FINCHforum

Hi

I was talking with a friend of mine about people who don’t have space at home so they use the basement or some room in the house to have their birds. He told me about a guy in Spain that has all their birds in the basement he has light control and some gadgets to control temperature, humidity, air etc. Do you know any case like this or what kind of gadgets they use to control the environment?

There are many ways to control an environment in a space like a basement (I used to have one). Humidifiers or de-humidifiers can control the amount of moisture. Full spectrum lighting, i've learned is a good way to provide a sunlight substitute. You may provide heaters to change the temperature.

Depending on what environment you are trying to provide I think it would be a serious undertaking. Whatever you do, it still cannot duplicate what 'Mother Nature' gives them.

Guess the big question is what do they need, how can you provide a substitute environment and how can you try to provide that. I'm still learning with my own finches.

I hope others reply here. I'm a novice.

To be quite honest here... your only limitation is your wallet.

First things first. Your location will play a major role in air quality. If you live in a cold area, you wont be opening windows for fresh air, so you will need to set up some duct work for air flow.
As far as temperature is concerned, most basements are in the ground. The temperature of the ground is a constant 50 F year round if you are operating at about 6-8 ft below ground level. You gotta plan on some year round heating if you plan to keep a basement as a functioning bird habitat. I used to work in a lab and I built lots of temperature controllers but they get expensive quick. We used to spend about 1000 dollars per temperature controller, would measure and provide heat via resistive heaters etc. Then you need the heating elements. I am sure you can get generic space heaters for 50 dollars or so each. But you are going to need 1 per roughly 1 per 25 squar feet of floor space and you may want a super heavy duty for one corner where the nests are.

You need full spectrum lighting if underground.

Next, health, you will need to figure out how to clean all the poo. Gravel floor or dirt floor but you gotta figure out a way to clean it... no clue here.

Finally, the cost of heating and lighting year round i imagine is gonna get expensive for a room of a basement size.

Probably want to set up a safety door too leading into the basement.

Ok, i could go on forever. Clearly this would become a monumentous task.

Many breeders who live in the northern part of the USA use their basements for their birds. I think it is easier to convert the basement than to build an outside aviary with provisions for keeping the birds warm when it is minus whatever outside. Some breeders have outside aviaries for the summer, then keep their birds in the basement for the winter.

They often have one area set up with breeding cages along the wall, and then they have flights in another area. Some also set up one big area as a free-flight room. Of course, they have to provide full-spectrum lighting and supplemental heat, if they don't have duct work into their basement.

I would love to have a basement, but not many houses in the Ft. Worth area have them. In this area, people either have outside aviaries, a bird building, or they use room(s) in their house. I have my birds in my second bedroom right now, and I still provide supplemental heating, since some of them are breeding and this room is on the northwest corner of the house with not enough insulation. I have full-spectrum lights on each cage, all on timers.

Since you are in southern Florida, you have the kind of climate where you can keep your birds outside year round, which I think is much better for the birds.