Feeding station / seed catcher for aviaries - best design??

[Stephanie]

Hi

What's the best designed feeding station you've ever seen? I want one for my new aviary, to help to contain seed husks and flying seed. Any recommendations please?

Thanks

[cindy]

I used seed hoppers, you can place a few of these all around. Mine like them up high near the perch they go to the most.

http://www.redbirdproducts.com/seed%20hopper.jpg

[Stephanie]

Those are cool for just a couple of birds, but for an aviary with 30 or 40 birds the hopper would need to be massive... Does anyone sell really huge ones?

[franny]

How about an outdoor feeder like this?

http://www.bestnest.com/bestnest/RTProd ... B-LDH500HD

Or a poultry feeder?

[Stephanie]

Hmmm... I'm mostly interested in seed and husk catching capability; storage capacity is secondary. With an open feeder like that there'll be seed and husks everywhere - at least my guys fling it all over the place like they are at an all-day drunken party. So I am hoping for an ingenious way to keep the mess contained while they eat.

[mickp]

try using two pot plant bases.
cover the base one with 6mm wire so that dropped seeds and husks can fall through but there is no chance of damage to the birds feet.
the top one should be 1/2 or at most 2/3 the size of the catch dish.
I find that this limits the amount of mess on the aviary floor.
You'll never stop it completely but this does assist in reducing it.

[poohbear]

Hmmm... I'm mostly interested in seed and husk catching capability; storage capacity is secondary. With an open feeder like that there'll be seed and husks everywhere - at least my guys fling it all over the place like they are at an all-day drunken party. So I am hoping for an ingenious way to keep the mess contained while they eat.

There isn't one...finches make a mess...period

[dfcauley]

Hmmm... I'm mostly interested in seed and husk catching capability; storage capacity is secondary. With an open feeder like that there'll be seed and husks everywhere - at least my guys fling it all over the place like they are at an all-day drunken party. So I am hoping for an ingenious way to keep the mess contained while they eat.

There isn't one...finches make a mess...period

I hope you figure something out. I have been trying to come up with that for a long time.

[cindy]

There are a few poulty feeders I found a while ago that looked like they might work for a large number of birds/finches. I'll see if I can go back and find them and post their sites.

[avicella]

You could give up on preventing the mess, and buy or make a bird seed cleaner to remove the turds and husks.

There are some homemade ones out there being sold by hobbyist-breeders, but at the moment all I can find is this YouTube video showing the innerds of one.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6h7D41Bngg

You have to sift it through a large mesh sifter to get the big stuff out before putting it in the cleaner.

P.S.: Found another one:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mgTBNEoW ... re=related

P.P.S.: Another one, showing how to make it, in Arabic:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MHsZKQjl ... re=related

[Ursula]

try using two pot plant bases.
cover the base one with 6mm wire so that dropped seeds and husks can fall through but there is no chance of damage to the birds feet.
the top one should be 1/2 or at most 2/3 the size of the catch dish.
I find that this limits the amount of mess on the aviary floor.
You'll never stop it completely but this does assist in reducing it.

That's similar to what I did. I have a couple of outdoor feeders (one with budgie seed, one with finch seed) and I have big plant trays mounted on the botton with long screws. The excess seed and hulls fall into the tray. I just recently did this and what a difference it is! Every other week or so I take it down and blow out the hulls (this is a pain but I know there are seed vacuums that you could use for that task) and wash and refill the feeders.

I can take some pictures if you're interested.

[dfcauley]

I can take some pictures if you're interested.

I would LOVE to see a picture. I am a visual person....

[Ursula]

I can take some pictures if you're interested.

I would LOVE to see a picture. I am a visual person....

Sorry, I just saw this, didn't login again yesterday. I'll take a picture when I get home from work later this afternoon.

[Ursula]

Here are some pictures:

http://picasaweb.google.com/udmoran/MyA ... 5545736482

http://picasaweb.google.com/udmoran/MyA ... 5759992578

http://picasaweb.google.com/udmoran/MyA ... 4094669378

http://picasaweb.google.com/udmoran/MyA ... 5057203282

[lovemyfinch]

Absolutely wonderful idea Ursula...do you mind if I borrow it sometime in the near future