My Planned (Smaller) Aviary

[GouldianGuy]

I am currently in a period of career/location flux and will be so for at least the next year to year and a half. HOWEVER! Once established this is my planned aviary. Originally I had planned a larger 30' x 8' aviary, but that's awfully ambitious and expensive.... SO this came about:

My initial plan was (is) to have Gouldian finches (2 pairs of RH/PB/GB) in a "colony" setting with 2 owl pairs to start. I am hesitant about their hardiness, as the aviary will be outside in Canada. If I continue along the lines of Gouldians the outside aviary would be built on a cinder block foundation, a 2"x6"? treated wood framed plywood floor, have a fully enclosed heated shelter (16' x 12', 5' x 6' for each sex), each with a covered flight (5' x 6'). I figure an eastern shelter would provide the most light during the day for the female birds for Vitamin D. The males would be in the western shelter.

Design Inspiration:
http://www.finchforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=8608
http://www.finchforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=34900
http://www.backyardchickens.com/a/construction

Enclosure: I liked the idea of old pallets but I will not say no to untreated particle board with "organic" insulation. Here are links to videos/forums with similar ideas:
English Pallet Aviary - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yiQPHOAgbvQ
Australian Pallet Aviary - https://www.aussiefinchforum.net/viewto ... 41&t=18566
I will probably use this: https://www.lowes.ca/wood-siding/716-x- ... 00130.html
(from: http://www.backyardchickens.com/a/construction)

Framing: 2x4 walls, maybe steel, cheaper?

Insulation: 2" pink styrofoam insulation behind all closed walls

Wire - 1/4" welded hardware cloth (wire mesh) scrubbed and painted black. This will be attached to 2x2" wood frames nailed into the centre of the 2x4 walls, leaving 1 inch on each side of the walls for corrugated plastic/plexiglas wind blocks

Windows: There will be 2 weatherproof (double paned Plexiglas) windows (4' wide, 2' tall) one on the western wall and one on the eastern wall of the shelter to encourage the most amount of daylight. I may install exterior shutter to increase the weatherproof-ness (a real word?) during windy cold nights.

Floor substrate: I've flip-flopped between vinyl/linoleum (BORING), washed river sand (sticky when wet), or medium coarse gravel. With the Canadian climate, I am concerned about water penetrating and freezing/cracking.

Watering: Consider automatic watering - http://agselect.com/ in the future but for now I will use chicken waterers such as this one in the flight - http://www.khmfg.com/farm-ranch/chicken ... terer.html
My biggest concern is that it is designed for chicken and may be too deep for the finches. What is nice about it is that there is a "no-spill" fill design, which is desirable.
In the shelter, good old fashion external waterers will be used - https://ca-en.hagen.com/Bird/Accessorie ... ater/81600

Food: Along the lines of the waterers, I would use large feeders out in the flight - http://www.harrisfarmsllc.com/harris-fa ... c-drinkers
In the shelter I would use smaller seed cups and saucers for seed and greens/veggies - https://ca-en.hagen.com/Bird/Accessorie ... ater/81851
This guy has a neat review on an Italian feeder that doesn't need holes in the wire! They're the Mangiatoia TOP4 feeder - https://planetaviary.com/44954-2/

Lighting: The toughest. Full spectrum linear tube lights for ~4 hours in morning and ~4 hours in evening, with a break centred around noon to encourage outdoor living. The plan would be to use regular incandescent bulbs as a 1 hour transition to night, where the incandescent and the FS are on at the asme time for 15 min, then just the bulbs for 30 min, then 15 min of mixed bulb and blue light to simulate the moon. Overnight, low intensity blue light will simulate the moon and allow the finches to see in the dark (read: avoid night fright).

Heating: Inside the shelter, I'll place a couple of these - http://www.finchforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=31484
Might even try this? - http://www.khmfg.com/thermo-peep-heated-pad.html
If this somehow ends up indoors, I would use this - http://www.digitalaquatics.org/herpetology/herpkeeper-1

Breeding: Breeding cages will be set up along the North wall in the "no-man's land" between the male and female flights. 4-6 cages of the Montagna 1310V (http://www.montagnasrl.it/En_montagna_r ... amento.htm) would be ideal. Once the chicks have fledged I will convert the breeding cages into small flights to house them until they're ready to be placed in their respective same-sex-only flights.

AND LASTLY! to nerd out:

The birds:
I plan to start with 2 pairs of Gouldians (RH, PB, GB) and 2 pairs of Owls. Pipe dream birds also include Blue capped Cordon Bleu, European Goldfinches, or Orange/Brown/Bronze Mosaic Canaries. The birds will originally be paired up with one type per flight until such time as I have more than 2 pairs of a kind. To keep track of the birds and pedigree, I will use passive RFID split leg bands along with colour coded bands. These will allow me to instantly pull up a profile on each bird with a simple scan with an RFID reader. This is similar to what a lot of ornithology researchers are using on wild birds to study feeding and breeding (https://wildtech.mongabay.com/2015/07/b ... -own-rfid/).

Again this is a dream aviary that is hoped and planned for in the next couple of years... Any suggestions or comments are more than welcome!

[Stuart whiting]

Way to go fella, nice one

You've certainly done yer working out and homework on this one,

Seems like it's gonna be a Pucka set up and not cheap by any imagination,
Take yer time doing it as it ain't worth rushing these things to try and get it all done ASAP because this is where things start to go wrong and can be costly,

I've been still working on my birdroom for the last few months when money allows etc but is now starting to come along and taking shape to how I want it,

Wishing you the very best of luck

[GouldianGuy]

Stuart whiting

Thanks, I figure it'd be easiest to do it once and do it right. I'd like to breed and do "experiments" at some point but I don't want to turn the hobby into a business, so I kept the aviary smaller than originally planned.

[Stuart whiting]

Stuart whiting

Thanks, I figure it'd be easiest to do it once and do it right. I'd like to breed and do "experiments" at some point but I don't want to turn the hobby into a business, so I kept the aviary smaller than originally planned.

Good on yer mate, hope all goes well

Be lucky