Water feature?

[Dayna]

Hey everyone, I haven't posted in awhile but I am still around! I want to build a rather large indoor aviary for some of my finches and I really want to add in a water feature into the aviary for the finches to drink and bath out of. My only concern with this is that the water feature is going to be near impossible to take apart and clean. Is there any safe way I can have a water feature for my finches and keep it clean at the same time without it hopefully getting filled with feathers and poop?

[mayble]

I've been trying to come up with something along those lines also.
I'm thinking of a recirculating pump with a filter (probably cobble something from an aquarium system and/or tabletop fountain), but have the actual water basin be unattached so I can dump it and clean it easily. Water trickles into basin, then over the edge or through an overflow outlet and returns to a collection pan that the birds can't get into (and poop in).
I don't know how quickly the water would get too nasty for the filter and pump, tho. A small-ish reservoir would make it easier to do a complete water change when needed, but would probably need to be changed more often than a larger one.
If you work something out, please post pics!

[Sunbay]

Me too! I would love to hear and see ideas.

Would need to be smallish - and easy to clean and change the water. A drain and constant fresh water source would be ideal - but I just don't see that happening indoors, with plumbing and all.

Thanks for bringing up this topic.

[Toddmin]

I've been asking myself that same question. I think the birds would love it, but I am afraid it would get so yucky from the excrement and stuff that it would clog it up or become too much to maintain.

[Sally]

When I had my 8x2.5x7' indoor aviary, I wanted to have a water feature in it. I used this style fountain, as I had seen it used in another member's aviary. However, I found it was more work and trouble than I wanted. When I first set up the aviary, I had aspen shavings in the bottom. The birds loved to carry aspen shavings to the fountain and drop them into the bowls, which soon became clogged with the shavings. Also, no matter where I placed it in the aviary, they seemed to poop on it.

Next, I tried using an Oil-dri (kitty litter type) product for the aviary bottom, which was heavy enough that the birds didn't carry it around. But I still found that this style was difficult to maintain. The bottom bowl was too deep, so I had to put rocks in it. When it was time to clean the fountain, I had to take out each bowl to clean, which wouldn't have been too bad for the three middle bowls, but the bottom bowl had the pump in it, and the top pitcher was connected to the pump by a tube that ran down the wire frame of the fountain.

So, cleaning meant taking out the fountain piece by piece, washing the rocks along with the bottom bowl, disconnecting the tubing from the pitcher, and then reconnecting everything when it was all clean--just took entirely too much time for me. And it also occasionally leaked.

So look at any fountain to see how easy it is to take in and out of the aviary, how much needs to be disassembled, does any tubing have to be disconnected (which eventually leads to leaks). It is just recirculating water. so it does need frequent cleaning.I loved the looks of this fountain, but something much simpler would have worked better.

http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_1260 ... erId=26680

[Nerien]

I keep looking at the cat drinking water fountain that we no longer use for the cats (they prefer the dog bowl, go figure), but want to put it in my big budgie cage, which means that the cord has to be protected against curious and vandalous beaks, and we have to come up with an easy way to get the cord through the bars so it can come out to clean the thing, daily. The drinking water fountains have built in filters, like a fish filter, a little cartridge with the filter cloth and a bit of activated charcoal, this would solve the poop problem as far as the pump goes. And they are made to be easily washed.

Most of them are not attractive like a regular fountain feature, but a bunch of fake plants could disguise much of that.

[Rox]

I've also beeing wondering about this but the cleaning part has held me back from actually setting up a water feature in my aviary. It would look stunning and I'm sure the birds would love it but I have yet to come across something practicle to keep clean.

Great advice Sally thanks!

[dfcauley]

I used to have two fountains in my aviary. I used vikron to clean it with. I would take it outside of the aviary and run the vikron through it once a week and give it a GOOD cleaning. But it seemed my birds (gouldians) kept getting a little sick. I talked with someone at the bird mart once about it and they told me that it was impossible to really get the fountains clean. He took care of aviaries in businesses for people and he said they had them tested and they carried many germs. Since then I do not use them also I absolutely loved having one in the aviary and so did the birds. They like the sound of water I think more than the moving water.

It took me a while to be willing to give up the fountains, but once I did... no more problems with my gouldians. They have been in excellent health for two years now. Just saying......

[Dayna]

Thanks for your input Sally! And Donna that was my biggest worry...

[Toddmin]

Nerien, I've thought about those too. Yes, they aren't terribly attractive, but they would have the filter to keep the water clean(er). I think they would probably be much easier to clean as well. If you go that route, let me know how it turns out.

[FinchFan]

I was also looking to add an automatic pet fountain to my new aviary. I never bought any as yet. Here's some of the fountains that are frontrunners for me. While they look shallow, I am not sure they are suitable for finches without examining them in person:

This one has a UV light that kills bacteria: NatureSPA Premium Pet Fountain - UV Purification (http://www.amazon.com/NatureSPA-Premium ... t+fountain)

This one looks shallow and easy to clean: K&H Cat CleanFlow Water Filter, 80 oz Bowl (http://www.amazon.com/Cat-CleanFlow-Wat ... t+fountain)

This one is beautiful, battery-operated, and expensive: Ebi's Ceramic Art Pet Drinking Fountain (http://www.ceramic-pet-fountains.com)

[Ginene]

FinchFan
I like the last link, Wendy .

[Nerien]

But did you look at the prices? Yikes! for that price, I would want them to come change the water in it daily.

[Ursula]

I have a fountain in my aviary and no health problems with my birds. It's a two-tier fountain, lightweight because made of plastic. I put Sparkle in the water and change the water about every other weekend. Rule number one: Nothing over the fountain, no perches, no feeders etc.
Since the lowest bowl was also too deep I keep big sea shells in it to make it shallower.

My birds sometimes bathe in it, but never drink from it since they have multiple other water sources where I change the water daily. (Shallow bowls and tube waterers on the walls.)

One warning though : I did had a sick bird that almost drowned in it. She was old and weak, and after I found her in the fountain (she couldn't get out, even with the sea shells) she didn't live long afterwards. I would take the fountain out if I had a bird like her again...

[Sally]

I like the first cat drinker because it has a spout, and anything that sounds like rain or a brook (gurgling water) is going to get the birds' attention. I like the second one, because it looks shallower, but you really can't tell the depth of either one. I LOVE the third drinkers, but I could never afford one.

To me, one of the best features of the third one is the fact that it can be battery-operated. When you put a fountain in an aviary, whether large or small, there is an electrical cord that will have to be run out of the aviary somehow (unless there is an outlet in the aviary itself). Every time you need to clean the fountain, you will need to run that electrical cord back through a hole in the wire or solid back/side of the aviary in order to remove the fountain from the aviary. So much simpler to be able to just lift up the fountain and remove it, no wires to fool with.

Mike Fidler, when talking about Virkon-S, mentioned that a friend was adding Virkon-S to the birds' drinking water to keep it clean. An interesting idea, since Virkon-S is supposed to be one of the best bactericide, fungicide, and virucide cleansers around. I'd like to find out more about this, if anyone has tried it.