated Lexan top of my aviary. I hope this helps.

Has anyone else had this issue?

[finchmix22]

Looks like a very nice aviary set up! I assume predators are a problem for all outdoor aviaries. We have hawks and owls and rats and snakes that would prey on an aviary full of birds. There are some past threads about security and protection from predators. You can do a search and read some of those posts. I would think camaflouge would help, but since they need natural sunlight, they are still going to be exposed from side views, but maybe the overhead is the worst? Good Luck.

[Sitting Duck]

In the winter months I put 1/4" sheets of plexi-glass on the front and sides of the aviary to keep the heat in. It sometimes gets in the 20's but typically is in the low 30's at night. With 4 ceramic heat bulbs I keep it in the high 50's or 60 at nigh/day in the winter.

I have often worried about the lack of natural light because of the angle of the sun during the winter months and because of the plexi-glass. I provide liquid calcium and other liquid vitamen suppliments to their water. Both solutions contain Vit D3. Is this adequate or is natural light escential?

[finchmix22]

Natural light helps their bodies process the D3 and other essential vitamins. If you can't give them unfiltered, natural sun, I'd put UVA/UVB bulbs in the aviary, on timers.

[finchmix22]

Here's link from a search on the forum about predators and aviaries.
http://www.finchforum.com/viewtopic.php ... rs#p154045

[Colt]

You might also try shade cloth to cover the top which you can get at most garden departments or hardware stores. It's available in different thickness to allow more or less sunlight through it. Perhaps you can find a good compromise maybe 30-40% blockage that allows some light through but keeps their vision above limited. That's just an estimate. I know the higher ones will block more light (and of course view of aerial predators) but you lose the benefit of the natural light.

[Sitting Duck]

Natural light helps their bodies process the D3 and other essential vitamins. If you can't give them unfiltered, natural sun, I'd put UVA/UVB bulbs in the aviary, on timers.

Thank you for the heads up.

I do have a full spectrum light in my aviary. The aviary is approx. 7'x6'. I heard the benefits if the light waves only travel a couple of feet from the light. So even if the ligt was hitting the birds they might be perched too far away to benefit from it.