Starlings... Can they make finches sick?

[sparrowsong98]

Hi. I am thinking of expanding, and have found a cage. It would have to go in my breezeway (like indoor porch with walls and some heating) And stay there until at least the winter. But, the eaves are not completely closed in, and we have nesting starlings. Some times they get in the breezeway, and fly around. Then we get them . But the question is: Could they spread diseases to finches? It would be the perfect place for them, but I don't want to loose them. Otherwise they go in front of the window in the basement (they will have plenty of light, don't worry) Until the new addition is finished (hopefully in november, it is a HUGE one, 6 years in the making).

[lovezebs]

sparrowsong98

I have heared that wild birds can pass disease to our home grown feathered kids through their droppings and I suppose in other ways as well, so I'd be very cautious with having your birds around wild birds.

[Dave]

lovezebs, what do people with outdoor aviaries do?

[Stuart whiting]

sparrowsong98

Yep starlings are big carriers of various diseases, i learnt this many years ago when I used to breed the European starling,

If you intend on keeping yer birds where you mentioned I'd definitely look into black all access to stop the starling from entering over the top of yer birds, if yer birds pick up any traces of feases from the starlings things may soon not be good,

Alternatively if it's not atall possible to adapt yer breezeway I'd then keep em in yer basement near the Windows, if you decide to do this just a little tip is to make sure the birds are not in direct sunlight that they cannot get get out of,
Natural sunlight is very good for birds and is actually a source of vitamin D but to much can seriously dehydrate and do more harm than good,

Hope all goes well

[Stuart whiting]

lovezebs, what do people with outdoor aviaries do?

Most people with std size avaires would normally cover the roof with corrugated or polycarbonate roofing sheets,

However with really big flights there's obviously no getting away from it as the roof is generally just netting with certain sections of roof sheets, with big flights the odd few dropping from wild birds will obviously fall through the roof and become lost in foliage or just disintegrate to nothing and the chances of yer birds in picking up feases is rather a remote chance but I suppose still not impossible.

However if wild birds were to collenise over the roof in one area and constantly c##p in one area the domestic avairy birds are far more liable to pick up traces of wild birds feases which would obviously need to be dealt with

[lovezebs]

Dave

Outdoor aviaries are covered with a roof.
It is also recommended, not to have them under trees where wild birds can poop on or into them.

Just going by what I've heard, no personal experience there.

[Ricardo Ronsini]

Along with diseases, wild birds almost always carry mites and other parasites.

[Babs _Owner]

sparrowsong98

I've never known a wild bird that I've rehabbed years ago to not have mites to some degree. They seem to just deal with it much like wild furry mammals deal with ticks and fleas.

[sparrowsong98]

Stuart whiting My uncle is supposed to finish that... 3 years later, one side of the eaves is closed up, but the insulation in the roof is open so the birds nest in there. They are very bad birds. They usually only fall through the roof at the rate of one nest per year, but breeding season is almost done and nothing has happened. They will leave in 2 weeks more or less and I wouldn't be getting new additions until near september if all goes well

[Dave]

So there's a contradiction here, that I don't know has a solution. If you have an outside cage/aviary so your birds can get natural sunlight, you need at least some of the roof to be open to the light.

But, then wild birds could transmit pests to your birds.

Maybe using Scatt or the like can prevent bug infestations from the wild. But outside disease is almost impossible to prevent unless your birds are totally inside. A year or two ago, poultry farms in the Midwest had virus spreading like wildfire--they finally concluded that the virus was being spread by wind-born dust.

Does it boil down to the risk a bird owner is willing to accept? The benefits (and joy) of having birds outside versus the risk of disease.

[Sheather]

My aviary was covered with a tarp, sun shined through the walls (which were mesh.)

Wild birds sometimes clung to the mesh, but couldn't poop into the enclosure.

I treated regularly with avian insect liquidator when they lived outdoors and never had any mites on my guys.

[Stuart whiting]

So there's a contradiction here, that I don't know has a solution. If you have an outside cage/aviary so your birds can get natural sunlight, you need at least some of the roof to be open to the light

Sorry fella but that is absolute nonsense,

If the whole entire roof of an avairy is covered eaither in corrugated or polycarbonate roofing sheets sunlight is still gonna penetrate into the avairy, the sun will just simply shine straight through the front or sides of the avairy

Birds need vitamin D and they get this from sunlight, however to much sunlight can actually do more harm than good especially if a bird can't get out of it, hence why it pays to use roofing sheets because the panels will diffuse strong sunlight from constantly penetrating onto the birds

[Dave]

Stuart whiting, I don't know if 'absolute nonsense' is the right phrase here.

There are at least two circumstances that requires an uncovered roof for the birds to get direct sunlight in an aviary. I have both circumstances.

One--the aviary is attached to the north side of a building (my garage). The birds go in and out of the building, their choice.

Two--the aviary is attached to my garage, and isn't attached to the ground. It hangs off the building. It has short sides rather than 6 or 8 foot sides. Sunlight only goes through the sides at the end of the day, when the sun is very low. I have it that way because I think that allowing birds to come into contact with soil in an aviary will eventually lead to disease.

So, in my case, a wire-only roof is the only possibility. It is a risk. But I wonder how much of a risk? Do any of you have personal stories of disease acquired from wild birds?

[Stuart whiting]

Stuart whiting, I don't know if 'absolute nonsense' is the right phrase here.

There are at least two circumstances that requires an uncovered roof for the birds to get direct sunlight in an aviary. I have both circumstances.

One--the aviary is attached to the north side of a building (my garage). The birds go in and out of the building, their choice.

Two--the aviary is attached to my garage, and isn't attached to the ground. It hangs off the building. It has short sides rather than 6 or 8 foot sides. Sunlight only goes through the sides at the end of the day, when the sun is very low. I have it that way because I think that allowing birds to come into contact with soil in an aviary will eventually lead to disease.

So, in my case, a wire-only roof is the only possibility. It is a risk. But I wonder how much of a risk? Do any of you have personal stories of disease acquired from wild birds?

Ok Dave that's a fair point, in your circumstances there's obviously not a great deal to get around that and like you say to have part of the roof open is a risk that you have to take,

To be honest Dave I doubt if you'll hardly get much of the wild bird feases come through the roof unless there's a number of birds that sit above the roof.

Be lucky