Outside Aviary, ideas, pictures please

[sodakat]

I am glad you started this thread as well. As I mentioned before, we are looking to build an Aviary this spring. We have been looking for ideas as well. So far our biggest obstacle so far is, what is safe wire? We have been looking around trying to get an idea as to what is available in our area and it seems slim pickings at this point. What has everyone else used? We are wanting wire, not netting, though the birds would only be outside when we are. The big thing is that it cant be permanent. We do not own this house.

Go to a lumber yard and see if they can order rolls of wire for you. That's where I bought mine. The rolls are 100' long and 30" to 36" high depending on guage. Be sure to buy GAW (galvanized after weld) wire. If you are going to build the aviary this year you will want to get a tub and mix vinegar with water deep enough to soak the roll(s) of wire, then brush them off with a wire brush afterwards. Once the wire is up on the aviary structure it will begin to weather which is good. Each year check it for loose particles and brush them off. My birds don't really care to hang on the wire much at all. They may fly to it and climb up to a perch but rarely. They are more interested in flying and sitting on the perches/ropes/etc. than having their beaks on the wire.

I've seen ideas for aviaries built around those metal portable car/boat storage frames online. Lara Joseph has a simple idea for an aviary on her website too but right now the design escapes me. However, she does have her entire yard enclosed in netting so her aviary doesn't need to be as secure due to the exterior barrier.

 

[Rahel]

I am glad you started this thread as well. As I mentioned before, we are looking to build an Aviary this spring. We have been looking for ideas as well. So far our biggest obstacle so far is, what is safe wire? We have been looking around trying to get an idea as to what is available in our area and it seems slim pickings at this point. What has everyone else used? We are wanting wire, not netting, though the birds would only be outside when we are. The big thing is that it cant be permanent. We do not own this house.

See, this is why we like our system so much because we are planing to move eventually to the south or Hawaii. Since the aviary is built out of panels, we will just take them apart and move them with us to our new place.

 

[Hankmacaw]

This stuff has always intrigued me. I've seen it at lots of zoos. Don't know how pricey it is.
bird cages mesh, bird netting, aviary, zoo mesh, zoomesh, zoomesh factory, animal cages, animal enclosures ------ LiuLin Metal Fabric Co., LTD.

 

[cosmolove]

Those avairys are awesome!!

 

[Rahel]

We

This stuff has always intrigued me. I've seen it at lots of zoos. Don't know how pricey it is.
bird cages mesh, bird netting, aviary, zoo mesh, zoomesh, zoomesh factory, animal cages, animal enclosures ------ LiuLin Metal Fabric Co., LTD.[/quoteWe've been looking in the netting to but it is very expensive.
We have been looking into so many different things during the years until we finally found what we have been looking for. We are absolutely happy with what we have now.

 

[featherbabies]

I hate the new pic set up, so I don't have a handy pic of mine. But we bought a powder coated dog kennel with the rectangular holes. I think we got it at Lowes. It works great for us as a outdoor supervision cage. We have ropes and perches through out. I believe it is 5x5. If we used all the panels it would be 10x5. It has enough room for both the grey and amazon, and I folding chair for me. My husband got some wood pieces from Lowes and ran it across the top with wire attached about it. We added a shade cloth to the top since we do have hawks and lots of vultures. This gives them a a sense of privacy and helps with the Texas heat. Its nice since it is panels and we put it on the patio with outdoor carpet under it. We have potted plants and a water bowl for baths too. This was the cheapest way we found to do it. Its nice to sit in there with them as the sun comes up, except my grey asks for coffee the whole time!

 

[Rahel]

I hate the new pic set up, so I don't have a handy pic of mine. But we bought a powder coated dog kennel with the rectangular holes. I think we got it at Lowes. It works great for us as a outdoor supervision cage. We have ropes and perches through out. I believe it is 5x5. If we used all the panels it would be 10x5. It has enough room for both the grey and amazon, and I folding chair for me. My husband got some wood pieces from Lowes and ran it across the top with wire attached about it. We added a shade cloth to the top since we do have hawks and lots of vultures. This gives them a a sense of privacy and helps with the Texas heat. Its nice since it is panels and we put it on the patio with outdoor carpet under it. We have potted plants and a water bowl for baths too. This was the cheapest way we found to do it. Its nice to sit in there with them as the sun comes up, except my grey asks for coffee the whole time!

Coffee? Lol, at least something my birds are not asking me to bring them ... ...
We use dog kennel panels as 'bird cage' in the house. We bought them in Menards for I think $60/piece and they do a great job. There is one room just for the birds and we can 'maneuver' the panels in every way we need to. So for the case that we have a foster bird or that some of our birds would be having problems with each other, we just hang in a divider panel and that's it. They work very well if you have a bird big enough that is not able to escape through the big gauge, lol.
The only problem with the panels is that we have to modify toys since they are always made to hook up to smaller bar spaces but that is ok, we can manage this one.

Vultures go after your birds? We have lots of them but they only go for death bodies as far as I know. The hawks are a different chapter though ...

 

[karen256]

This was a small outdoor aviary that I used for a few years. Unfortunately, the only pics I have of the outside are from when I was building it, before it was screened in.
It's about 9-10 feet diameter. There were posts in the ground from an old deck so it was built using those.
I screened the whole thing in with ordinary aluminum screening so mosquitoes would not be a problem (they were only in there supervised, I would not use this unsupervised, a determined predator could probably get in). I bought a cheap dwarf crabapple tree and planted it in there and hung two swings. I also put in a small shelf to set their carrier on, giving another landing spot.

Of course, a big downside of screen mesh is that snow does not go through it. So I had to make a removeable screen roof that I could store away for the winter. That was a hassle to put on and fasten securely each summer. The birds also did not really care for it. I liked getting them some sun, and they didn't seem to mind it much - although they were far more alert to danger than they were indoors. I never even set it up this year - I couldn't remember where the screen roof was.

 

[webchirp]

Those are pictures that I took while building it and when we just finished putting up the panels and the first trees. It looks different now but, there is still a lot to do. I love it!

My conures would never come inside! Love it!!

 

[danadear]

I am so jealous!

 

[Rahel]

My conures would never come inside! Love it!!

They really like it out there. If there is a bad storm coming and I want to bring them in, they will go up the tree to be at the highest point when the rain hits. We've had a really bad hale storm last summer and I was so concerned about them but they would not come down ... There is nothing more beautiful then watching our birds when it rains, they love it and they are having so much fun out there .

 

[keikoasmom]

We cut a hole of 8x8 feet into the deck and put panels in there, so they have their 'watch tower' on top of the deck and they can be with us when they want. The hole is just over the flower bed. We cut down a tree that we placed in the middle of the bed, so they can climb up on it. It's their preferred sleeping place too. Same when it is raining, everybody has to sit at the highest point to enjoy the rain.

Love the pictures! Yours is huge! How many macaws? Do I count 6?
We are in the planning stage. We were thinking of an 8' X 5" by 7' high aviary on the patio (concrete) which is covered, metal cover, which is nice shade, but
having a hole where they can see out would be marvelous!

 

[featherbabies]

Here is one I took after we first set it up. We've switched out some of the perches for natural branches, and added some potted plants. This is used only while we are out with them, and works well for us.

 

[webchirp]

Here is Kim Hannah's aviary...hoping to follow her lines although mine won't be as high.

Kim Hannah - Kim's Aviary Project - Part Two - Outfitting... | Facebook