The Pro's And Con's Of A Free Flight Bird Room

[lovezebs]

Hello Fellow Birders,

I have been toying around with the idea of a free flight Bird Room, for close to a year now.

However I'm scared to even try, because of the good chance that it would become a dismal failure, and birdies would have to go back into incarceration.

Please give me your thoughts on the subject......

[w.l.]

Well, I had one for years and it's the best place birds can have. I can't imagine any reason why it would be a failure.
The only drawback is that unless it is very lightly populated, breeding might be less successful due to the various birds disturbing each other's nests.

[Dave]

I'm firmly with w.l. Once you experience them flying free in a room, you won't want to go back to cages. I'm only using cages for some breeding situations.

Your windowsills will get spotted. You can tape plastic over them, or paint them with a really good enamel or polyurethane, or just give in to the potential damage.

I just taped up white poly over the walls. When I moved, I took the poly down (a few minutes work) and the room was set for humans again.

They learn pretty quick about windows and mirrors. At least at first, have some light curtain or window blinds over them.

Un-caged hookbills take a lot more room preparation. Finches just don't seem to get into trouble much. Sit with them in the room during the early days of freedom, and watch for potential trouble spots.

[Sheather]

The mess - it's a lot of work for more than five or ten finches. However, I did it for 2 1/2 years with a population varying from twenty to fifty and it was not unmanageable.

It's easier than cleaning many large cages every day, for sure.

[Ricardo Ronsini]

You mean, like an aviary?

Go for it! The birds will love, also it is very practical too.

[lovezebs]

w.l. Dave Sheather Ricardo Ronsini

When I speak of failure, my main concern is the mess on walls, floors, ceilings, etc.
I have old oak hardwood floors, which are not so friendly to a daily wet mop, so I would have to look at some sort of floor covering that I can just damp mop every day.

The walls have thin wood panelling on them, which can be cleaned, but again would not stand too well to a lot of wetness. The window frames, are treated natural wood, that I could tape over easily enough.

The windows themselves.... I was thinking of dark hawk stickers, like they have in zoos and such, to deter colisions.

The door, is wood, but I was thinking of replacing it either with a framed screen, or those split clear heavy rubberized plastic hanging thingies (if I can find it), where the strips overlap slightly, always falling back into place. On the outside of that, I would install a heavy duty baby gate, to keep the dogs out. An ornate metal gate, would be more attractive, but a bit costly.

The ceiling, can be painted with a semi gloss paint, that can be cleaned easily enough.

With the exception of too budgies, all of my birds at present are Canaries, Finches, and Waxbills, so that should not be a major issue.

Regarding breeding, I would hang on to some cages, if I run into issues with 'nosey neighbors' bothering potential breeders ( a certain Parrot Finch shall remain nameless... ).

I don't have any terribly aggressive species, or natural enemies in my flock, and there again, trouble makers could be caged if need be.

It is a tiny room, but without the large flights in there, there would be a lot more flying room than the birdlings have now in the flights.

I like the idea of a combination of real and artificial plants, small mirrors, small water fountains, wind chimes, natural branch perches, dead trees, mixed with artifical trees, and vines wrapped around corner resting shelves, with nest boxes attached close to the ceiling.

I would love to have my Mom's old rocking chair in there to sit in there.

[w.l.]

I covered the floor with plastic flooring sheets, then put a layer of sand on it. This was swept periodically.
The walls didn't get dirty.
I put wire mesh on the windows.
No live plants, so no need to enter to water them.
No rocking chair either, I only watched my birds fr outside, through a wire mesh door added. In general, I entered as rarely as possible to avoid disturbing the birds, which were all wild-caught so stressed if I entered. Food and water were given through little doors at the bott of the wire mesh door.

[lovezebs]

w.l.

That's a different scenerio, than my situation.
I have birds who land on my head, when I stick it into the flights, lol.

Sadly they usually deposit presents in my hair, to show how much they love me , but most are not extremely nervous (unless you try to capture them). I have Canary girl, that I can pick up, deposit a kiss on top of her silly crested head and put her back in the flight without any problems.

The idea of plastic sheeting on the floor, is something that another Member on here mentioned recently, with a thick layer of wood shavings on top which she just sweeps up periodically.

I however tend to ....(I almost said 'like' washing floors, lol) feel the need to wash floors where birdies poop, splash in water, drop the occasional egg bomb, etc.

Plastic sheeting, is an option, but I can imagine it becoming slippery when wet, and me being me (a clumsy klutz) I can forsee some uncompleasant occurances as in splash-slide-boom with birds flying recon flight patrols over my prone body, trying to see who can manage to poop in my wide open screaming mouth.

[Babs _Owner]

lovezebs

I love the idea! All the birds flying around you while you read and watch. Happy sigh...

[w.l.]

Wood shavings are not recommended, at least near water dishes, as they get get wet, can't really dry and then host fungus and bacteria.
In a birdroom, you should forget about regularly washing the floor, I'd say. It's not like cleaning a cage or small aviary.

As for the birds being tame, I think it is actually the "wild" birds like waxbills that would appreciate such a room most, though of course domesticated ones would enjoy it, too.

Btw, what on earth would small mirrors be for???

[lovezebs]

w.l.

So that the little girl birdies can put their make up on.....

Sorry, couldn't resist, lol.

I simply like the way they reflect different lighting one from the other, especially if you place artificial candles in different areas, or small fairy lights.... I guess it's the Corvid deep down in me..... NICE SHINEY!!!

Yea I know...

Anyway, back to floors and such.

Seeing as my Bird Room, is right across from my room, it will have to be clean (which means washing floors, washing walls, leaning windows, wiping off birdie splats and so on.

I see your point about wood shavings perhaps not being the most practical. Sand however, would be slippery and would get all over the house.

I've considered indoor/outdoor carpet (which would look like grass), but short of rolling it up, dragging it outside, and hosing it off, it would get smelly in no time even with vacuuming.

I am leaning more towards a sheet of linoleum, that I could slip under the base boards, and attach with a staple gun at intervals so that it would stay put (seeing as gods forbid I would never glue linoleum to oak hardwood).

Linoleum, can be vacuumed, washed, scrubbed, and so on (while the birds sit around staring at you, thinking, what a strange creature you are) .

[w.l.]

Linoleum is what I meant by plastic sheets on the floor. That is what I used under sand in my birdroom, and what I use bare in my smaller aviaries. But if bare, it will requite frequent sweeping and wiping. With very tame birds that could work, but it would almost certainly prevent shyer species like waxbills from breeding peacefully.

[Babs _Owner]

lovezebs

Heres the curtain you want. This is what they use in the petstores so people can walk in freeflight rooms without the birds getting out. It has heavy strips that fall into place after you walk through.

If you place it inside the room after the screen door it would create that fortress you want.

https://www.katom.com/583-M106PR803PK.h ... swodcuYPEA

[Sheather]

If your doors are tall, expect your canaries to walk right out though! I used those for a while and for some reason my canaries all figured out after a few days they could hop right under. Nobody else ever did. I had to keep an 8 inch high stack of towels to block the gap of about 1/2 an inch or they'd just slip under it.

If you can do a screen door, it would be better.

[Barbara]

lovezebs was just reading all the differnt post and was thinking that I would love to have a bird room also,but only if I had someone that would come and scrub the walls and floors for me daily.I know cleaning all my large flight cages takes some time but with the clear plastic half way up the wall I know when I move cage away from the wall I don't have to go up and down a step ladder I also can't imagine me not wanting to wash floor daily now I clean my cages daily and floor weekly I don't know how those little finches poop on the floor from inside the cage but I even find poop under the cage,I can't imagine how much flying free.I also know siting on my computer chair rolling from cage to cage to clean with my rolling cart of water and supplies is easier on my knees then bending and climbing up a ladder.Had two knee replacement.So my personal opinion for me would be never could I have a bird room.I also love to sit in my bird room and talk and watch all of them eating there salad bar and taking there baths so I could never just watch from the door like you I would be right in the middle of the room geting food,water,and poop flung at me. Keep us posted on your decision.And post pictures at your progress if you decide to do it.Good luck