Outdoor Aviaries - designs

[Rue]

I`m not planning to get one...but I was interested in Michael`s experiences...and while browsing found this one that looks good (design wise)...

http://www.exoticwings.com/shoppe/produ ... ts_id=3434

Anyone else have any thoughts or ideas?

[Michael]

I'd like to think that a roof is a pretty important feature that is missing here. Not only does it protect the birds (and perches/toys) from too much sun/rain, but more importantly it prevents poop from other birds getting in. There are two trees overhanging my aviary. In the few days between building the aviary and waiting for the roof parts to come in, there was already a bunch of poops on it that I had to clean off.

[Rue]

Good point...hadn't thought of that...

[Kim S]

My aviary has a partial roof. They love to sit in the sunshine when its not too hot. When its raining they transform into a bunch of bats and hang upside down on the top wire to collect as much raindrops they can!

They enjoy the rain greatly and I dont see why they cant have some if you're thinking of an aviary that large.

[Michael]

What do you do in the winter? Surely its too cold to keep the aviary birds outdoors?

[Kim S]

I do put the roof back on in winter and I add another windscreen to it so its closed on three sides. The most omportant thing is the wind not coming in. Or the birds getting wet.
The cockatiels are actually fine in winter. The budgies should be fine, but I noticed they were not really happy being there in the cold so I decided to get them indoors. I have three indoor breedingaviaries which are not used in winter for breedingpurposes, so they are an excelent winterparlor for the budgies.

[Natacha]

What do you do in the winter? Surely its too cold to keep the aviary birds outdoors?

I can't imagine it being too bad in the Netherlands.

If birds get slowly acclimated to the cold, it's no big problem (of course, we can forget this in the marvelous -40 degrees Celcius winters I experience..).

Drafts are of course the bigger problem.

[Kim S]

We had a whopping -20 celcius last year. But thats about as bad as it gets.
Normal budgies should be able to cope with that as long as they are protected from any wind and rain. My English showbudgies are a bit more fragile, so they get to stay inside the garage for the winter.