Future Aviary

[JRs Gouldians]

Hey guys I know its a bit early... But in about six months or so I should be moving to a place with lots of land and I have already been thinking of tons of aviary designs. I thought I would share my ideas with you and get your guys input. I figure I have six months to modify it and make it as user and bird friendly as possible. Here is what I have got so far...



The aviary I am planning on building will basically be a building 30ft long x 21ft wide. Now the aviary will be broken into two main sections the breeding room which will consist of a wall of cages with the dimensions of (roughly) 3ft long x 1ft high x 1ft deep. The cages could be stacked about 4-5 high and the wall will hold up to 5 cages width wise. So that's a max of 20-25 breeding cages. In the breeding room there will also be a counter with running water, a sink, and a fridge to hold all seeds, dishes, and different foods. Now the second part of the building will be a room for the birds when they are not breeding. In this room you will see 3 long wide aviary's that are 16ft long x 7ft wide each (disreguard the dashed line partway through the big flights this was when I was thinking of having a half open aviary and half closed). Each aviary will hold a different sex one for male's one for females and one for juveniles. Each of the three aviary floors will be made of cement that slope down to the center of the room where a drain will be for easy cleaning with a hose that will be found in the 4ft hallway that connects the breeding room to non-breeding flights.

That is basically what the drawing is describing but this is still a rough draft of how I would like to build the aviary. If you guys have questions about the design please feel free to ask me, and if you have any suggestions please feel free to express them any idea could be a great one so don't hold back! Let me know what you guys think! Again this is all about 6 months away so there is a lot of time for improvement!

[sierranomad]

[annague]

Sounds idyllic! Can't help you on your aviary plans but I'm sure there are tons of people on this forum who can get into specifics that would help.

[bluebutterfly213]

Looks like a well thought out design. Wouldnt mind a setup like that myself.
You didnt mention what material you are thinking of using for the flight building part.
Just a couple of points I thought about
If you are going to be hosing the larger flights out you will need to consider the material you are making these with.
Also as you mentioned keeping male and female separate in the large enclosures while resting from breeding, have you considered putting a solid divider between them so they dont choose their own mate?

[JRs Gouldians]

Looks like a well thought out design. Wouldnt mind a setup like that myself.
You didnt mention what material you are thinking of using for the flight building part.
Just a couple of points I thought about
If you are going to be hosing the larger flights out you will need to consider the material you are making these with.
Also as you mentioned keeping male and female separate in the large enclosures while resting from breeding, have you considered putting a solid divider between them so they dont choose their own mate?

Thanks! The material I am/was planning on using would be some sort of hardwood that can withstand the elements. I was thinking about staining the wood inside the aviary so the water wouldn't do as much damage or even try to find something that would make the wood warp proof or water proof not sure yet. As for how I would seperate the 3 aviary's I was either thinking of having a wall between each one, or having wire sides but leaving space enough to put a thin piece of wood in between them. But since the wire sounds a little more complicated as in trying to find a thin piece of wood long enough to divide the aviary it will most likely be 2 walls separating the males from juveniles and the juveniles to females.

[bluebutterfly213]

I would go for a solid divider rather than the two wire sides with space for a wooden divider, the space between would probably over time, collect seed and nesting material, not to mention other detritus.
Dont know how do-able this would be, but it seems worth mentioning. As you are having concrete floor, would it be possible to have a concrete wall or maybe three or four rows of brick as a wall at the back and as the dividing walls, possibly a foot or two high? This would solve the water issue when hosing out, and reduce the length/height of the wood you would need to keep the aviaries separate.
I had this kind of setup when I had dogs, the walls between the dogs were about waist height and it worked well, one kennel could be hosed out without causing splashing in the next kennel.

[poohbear]

If the purpose is to divide a full height aviary,the divider would be too cumbersome to push into place.
I got round this by building an internal division of wire up to a height of around 4 feet.Lets face it the
birds spend most of their time in the top half.In my picture you will see a dove perched in the gap I've left.
This is where a divider slots into place ...a much more manageable size.When the divider is not in use the birds can
and do fly the full length through the gap.

[JRs Gouldians]

I would go for a solid divider rather than the two wire sides with space for a wooden divider, the space between would probably over time, collect seed and nesting material, not to mention other detritus.
Dont know how do-able this would be, but it seems worth mentioning. As you are having concrete floor, would it be possible to have a concrete wall or maybe three or four rows of brick as a wall at the back and as the dividing walls, possibly a foot or two high? This would solve the water issue when hosing out, and reduce the length/height of the wood you would need to keep the aviaries separate.
I had this kind of setup when I had dogs, the walls between the dogs were about waist height and it worked well, one kennel could be hosed out without causing splashing in the next kennel.

I like that idea! Yes I believe making something like a 3ft cinder block wall around the area where I would be hosing would work. What I came up with from your idea would be a small cinder block wall, then periodicly through the wall have 2x4's sticking up (atached inside the hollow part of the cinder block) that would hold a big piece of plywood that would divide the rest of the wall which would be a total of 8ft high, so 5ft extra over the cinder block wall. I did a little mock up sketch to help you understand what I'm saying. Let me know what you think, and keep those ideas coming that was a really good one!

[bluebutterfly213]

Thats exactly what I had in mind. When I did that on the kennels I had wire Dyna bolted with brackets to the small wall the rear wall and the ceiling. Im sure if you place a brick over any holes on the top cinder block you would be able to do a similar thing, eliminating the possibility of seed etc getting down into the cavity in the cinder block wall. Any timber divider could then be bracketed to the wall top and the wall at the rear and the ceiling
I do like the way Poohbear did his dividing, that would give you so many more options, with only a small hole to worry about when wanting to close each aviary off.

[JRs Gouldians]

Thats exactly what I had in mind. When I did that on the kennels I had wire Dyna bolted with brackets to the small wall the rear wall and the ceiling. Im sure if you place a brick over any holes on the top cinder block you would be able to do a similar thing, eliminating the possibility of seed etc getting down into the cavity in the cinder block wall. Any timber divider could then be bracketed to the wall top and the wall at the rear and the ceiling
I do like the way Poohbear did his dividing, that would give you so many more options, with only a small hole to worry about when wanting to close each aviary off.

Ah! Using brackets would work very will and would be a lot less complicated! Thank you Diane for all your suggestions so far! Each one is defiantly helping me out. It seems as if you have done this before lol. Anyone else feel free to chime in! If you see anything you don't like about the design, or see room for improvement, or even asking questions about it feel free! Thanks!

[SamFoy]

I haven't heard about window placement yet. Are there any or are you planning on cutting into the ceiling/walls?
I am picturing spring and time to catch the birds for mating. At 16 feet, is that a long way to catch them up? Are planning on just roosting perches or plants that might hinder netting?

[bluebutterfly213]

It seems as if you have done this before lo

I have, for dogs, for birds and for us, it dosnt seem to matter how many times you build from the ground up there will always be something you wished you had thought of or done differently or you wished you had changed. The only thing I can suggest each time you get a design you are happy with is to imagine its been built and your birds are in there, then imagine doing all the normal tasks you do for your birds, and how this design would work. Sometimes just the shifting of a light switch or the way a door opens can make so much difference to the end product.

At 16 feet, is that a long way to catch them up?

That is a good point, about the catching up of birds. If you take a look at poohbears setup you can see he has a feeding, waterer station, and Im sure he would have rigged up some kind of way to catch the birds using this area.

I haven't heard about window placement yet.

As SamFoy points out though you will need to decide where your windows will be considering the wind direction and if, when, and where the sun would come through.

[JRs Gouldians]

Ah as for window placement I haven't decided yet because I am currently in Florida, but will be moving to Maine where I know it is cold most of the year so I'm not positive if there is going to be a window or not. If I do decide to put windows in I would most likely either put them at the base of the 3 aviary's, (so like 3 windows, one at the end of each run) or one on each side of the runs and then for the center one it would be a window at the end of the run. But like I said I'm not positive on this yet, and I know there are deer that roam the area of where the aviary will be and also there has been a repeating site of a bear, so not sure how safe the window would be and then with the harsh winters.

Now as for catching them I was going to do exactly that build some sort of box would hold their seeds that they would go into every day to eat and when I needed to catch one I would just close the area catch him/her and then open the compartment again.

So what are your guys suggestions for windows? From the layout on the top post where would you put windows, or since you know there will be long winters and possible wildlife hazards would you opt to not put them in? Curious to hear your guys thoughts.

[B CAMP]

Are you building in Fl or Maine ?

[JRs Gouldians]

It will be built in Maine. Currently in Florida, moving in about 5-6 months.