FINCHforum

Hi. My kitchen is about 12 meters wide, with food being prepared at one end and the other end having a 6'x4' window. I am intending to put my aviary adjacent to that window for my finches. Also adjacent on another side is my daughter's bedroom window. The aviary will be 10 by 7 feet, with morning sun.

Am I about to make a mistake?

Hi Martin,

I'm not sure what you're most worried about, your family or your finches.

The only thing that comes to mind about finches and kitchens being deadly is the fumes given off by non-stick teflon coated pans when they are overheated.

Since they'll be contained in their aviary, I don't see any harm their mess could cause your family.

Thanks for the reply Sally. I am worried about health risks. Fumes are not a problem because there's ventilation on the other side. Maybe I should invent a finch recipe. Bad joke.

The other concern for the birds would be rapid temperature changes that can occur near a stove and oven. But it sounds to me like your aviary will be far enough away from cooking activity that they won't be stressed by sudden temperature variances.

How close are the windows to the aviary? My concern would be temp. fluctuations from the sun streaming through the windows as well as the kitchen. If the window faces south it could pose a problem.

I would place a thermometer at the site around the same height as the aviary will be. Check at different times of the day to see if it's hotter then the ambient room temperature.

I mention this because, my parrots T-stand sits near a window. On hot days, even with the central a/c, the temp of the stand gets quite warm.

Just a thought. Sounds like a nice big cage. Good luck.

In the Philippines, we have only two seasons - Rainy and Dry, so I do not think that the change of temperature is critical here for the birds that are already aclimated. But yes, the temperature coming from the kitchen may be a concern. That is why the two other walls will be just chicken wire. They will have about a foot of the garage roof that they can go under in when it rains. I have decided that the rest of their roof will be open too.

I'm sure that in any other forum that I will go ask my health concerns at, they will site avian flu, etc. Not in this forum... it's the health concerns of the finches that are more important. Man comes secondary only to finches here!

Thank you for your replies. Nice to know that people here are friendlier than finches!