FINCHforum

Hi everybody, i can tell im going to be a frequent poster here.

My names Dean, Im 22, Live in Melbourne Australia, Im not a bird person primarily... im primarily a fish person, i have a lovely 4ft planted tank with various characins and cichlids.

I fell head over heels in love with finchs acouple of months back when i was at the local zoo, mums been talking about decommissioning our current aviary, as no one looks after it. Its not a well thought out design, its too small for someone of my size (6ft 7) to actively maintain it, to move around i have to crawl on hands and knees and duck under brances.

So im about to build a new one, i rarely do things by halfs, so im throwing myself into this one, and building an aviary thats easier to maintain. (My girlfriends also going around the world over summer... so its going to be my little project over the next 2 months)

This is my current aviary, looking very run down.


8ftx7ishftx3ft

This is my design.

(its not to scale but im wanting, 12ftx7ftx5ft flight, and a 3ftx7ftx5ft storage area (double entry space)

The structure is going to be mounted onto a brick surround, which will also act as a rat wall, around the base.

Its got a slightly slanting open section (A flat topped flight section would cause leaves to accululate) It also has a double doored entry, which im not sure if i will have 2 breeding cages in, or use it for storage, weather i leave it open, or if i fully enclose it.

As im probally moving out of home in the next 2 years, im wanting to construct it in such a way that i can 'easily' (yeah right) pull it down, store it and/or transport it.

Havnt decided if im going to build it from timber or metal yet, im handy with both, so it doesnt phase me too much.

Im wanting to house, a finch collection, some diamond doves, one of the small placid parrot species (bloke at the local shop said turquise parrots are compatible... i didnt think you could keep parrots with finchs) And a family of brown quail (button quail)

Also im going to have plants inside it, outside it, and infront of it... im hoping this will 'hide' the aviary more, and help blend it into the garden, so im going to grow small grasses infront of the aviary (where the brown is).

Still not certain about what the floor is going to be, im thinking concrete but then i would have to slant it to drain, and i prefer a more natural ground.

I am impressed! I am looking forward very much to photos of your progress. And 6'7"! At least you won't have any trouble catching birds which fly to the top of your future aviary. My indoor aviary is 7' tall and I have trouble reaching birds in the upper corners without a net, but that's what I get for being short.

Best of luck with your aviary! It sounds like you have put a lot of thought into it.

Wow! Nicely done Dean. Welcome to the forum.

I can't think of a single thing to suggest as it appears you have thought it all through and have covered all the bases. As for keeping hookbills with your other birds... that is usually a no-no. BUT there was some recent discussion on here I believe where a certain type of small parrot was mentioned that was supposedly docile enough to house with finches. I don't recall the spieces at the moment, but will have a look.... I'm thinking it was Forbes parrots. Could be mistaken so don't quote me.

Okay it wasn't the Forbes but the Bourke.

Here's the discussion http://www.finchforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=60 Scrool down and look for Madhatters posts.

Welcome. Love the design of the new aviary. Sounds fantastic.

It is bourke's parakeets. I have read that 1 pair can be housed with finches in an aviary. Not more then 1 pair or they will fight so I have read. Do not know from my own experience since I do not have any.

Good luck with your project.

hi dean
an excellent project you are starting there,i finished mine this year ,and it is really satisfying to start a project and see it through to the end

ken

Ive been flat off my feet, helping my girlfriend pack, and sending her off on her backpacking adventure i also had to help run a church fair today. Luckly tonight i had some down time and managed to play around in CAD.

Due to corrugated iron coming in 1.8m lengths, I've had to adapt my design.... everything is to scale (including timber dimensions)

I do get slightly obsessive with details when doing these sorts of large projects... and i love tinkering with the design in 3d... you work out so many kinks before construction.... the CAD application i used is sketchup you can find it @ http://www.sketchup.com/... its lighting quick at designing objects... only got it 3 days ago and the images took about 3 hours to build and play with.






The bloke in the aviary is scaled to my height (199.5cm ) ... so i could get a feel of the head room. The lady is 170cm, but she's slouching so she appears larger

Tomorrow i'm going to Bunnings (hardware store) and pricing the wood (per/m) the paver's for the rat wall, the corrugated iron, wood sealant, hinges, door locks, screws, nails, and wire... hopefully its somewhere around the budget mark AU$500(ish).. I'm shooting in the dark at the moment, and have got no idea about costs.
Ill most likely scale it down substantially if it blows budget, i have minimal cash flow at the moment, im hoping i can pick up some work over summer with Department of Human Services working with teens in trouble with the law... rewarding and good pay

Hope it keeps everyone interested.

Cheers Dean[/url]

Your drawings are great! I hopeyou don't have to downsize it cause we'd love to see the aviary completed as you've designed it. Lucky birds!

Bugger!! Im not even finished pricing the pine and its already over budget.

Concrete paver's 24 @ $11.70 each = $280 ( )
Rat wall (Besser blocks) 30 @ $2 = $60
30m roll of aviary wire = $184 (I only need about 15m... have to find another source)
Corrugated roofing 9m = $75
Drainage pipe = $10

Wood sealant = ??
Pine = havn't priced but guess $300

The aviary is pushing $1000 very quickly

What other options might there be for flooring? with the good ratwall, i am considering a compacted earthen flooring?

I thought maybe you would be shocked at the price of building supplies.

I believe some bird keepers have had good luck with earthen floors topped with a gravel mix. The gravel allows you to wash down the floor periodically. And treated lumber would eliminate you having to appy a sealer. Of course the increase in price might make that prohibitive.

i put a pea gravel on the floor of my aviary to bring the cost down,it was a quarter the cost of pavers and its nearly a foot deep.the treated timber is a must as my last aviary fell apart through the wood rotting due to all the wet weather we get here

ken

Well currently i am de-constructing the aviary... pulling out each U-nail 1 at a time that holds the wire on, its taking alot of time to have the materials to reuse... the motto for construction is:
Reduce, Reuse and Recycle, without cutting corners.

I don't think ill reuse the wire... its really brittle, 1/2 the timber and the corrugated iron ill reuse, as well as the paver's, but i might put something on top of the paver's.



The parents don't want an aviary the size of the original specs... 12ftx7ftx5ft which doesn't phase me too much, I'm just going to get rid of the double doors (which i really wanted ) and i only loose out 1ft in length.
The new specs are

8ft 3 x 6ft 6 x 4ft 10, and from the photo above, the only design changes will be the door on the side (with the extra width i have more room for a door)... also means i walk straight into the aviary... the door at the front was terrible... as you would hop in and have to try and turn around and then duck under branches..ect

I will also make a folding temp door extension from the old wire... which will attach above the door by wing nuts.

I'm a bit concerned about the height of the aviary, I'm considering raising it on some bricks up 4 inches.. just to give a bit more head room.

I have a couple of other aces up my sleeve, but ill share those during construction.

Cheers Dean

I'm glad to see you have come up with an alternate plan. There's nothing wrong with recycling

Recycling is very good idea.

Nice aviary plan! I'm jealous.

The australian grass parakeets (bourkes, turqs, splendids) are extremely mellow and extremely small and are rumoured to be okay to house with finches.