Answering Fraza's request to post pictures

[Dave]

The main aviary is 16' x 7' in floor area, with about 25 square feet of outdoor cage. This is a total of about 140 square feet (13 square meters), for about 90 Canaries. I try to keep the over-wintering number to about 50 birds. The inside area is mostly tree branch perches. I can't seem to get good pictures of this inside aviary. It is just one end of the building, walled off with wire. I use LED lights inside.
There is a table in there, without branches over it, for food and water. The breeding cabinets are separate from the main aviary.

[Icearstorm]

Dave

Nice place; glad to see the birds have plenty of room!

[Fraza]

Dave oh yeah i can see it now I couldn’t image it before hand and bet they love all the space they have, is that water cress plant they are eating to ? Mine loved that when I gave it them once

[Dave]

Fraza the flat with greens is rapeseed (Canola). I sow it sort of thickly and grow it outside in the flat. Each flat is 1.5 square feet and I use two tablespoons of seed per flat. It takes about 10 days to be ready. The Canaries abandon all other foods when I put a flat or two into the aviary--which I do almost every day.

I settled on rapeseed because the wild birds don't eat it while it is germinating and growing. Snails and slugs will, though, so I watch for those.

[FinchLady]

Very nice set-up. Can you close the outdoor cages off or are they open all the time? Do you heat it in winter and cool in summer? Your landscaping is beautiful, too.

[wildbird]

Lucky birds! Not many have it that nice.

[Dave]

FinchLady, I can close off the windows and outside cages.

I live in central Kentucky, USA. Our winters have a couple of months of temperatures as low as 20° F some nights, and rarely as low as 0°. (That is, -7° C, and -18° C.) More often, we are near 32° F at night in the winter. (0° C)

Canaries are able to handle that without heat. I knew of a Canary keeper in Chicago that kept his without heat, and that area is cooler than ours. As long as there is a dry, windless area for them to get to, they are OK.

Indeed, I've had pairs breed and raise chicks when the night temperature was commonly about 32° F, 0° C.

In the summer, I have more openings and a fan--the temperature in the building stays the same as outdoor temperatures.

Canaries are essentially a tropical finch, and I've wondered why they're able to deal with cold. I am guessing that 400 years of Canary keeping in poorly heated homes has a lot to do with that.

[Fraza]

Dave Ohright yeah that sounds interesting I might have to try and give it a go

[FinchLady]

Dave: I'm surprised Canaries can tolerate temperatures that low. I live in Alabama so our winter temperatures are a little warmer than yours. Still I have always thought of Canaries as 'delicate'- apparently not so much. In California, where I grew up, local outdoor aviaries generally had Budgies or pigeon coops. BTW: Beautiful birds. They look happy and very healthy, too.

[FinchLady]

Is your aviary easy to maintain? What kind of substrate do you use? Any tips for others building an aviary: what works well? Anything you would change?
I find it interesting how creative our Members are with their set-ups.... so many great ideas! ie. your outdoor cage spaces are very nice.

[Dave]

A few points that I learned the hard way with a walk-in aviary:

**open the door to the outside, otherwise you lose valuable in-aviary space.

**I hang a light plastic netting over the top half of the doorway, inside the aviary. That makes me stoop to enter, but it also keeps birds from zooming out over my head.

**Horizontal branches are best. Putting trees with upward slanting branches limits the places that the birds like to sit. The whole area is horizontal tree branches, except over the food / water table. I can walk under the branches, even thought I have to bend down some to do so.

**The outside cages have a wire floor, well above ground level, to limit disease and rodent problems.

**I eventually found that bare cement (or tile or the like) is the best floor. I used aspen flakes for a while, and ended up with an insect problem. Just about any organic or soil floor will eventually be an insect or disease source.

**I use poultry waterers, 1 gallon, rather than a fountain. I've never figured out how bird keepers keep a fountain from carrying disease. You can filter out the organic material, but you can't filter out bacteria or virus.

**Multiple water and food sites eliminate most of the squabbling.

[lem2bert]

Dave, what a beautiful aviary surrounded by an equally beautiful garden. Your birds are very lucky to have such a great home. I bet they love being able to get outside. Great job !!!!