How to build Aviary for large parrots, lovebirds, doves, cockatoo

1. ROOM AVIARIES

When one keeps parrots, one would also like to observe them. This is not easily possible in the bird room described, because one must normally enter the room, thus intruding into the territory of the birds. (If the doings of the parrots can be observed through a glass door or a glass wall, this is naturally simpler. A. Gemein uses a video surveillance installation; other parrot lovers simply put an old easy chair in the bird room and let the animals get used to the observer.)

With a room aviary, one does not have these problems. The parrots are accustomed to more intensive contact with humans. They let themselves be observed unself-consciously, yet are among their own kind. One can order room aviaries, shipped unassembled, by mail order or bird aviary plan. Pet shops furnish room aviaries made to measure. These have wire on all sides. In practice, they are like large cages. If one would like to construct a room aviary, one can construct it in a corner of the room, thereby saving two sides. As material, one should use spot-welded, galvanized iron mesh, which is welded to a framework of square tubes. For parrots, one should use a wire 2 mm. in diameter and a mesh size of 25 mm. The door should be at most 1 m. tall, so that the birds cannot easily get out when one enters the aviary. The floor should consist of sheet metal which is folded up 20 cm. on each side and then covered with sand. The walls of the room should be covered with plywood paneling.

2. BALCONY AVIARIES

Balcony aviaries are constructed in exactly the same way, being topped in addition with a wire roof and having an open passageway into the interior of the house, through which the parrots, doves can enter the room aviary during bad weather. When one enters the balcony aviary through the door (1 m. high at most) for feeding or cleaning, added care is needed to keep one's wards from getting away. Security is offered only by a "lock" [a vestibule and a second door].

3. OUTDOOR AVIARIES

It is not sufficient to set a wire-mesh structure on the bare ground. This is not recommended for hygienic reasons, because the excretions pollute the soil. Unwelcome visitors like mice, rats, cats, weasels, polecats, and other vermin can get in too easily. A foundation made of concrete or bricks will prevent this. In order to keep the mice from digging underneath, the foundation must extend into the ground for 50 cm., or even 1 m., according to Pinter. A concrete floor is safest, but wire mesh, set into the earth to a depth of 50 cm., then horizontally extended, will also keep the rodents out. Wilker recommends putting in a horizontal layer of cinderblocks. He describes a foundation of edgingstones (99 x 8 x 30 cm.) which has the advantage of letting rain water drain through open side joints. One sees that there are no limits to the imagination of the aviary builder. Naturally, mice must also be prevented from above-the-ground access to food dishes and food remnants strewn about. A strip of small-mesh netting 20 cm. wide is placed around the aviary. Cats and owls can be kept out only by a double layer of mesh; but they haven't much chance with the parrots, as these birds know how to defend themselves.

The aviary requires a shelter room and a wire-glass shelter wall. These are oriented toward the weather side, i.e., toward north or east. The shelter room must be well insulated and electrically heated. An infrared heater or two carbon-filament lamps, covered with wire mesh and coupled with a thermostat, will keep the temperature at a minimum of about 15 C. even in winter. In the shelter room, there should be a small vestibule, which serves as a lock. This is also where tools and food can be stored. Through another door from the shelter room, one reaches the actual aviary. It is partially roofed with wire glass, so that the animals sitting outdoors do not have to retreat to the inside because of a rain shower. The wire mesh is galvanized, spot-welded iron mesh 2 mm. thick with a mesh size of 25 mm. or, as recommended by Gemein, so-called corrugated wire with a mesh size of 40 mm., which will withstand even the beaks of macaws and cockatoos. As protective paint for the wire, de Grahl recommends a bitumen lacquer which does not splinter off as easily as iron lacquer and has to be renewed only every two years.

The interior is furnished with climbing trees and perches. With sloping perches, parrots can get to the ground and up again without flying. Nest boxes should be offered both inside and outside the shelter. (If there are several parrots together, no breeding attempts should be made before the breeding pair is separated from the others.) Any plantings inside will soon be destroyed by the parrots; however, it is important that the aviary be surrounded by greenery. For breeding parrots especially, it is important that they can feel undisturbed and safe.

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