Aviary Plans

[Thalia]

Ok so I want to get this sucker built before the babies fledge so I thought I'd start planning now. I've got a fish tank stand that measures 13 1/2 x 50 1/2, unfortunately the darn thing has little corner knobs that stick up a little so the cage would have to fit inside these, making the cage 48 long and I'm going to build some legs on the front of the aviary so that it can be 24 wide. For height I was going to go 36 inches high. That way I can have a 4 inch space in the bottom between the mesh floor and the actual floor to allow easy cleaning I'm going to put 6 inches of plexi on top of that to try to limit mess. I am also making the back solid, either plywood or something a little nicer looking.
The questions I have are as follows:
1) should I make both sides mesh as well?
2) I was planning on putting lights in the top of the cage, should I make the top solid with holes for the lights or mesh?
3) do you think 1 access door on each end measuring 8"x6" will be enough doors?
4) I'm thinking I'll put my pair of zebras in, and possibly a few of their babies, depending on what colours they turn out, if they're cool coloured I'll keep a few babies, if not I wanted to get 2 goulds and/or possibly owls, the finch calculator says I can fit 4 - 5 birds in my aviary, do you think 6 birds would be over crowding?
5) Is 30 inches flying height enough if I get bigger finches like goulds?
here's a copy of my plans, any feedback would be much appreciated!
http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o265 ... yPlans.jpg

[tammieb]

1) should I make both sides mesh as well?

I would make them mesh.

2) I was planning on putting lights in the top of the cage, should I make the top solid with holes for the lights or mesh?

I'd make the top solid with mesh over an opening for the light.

3) do you think 1 access door on each end measuring 8"x6" will be enough doors?

Depends on how long your arms are. You'd want to be able to reach the center of the cage from both ends.

4) I'm thinking I'll put my pair of zebras in, and possibly a few of their babies, depending on what colours they turn out, if they're cool coloured I'll keep a few babies, if not I wanted to get 2 goulds and/or possibly owls, the finch calculator says I can fit 4 - 5 birds in my aviary, do you think 6 birds would be over crowding?

With Zebs in the mix, I wouldn't have more than the recommended number.

5) Is 30 inches flying height enough if I get bigger finches like goulds?

Don't you mean 36" ? I think that would fine.

[Thalia]

ok thanks Tammie, so I guess I'll just stick with 2 pairs of 2 species then. There would actually be about 30" of flying room because I'm putting in a raised mesh floor to allow the poop and such to fall through and it'll be 4 inches off the floor with a 1x1 as the support for the mesh floor and since the frame is made of 1x1's I'll be losing 1 inch off the top of the cage, so all together I lose 6 inches of height.

[kenny]

thalia
whatever you decide,just make sure as tammie says that you can reach the birds from both sides..if you put one hatch in the birds sit on the opposite side just looking at you while your fingers just cannot reach them

ken

[Thalia]

lol yeah I originally thought of only putting in one big hatch, like big enough for me to stick my upper body into, then I had visions of birds flying past me and out into the house, not a good thing lol so that's when I thought of 2 small access doors one on each end. I'll have to decide when it comes time to build it. John really wants to wait until its warm enough to use the garage to do the staining, I figured it'd be warm enough in a few weeks, it's supposed to start getting above freezing regularly now. If it's not we have an old bunny cage in the garage that can house the fledglings for a week or so after they're independent, until we can get this thing built. Until then I'm on the hunt for mesh.

[kenny]

hi thalia
i bought an old bird cage for jobs like that,so i just tansfer the birds when the cages need a paint or anything of that nature

ken

[Thalia]

I was thinking of maybe building a divider down the middle so I can do thorough cleanings without removing the birds, kinda chase them over to one side and slide a piece of plywood or something in the middle of the cage, clean one half then repeat, do you think that'd be better than needing to remove the birds? Also one of my bosses has this fibreglass board stuff, it's textured and super easy to clean, it's what she built her kennels out of, I was thinking of using that instead of plexi for my seed/poop barrier, and maybe my floor. The only bad thing about using it for the floor would be that I would have to calk several pieces together, think that would make it harder to clean? I was planning on putting paper down anyways... so many decisions, for such an indecisive person
Oh also on my plans, for the front I have a 1x1 roughed in with a dotted line running down the front of the cage, think I'll need that to keep the screening tight, or will it depend on the type of mesh I use?
OH and I had a brain spur and figured out a way I can make the cage 50x24, so it'll fit just slightly smaller than the 50 1/2 stand, but will give the birds a bit of extra space

[kenny]

hi thalia
busy busy busy
i think the divider down the middle is a better idea..in my birdroom all my cages are divided in a similar manner so i just move them along put in a divider clean one side then move them back again to clean the other

ken

[Thalia]

something else I've been struggling with... should I put the wooden parts on the out side of the cage and have the staples and mesh on the inside of the cage, or put the wooden parts on the inside and the staples and mesh on the outside? I know the first idea will look nicer from the outside, but the second idea will give the birds and extra inch on each end of space. I worry that they might peck at the wood and if they ingest varathane that's probably not a good thing. I'm leaning more towards mesh on the outside then I can get lats and put those over the staples to make the cage look neater if I really want to, but I'm concerned about the birds either damaging the wood frame, or poisoning themselves on the varathane.

[kenny]

hi thalia
the mesh and staples on the outside with lats to cover will make it more presentable,,finches are not known for pecking at wood only parrot like birds usually do that..with regards to the wood treatment is it water based if so i dont think it would affect them..but i have had no experience of thi stuff so i honestly would not know if it would affect the birds or not

ken

[kenny]

hi thalia
just been reading some blurb on varathane and it is water based..so it should be safe..plus if its safe to paint wood that could be exposed to children it should be safe for your birds as most stuff made now is usually environmentally friendly

ken

[Thalia]

Ah ha! thanks for the info kenny I'll keep that in mind when we finally get this thing started!

[Thalia]

I found the hardware cloth today!!! it's grey, but it's a really small guage, it actually looks like fine wire, and it should allow great viewing of the birds. $25 for 3X25' of the stuff! Way more than I need but that's ok Looks like the most expensive part of building this will be the 1x1's since we already have scrap plywood around, I'm so excited to get started. Tomorrow is payday, and I might just have to go down and buy my hardware cloth on Monday before work.

[zookeeper]

Don't worry, building aviaries/flight cages/finch mansions is addictive, so you will find a use for all of that hardware cloth.

[Thalia]

ok I had a brain fart and I realised something, I'm planning on making a mesh floor but the mesh I'm getting is probably too fine to scrub, since it's just plastic. Do you think if I used the galvanized metal hardward cloth on the floor of the cage only that it'd be ok? Or should I get a roll of the big ugly grade plastic stuff that would be scrubable? or should I scrap my idea for having a mesh floor all together? I like the mesh floors b/c it keeps the birds from getting at their dropping.... although if I didn't have a mesh floor I might be able to get button quail ooh button quail....