Suggestions for room conversion

vetbridge · Post by **vetbridge** » Thu Feb 15, 2007 1:43 pm

Hi all. My gf suggested the other day that I use one of my spare rooms for my birds. I think she meant to move cages, supplies, etc into the room, but I realized it would be cool to have a room for free flight.

The room in question is 8 x 8 x 8 (feet). So far, I have taken out what was in the room and pulled up the carpet. I removed the door and put on a screen door. I replaced the incandescent light fixture with a flouro fixture. The walls are cheap paneling, I think I'll leave that.

Flooring suggestions? I was thinking of vinyl (linoleum) either single sheet or the 12 inch squares. Bedding? I was thinking corn cob.

All suggestions are welcome!

tammieb · Post by **tammieb** » Thu Feb 15, 2007 2:46 pm

It sounds like you are off to a great start. Vinyl would be my choice for certain. Easy to clean!

The woman I bought most of my birds from had converted a spare bedroom of hers into an avairy. Worked out real well for her. I have one room of my house devoted to my birds but they aren't free flying.

As for bedding... I assume you are thinking of putting this over the vinyl??

I wouldn't do that as it would be a nightmare to clean. I would just place paper beneath the main perches, feeding stations and etc. Wherever they congregate and poo. You could switch out the paper everyday and then just sweep & mop the entire floor once a week.

vetbridge · Post by **vetbridge** » Thu Feb 15, 2007 3:20 pm

Great. I would actually prefer to do it that way. Any idea on specific vinyl floor products? I am thinking of just a very plain floor.

tammieb · Post by **tammieb** » Thu Feb 15, 2007 3:24 pm

I wouldn't go with a pattern that was too busy, and the bird poo would best blend in with a light colored floor.

reddstagg · Post by **reddstagg** » Thu Feb 15, 2007 6:29 pm

If the room allows it, make sure there is good ventilation, indoor flights that i've seen can get really dusty and stuffy and cause respiratory problems for birds n people.

Also, make sure any water thats spilled wont get into the floor, not sure if water can seep between lino squares.

If it was me, i would create a large aviary inside the room, so that you can walk around it, preform maintenance, but you also have more places to hang perches off the cage. However your room mind be too small to have the capability of this.

I like the idea of papering the high poop zones, the rooms so small you might find your covering most of the floor with paper, still its a good idea.

Is there a window in the room?

Dean

vetbridge · Post by **vetbridge** » Thu Feb 15, 2007 6:42 pm

There is one small window in the room. Tonight I am planning on cleaning up the room in preparation of laying the floor. I think I'll use a single piece of linoleum (vinyl flooring is the current term used at homedepot etc).

tammieb · Post by **tammieb** » Thu Feb 15, 2007 8:02 pm

The woman I bought my birds from just had mini blinds at the windows. She would open them in the morning, not raise them just turned the wand and let the light in. Said she never had a problem with any of the birds getting injured by flying into the glass and they liked to sit on the slats and look out the window. She would close them at night of course. I don't know what kind of ceiling you have, but this woman put some of those screw in plant hooks in the ceiling, spaced them out so she could suspend some long dowels along two walls. Then she placed the paper under these, she had all the seed and water cups set on a small plastic table in one corner. It seemed to work for her pretty well.

I would love to be able to allow my birds to free fly. I have a large avairy inside my birdroom like reddstagg mentioned, so they aren't in cages at least.

Anyway, have fun putting the floor in and doing the rest. We'd love to some photos when you are done. Better yet, some before and after pix. ;)

Thalia · Post by **Thalia** » Fri Feb 16, 2007 11:07 am

I'd think about getting a small air filter and putting it somewhere in the room to reduce stuffiness, dust and any possible odor, I'd also put those little fuzzy inserts in the heating vents, if you've got forced air heating, to limit the amount of dust travelling from that room to the rest of the house. We use both of these things in our house, I have terrible dust allergies and the people upstairs don't clean, ever, so when we moved in I got really sick, but after putting in the dust filters in the vents and cranking up my hepa filter it's gotten much better

I wouldn't recommend the little vinyl tiles, I have them in my kitchend and everything gets stuck in those little cracks between the tiles. They also can be more expensive than normal vinyl flooring, which, you can find pretty cheap if you get the end piece of a roll or something like that. I can't wait to see pictures!

vetbridge · Post by **vetbridge** » Fri Feb 16, 2007 3:06 pm

I will take some pics this weekend. My house has hot water heat. I plan to pick up the flooring (one piece of vinyl) tomorrow afternoon. My goal this weekend will be to lay the floor, do the baseboards, and hang nests/perches/feeders/etc. Thanks for all the advice so far!

The birds that will be in this room are:

Button Quail
Bananaquits (a softbill) http://www.singing-wings-aviary.com/Ban ... 56x249.jpg
and a pair of shaft tails.

tammieb · Post by **tammieb** » Fri Feb 16, 2007 4:25 pm

Never heard of the bananaquits before. Beautiful bird! Where did you find them?

Didn't realize you were going to have birds running around on the floor of your room. They should have fun with the poop papers.

vetbridge · Post by **vetbridge** » Sat Feb 17, 2007 9:39 am

I first saw Bananaquits in the Caribbean. They feed on nectar, and people leave plates with sugar for them to come and eat. On St Martin, the birds have figured out how to open packets of sugar on the tables of open air restaurants.

Singing Wings Aviary found me a pair and I am getting them flown to me in March some time.

bluefinch · Post by **bluefinch** » Sat Feb 17, 2007 12:02 pm

I have considered getting birds from singing wings. I would be interested in hearing what you think of their birds and service.

vetbridge · Post by **vetbridge** » Mon Feb 19, 2007 11:10 am

Singing Wings (http://www.singing-wings-aviary.com/) has been very good to me so far. Mandy has helped me considerably, and the word of mouth I have heard about their birds has been great.

UPDATE: Construction has gone well. Here are a few pics.

The new vinyl floor:

vetbridge · Post by **vetbridge** » Mon Feb 19, 2007 11:11 am

Peel & Stick Trim:

vetbridge · Post by **vetbridge** » Mon Feb 19, 2007 11:12 am

Branches/perches/nests/feeders: