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Building an outdoor flight cage

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Building an outdoor flight cage

Postby Smokey » Thu Mar 12, 2015 11:56 am

I am thinking of making an outdoor area where my CAG can get some sunlight and exercise his wings.

I found a 10 ft X by 10 ft dog kennel 6 ft high with a gate. It has 11.5 gauge wire. Costs $199.00.

I would place fencing over the top to enclose it. Wood or small tarp over one end for shade, extra pieces of fence around edges of gate to secure gaps.

For perches I know metal would get to hot and would could cause foot problems so I am thinking of using pvc.

Any thoughts or suggestions, anything I'm not thinking about?
Smokey
Parakeet
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 7
Location: Madisonville, TN
Number of Birds Owned: 2
Types of Birds Owned: Male Congo African Grey

Female Parolett pocket parrot
Flight: No

Re: Building an outdoor flight cage

Postby Pajarita » Thu Mar 12, 2015 12:04 pm

Yes, there is and it's a biggie: heavy metal poisoning! Dog kennels are not safe for parrots.
Pajarita
Norwegian Blue
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 18697
Location: NW Pa
Number of Birds Owned: 30
Types of Birds Owned: RoseBreasted too, CAG, DoubleYellowHead Amazon, BlueFront Amazon, YellowNape Amazon, Senegal, African Redbelly, Quaker, Sun Conure, Nanday, BlackCap Caique, WhiteBelly Caique, PeachFace lovebird, budgies,
Flight: Yes

Re: Building an outdoor flight cage

Postby Smokey » Thu Mar 12, 2015 12:16 pm

Any ideas on what else to do without much money? I am open to suggestions.
Smokey
Parakeet
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 7
Location: Madisonville, TN
Number of Birds Owned: 2
Types of Birds Owned: Male Congo African Grey

Female Parolett pocket parrot
Flight: No

Re: Building an outdoor flight cage

Postby Wolf » Thu Mar 12, 2015 5:53 pm

The biggest problem with building an outdoor flight or aviary of any size is the metal components used to make the enclosure. Most of the hardware cloth or other wire, such as chain link that is normally available to the DIYer is not suited to use with birds due to the types of metal used as well as the coatings on them. The majority of these products are made of galvanized metals, which is to say that it contains a huge amount of zinc, which is highly toxic to birds.
ideally the way to go is with stainless steel wire mesh or even aluminum wire mesh, both of which are expensive, and usually difficult to find. I have found some all aluminum chain link fence mesh in 5o foot rolls, a 2 inch mesh X 120 inch high ( 10 ft.) runs about $921.00 plus shipping and you can usually find the hardware locally to put it all together. Stainless steel is even more expensive to get.
So far in chainlink I have not been able to find any smaller of a mesh and feel that a 2 inch mesh is too big for most of the birds that we have as all of my birds would be able to get their heads through this size of mesh, the largest bird that I have is an Amazon.
Despite the cost of the materials, I am still looking and hope to be able to build an aviary for my birds sometime this year. I am glad that you made this post as I have been lax in looking for materials this winter and need to make this a higher priority now that spring is in the air. Allow me to have a couple more days and I will post an up to date list of links to materials for this project.
Wolf
Macaw
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is male
Posts: 8679
Location: Lansing, NC
Number of Birds Owned: 6
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African Grey (CAG)
Yellow Naped Amazon
2Celestial Parrotlet
Budgie
Flight: Yes

Re: Building an outdoor flight cage

Postby Smokey » Thu Mar 12, 2015 6:01 pm

Thank you wolf.
Smokey
Parakeet
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 7
Location: Madisonville, TN
Number of Birds Owned: 2
Types of Birds Owned: Male Congo African Grey

Female Parolett pocket parrot
Flight: No

Re: Building an outdoor flight cage

Postby liz » Thu Mar 12, 2015 7:49 pm

I was thinking of a screened enclosure to keep bugs off them and reinforced on the outside with chicken wire to keep the birds of prey off of them. I don't intend to leave them out at night. Their food and water will be inside so I expect them to just come in at night too.
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liz
Macaw
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 7234
Location: Hernando FL
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Types of Birds Owned: DYH Amazon Rambo
BF Amazon Myrtle
Cockatiels: Shadow Tammy Flutter Phoenix Jackie
Andy Impy Louise Twila Leroy
Flight: Yes

Re: Building an outdoor flight cage

Postby Smokey » Thu Mar 12, 2015 8:50 pm

I think it would depend on the birds you are wanting to contain, a screen would never keep my African Grey in. :gray:
Smokey
Parakeet
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 7
Location: Madisonville, TN
Number of Birds Owned: 2
Types of Birds Owned: Male Congo African Grey

Female Parolett pocket parrot
Flight: No

Re: Building an outdoor flight cage

Postby Wolf » Thu Mar 12, 2015 10:58 pm

Construction of a flight or an aviary is not only a matter of containing the bird or birds in question, it is also about their protection from various other factors such as excess sun, wind and/ or rain. It is also about protecting them from unwanted intrusion of other animals into the space that your bird/s will utilize and because of this how you will use the flight/aviary also must be considered in its design and construction. For example you can be more lenient in the design if you will always be in the aviary or nearby keeping watch on your bird/s Than you would be if you may not be present at all times to prevent a dog, cat or other creature from digging underneath the enclosure and gaining access to your bird/s. Also additional precautions must be taken if your bird/s might be left in the enclosure overnight. How you are going to clean and maintain the flight/aviary must also be taken into account.
If all you are after is a way to get your birds some sunlight and fresh air for an hour or two with you being on hand to protect your birds and watch over them then you can use almost any fenced in enclosure that will also provide shade from the direct rays of the sun and place extra cages for them inside the enclosure. But if you are like me and may need to go to town and be absent so that you can't protect them than you must consider all of the possible ways that they could be injured or worse.
Wolf
Macaw
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is male
Posts: 8679
Location: Lansing, NC
Number of Birds Owned: 6
Types of Birds Owned: Senegal
African Grey (CAG)
Yellow Naped Amazon
2Celestial Parrotlet
Budgie
Flight: Yes

Re: Building an outdoor flight cage

Postby liz » Fri Mar 13, 2015 8:19 am

Smokey wrote:I think it would depend on the birds you are wanting to contain, a screen would never keep my African Grey in. :gray:


That is why I would reinforce the outside with wire. I am more afraid of hawks than any ground predator. They could come in if the sun was too much. I would have a crawl through door outside on the aviary to clean inside.
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liz
Macaw
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 7234
Location: Hernando FL
Number of Birds Owned: 12
Types of Birds Owned: DYH Amazon Rambo
BF Amazon Myrtle
Cockatiels: Shadow Tammy Flutter Phoenix Jackie
Andy Impy Louise Twila Leroy
Flight: Yes

Re: Building an outdoor flight cage

Postby Pajarita » Fri Mar 13, 2015 11:20 am

But you can't use regular screen or chicken wire, Liz, because the birds can easily chew through the screen and chicken wire is galvanized and poisonous to parrots. And, Wolf, aluminum is fine for birds but it needs to be anodized and I am not sure they anodize wire mesh (they do it for cooking and baking pans, and stuff used for cooking or holding water but why would they do it for wire mesh? It's not as if anybody would eat or drink from it...)
Pajarita
Norwegian Blue
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 18697
Location: NW Pa
Number of Birds Owned: 30
Types of Birds Owned: RoseBreasted too, CAG, DoubleYellowHead Amazon, BlueFront Amazon, YellowNape Amazon, Senegal, African Redbelly, Quaker, Sun Conure, Nanday, BlackCap Caique, WhiteBelly Caique, PeachFace lovebird, budgies,
Flight: Yes

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