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Pajarita's update

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Re: Pajarita's update

Postby Pajarita » Tue Sep 12, 2017 9:22 am

Going cageless actually saves much more work than people are aware of, Steven, because if you use branches for perches as I do, you practically don't have to scrub anything - and that's pretty much most of the hard work. In the parrot room, I scrape, sweep and mop the floor on a daily basis and scrub it once a week and I also have cages in there but I've been thinking of not putting any flooring in the birdrooms I will build back home. I still have to fine tune the idea but I've been thinking of building the walls foundations in deep ditches filled up with concrete all around and leaving the actual dirt as flooring for the rooms so grass and stuff can grow in it, making them a more natural environment for them - I might even be able to have a small tree in there! The house is going to be a ranch because I am done with going up and down stairs 30 times a day and these rooms will be built off the living area so I can see and hear them and they can see and hear me at all times.
Pajarita
Norwegian Blue
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 18701
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,
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Re: Pajarita's update

Postby Bird woman » Tue Sep 12, 2017 5:55 pm

I've often thought about doing the very same thing but not being able to have the seasons, sun,air and rain like being outside gives me concern of mold and bacteria growth. The dirt would obviously have to be replaced pereodically due to fecal contamination. I've thought about roll out lawn so I could rip it up and replace . I would just love to have a large live indoor space with bushes and trees. Do you know if it's been done? BW
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Re: Pajarita's update

Postby Pajarita » Wed Sep 13, 2017 12:54 pm

I don't know if any individual has done it but zoos and botanical gardens have 'rooms' with dirt ground for the tropical species during the winter months so I am thinking it can be done - but I don't know if there is a concrete slab under the dirt though... But, either way, I don't think that there will be any fecal contamination. Bird poop is mostly water and it becomes 'dirt' very easily and fast once it dries up so, unless you have a sick bird that could be passing a pathogen in its poop, I don't see how there could be any contamination. I mean, herbivore poop [horse, cow, sheep, goat, etc] is used as fertilizer all over the world and I know for a fact that farmers use their chickens poop to fertilize their crops so I don't see how this could be dangerous to anybody [they even sell it packaged for people who don't have chickens! :lol:] . I was not planning on 'changing' the dirt or laying grass, I was just planning on raking the debris [because, as we all know, you end up with all kinds of things on the floors with parrots] and calling it a day but I guess the uppermost layer could be shoveled into a wheelbarrow and 'fresh' dirt could be laid anew if there is a concern. And I am sure that grass will end up growing there because the greatest majority of the seeds we use are for grasses...

And there will be fresh air and light because the idea is to put windows all around and skylights on the roof and use the air purifier and humidifier in the winter -same as we do now! Only, back home, the warm weather season is much longer than it is here because it's never that cold in the winter [we hardly ever have temperatures in the low 30's with an average in the low 60s for the winter! - are you jealous already? :lol: ]. AND, it's naturally humid so they will hardly ever need the humidifier, either.

I thought of making a deep [2 feet?] ditch in the shape of a rectangle outside one of the exterior living room walls, pouring concrete in it so as to prevent animals burrowing under the wall AND to provide an anchor for the supports of the walls which will be kind of short where the windows will be [and I think I am going to use concrete blocks for it because they are super strong -neither parrots, nor other animals can chew into them] as I want lots of big windows all around and, on the farthest wall from the house, put sliding doors that would open to an outdoor aviary so, during the warm months, they can fly in and out as they please but, during the winter, they will remain in the indoor 'dirt' room which will also have sliding doors AND glass on the side that joins the house so we can see and hear each other all the time.
Pajarita
Norwegian Blue
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
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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: Pajarita's update

Postby Rmoses » Fri Sep 15, 2017 8:56 am

Pajarita, three questions on your last post.
1¬ how you gonna get all your birds back to that home of 60 degree winters?

2¬if you are building a house, could you not just make the foundation deeper and eliminate the need of the trench ?

2¬would a dirt floor inside be too dry and cause a dust problem ?

3¬if you gonna be in that home of 60 degree winters, why not just build a large netted enclosure with an area of solid roof to provide cover from rain and sun?
I love the idea, I would love to sit out or in a room with tropical ´plants and birds all around
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Re: Pajarita's update

Postby Pajarita » Fri Sep 15, 2017 10:25 am

Hey! Long time no hear, glad to know you are still around!

The birds will travel with us on a ship - I already did my homework on this. There are three lines of container ships that stop in my country and have a few cabins for passengers. They are not as fancy or comfortable as liners but I could take one large cabin or two smaller ones for us and the birds. And the containers with our car and all the house stuff we are bringing with us will travel on the same ship, too [we have a friend who owns a company that does this kind of container shipping stuff and he is going to handle the whole thing]. The dogs and cats will travel in batches by air, accompanied by me or my husband, with the exception of the golden retriever which will need to travel in cargo because of his large size.

Dust from the soil won't be a problem at all. For one thing, it's humid, for another, I an always turn on the humidifier and last but not least, there will be plants there and the roots 'hold' the dirt down.

And no, no, no, my birds won't be outdoors all year round - no way no how! Average temperature is fine but the nights can get cold and, because it's humid, the chill factor makes a normally 'nice' temperature feel much colder. For another, we will be living far from the city so there will be predators.

And I am pretty sure that the room will work because, when I was a child, there was this neighbor across the street from us that had a similar room in her house. The lady's name was Kitty, she was a judge and her husband was a high ranking military [I think he was a general, actually] and, although she was considered highly eccentric by the neighbors and my family [she had gone to high school and preparatory with two of my mother's cousins], I thought she was the greatest because she had lots and lots of plants and lots and lots of cats she took in from the street. The room was smack in the middle of the house and had regular walls but not a single window so the entire ceiling was a huge pyramidal skylight that moved on rails on the roof and could be opened or closed with a crank thingie on the wall [it looked like this: http://www.infocasas.com.uy/casas-en-ci ... a/285478?v]. It was, basically, like a Spanish interior courtyard only it had a movable, skylight ceiling! The center of the room had tiles with a drainage thingie smack in the middle so, even when it rained, it did not flood and a wide strip of just dirt all around with plants and even two trees [one of them was a star jasmine and I've wanted one for my own ever since because, in the summer, the scent from the flowers perfumed the entire house and could be smelled as soon as you walked through the street door!] It was similar to this, only with the movable glass ceiling and no fancy furniture :lol: :https://www.bing.com/images/search?view=detailV2&ccid=23bI4w6R&id=ABB03B7D3E01EB75BA774500C1B038F38238619F&thid=OIP.23bI4w6R2lIZbiNKfKhHYAEsDw&q=spanish+interior+courtyard+pictures&simid=608006601642411525&selectedIndex=213&ajaxhist=0
Pajarita
Norwegian Blue
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
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Flight: Yes

Re: Pajarita's update

Postby stevesjk » Fri Sep 15, 2017 3:02 pm

The countries in which the majority of these birds originate are freezing at night. People get fooled into thinking they are delicate creatures because they are 'tropical'.
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Re: Pajarita's update

Postby Pajarita » Sat Sep 16, 2017 9:33 am

Hmmmm, I would not say 'the majority', Steven. There are lots of species that live in zone 9 and up (half of South America, all of Central America, Mexico, Australia, Africa and the 'bottom' of Asia] but not that many live in zone 8 (off the top of my head, I can only think of bluefront amazons, quakers, patagonians, nandays and bluecrown conures] and none in zone 7 so, although they can survive a couple of nights a year when it's cold enough for frost, there is no actual freezing... But, in any case, I would not expose my birds to even one single night of frost and would not recommend anybody to do it, either. Our parrots are not the same as the wild ones... they are hugely inferior specimens.
Pajarita
Norwegian Blue
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 18701
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: Pajarita's update

Postby stevesjk » Sat Sep 16, 2017 1:33 pm

I live near the guy who runs the local pet shop, he breeds his own cockatiels in an outdoor aviary, i asked him how they survive the winter, he said as long as you put them out in spring they will be fine through the winter.

I personally couldnt sleep if my birds were outside in winter.
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Re: Pajarita's update

Postby liz » Sun Sep 17, 2017 6:41 am

I can't go to sleep without everything coming in at night. I stressed about the horses being out but they are in the back yard and connected to the deck. Indy puts his head over the deck rail when he thinks it is time for a goody.
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Re: Pajarita's update

Postby Pajarita » Sun Sep 17, 2017 9:30 am

stevesjk wrote:I live near the guy who runs the local pet shop, he breeds his own cockatiels in an outdoor aviary, i asked him how they survive the winter, he said as long as you put them out in spring they will be fine through the winter.

I personally couldnt sleep if my birds were outside in winter.


Well, the pet shop owner regards animals as merchandise and I am sure has no problem whatsoever with his birds dying way before their time or even suffering because it doesn't really affect his bottom line so, as far as he is concerned, it's OK. Animal exploiters are people without empathy - there is something missing in their souls... But I do believe that evolution will take care of the defective individuals of our species and that, eventually, they will become extinct.
Pajarita
Norwegian Blue
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 18701
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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