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Gribouille

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A breeder I know has her birds in a warm garden shed (we are in Norway) with long tunnels/gutters leading from each cage to the outdoor voliere. Her birds can go in and out as they want, and I love the idea :heart:

Now we just bought ourselves a flat and I want to make a ventilation hole in the living-room's wall, leading to an outdoor cage/mini-voliere on the veranda. I will equip it with doors at each end and mosquito/rodent net so I can close it when it is cold and have the net on during the night. If we happen to move out I'll replace the tunnel with a simple ventilation system.

Has anyone of you experience with such a tunnel/opening? How did you do it? What should I think about?
 

expressmailtome

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Bump.
 

faislaq

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Intriguing! Do you have any pics?
 

Gribouille

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well no, I haven't moved yet :rofl:

But where I live now we have this ventilation thing up the wall, which opens through the wall:
20181228_123816[1].jpg 20181228_123827[1].jpg 20181228_124447[1].jpg

It looks very dark in there but there is a mouse/insect net half way and that kind of hood on the wall outside.

I've had a look on different netsides, found that I could buy the parts separately with a telescopic tunnel and doors. The hood is not the right size but you get the idea.


I think Nova could be bold enough to try and explore the tunnel, especially if they have a perch in front of it from the inside and maybe some millet in the tunnel the first times, then Merlin would follow.

I'm not 100% happy with the doors having this big thing in the middle but I'm sure I could McGyver them to something acceptable...
 

faislaq

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How long would it be? Is there any chance they could get stuck? Would you be able to get to them easily if you needed to?
 

Gribouille

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How long would it be? Is there any chance they could get stuck? Would you be able to get to them easily if you needed to?
Now I see that those telescopic tunnels are 12 to 21 cm. The one here is 16 cm from the inside of the door to the net so it depends on the thickness of your wall really. But it is large enough for them to move easily (15x15cm) and it is no problem for your hand either. So except for this thing in the middle of the door,which I want to remove anyway, I can't see how they could get stuck, a dove could walk i there. And since I would have a cage hanging on the wall outside, no danger of a dove coming in anyway :lol:

@Hawkward I'll post many pictures when I do it but you'll have to be patient for a couple more months at least ;)
 

JLcribber

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Well if you want to go through all the trouble of hacking a hole in the wall you've got some work ahead. It needs to be done properly so outside weather elements don't get in, deteriorating/rotting the opening.

If "I" was doing this I would just use an existing window and built a door/entrance in that opening.
 

Gribouille

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Well if you want to go through all the trouble of hacking a hole in the wall you've got some work ahead. It needs to be done properly so outside weather elements don't get in, deteriorating/rotting the opening.

If "I" was doing this I would just use an existing window and built a door/entrance in that opening.
We have wooden houses and all of them have these openings for ventilation.
The one I am moving in is from the 60's and has too few for today's standards. The only one they have now is opening in a bedroom, but they built a cupboard in front of it so basically, the cupboard has fresh air and the rest of the house doesn't. Humidity stays in and makes for a bad indoor environment. The carpenter told me to add at least a couple more. I figured I could have one of them as a secret tunnel for the birds with a few tricks.
They are not difficult to install in a wooden house, and I will have a home-made cage outside. That cage is a cupboard-converted-into-a-cage so basically there is a wooden frame and only the back side of the cupboard is open and covered with a bird net. The birds and the opening will be protected from wind/rain/snow by the cupboard, + I will have the plastic hood over the opening anyway + the hole inside the wall will be covered by the plastic tunnel so I hope that will be enough to protect the opening.
 

Fergus Mom

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@Gribouille - Wow! One of my imaginative friends and I were talking about something like this recently, and how neat it would be! I am put in mind of the old movie 'The Wizard of Oz', when they step into the color from black and white, with all the beautiful colors and flowers, etc.! I bet the birds would love this.
 

Gribouille

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Hi again, it's been a few months and lots and lots of thinking, but I have finally decided how I want to do this, and I have all the parts now :bliss:
So tonight and tomorrow I will do some painting, but the whole thing should be done and rolling before the week end!! :cheer:
 

finchly

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Gribouille

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Thanks Finchly, but I can see your videos?! :( Could it be you have permitted them only to your FB friends?

You have it right though :yes4: the outdoor cage is against the living-room's wall, so they will have a short little tunnel from the one to the other. I think it will be easier for them to find the porthole from outside, climb in and fly into the living-room :fly2: When they've done it a couple of times they should get the point, be able to find the inside porthole & go outside. :pinklol3:
 

finchly

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@Gribouille I’m sorry the videos didn’t work! They aren’t mine, I filched them from FB. Will have to figure out a workaround.

Anyway it sounds great and I’m sure they will learn their way around quickly.
 

Gribouille

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@Gribouille this is a great idea. I'm glad you're back on it. This thread had died but I'm really glad the project is back on.
Thanks Ripshod, it had not died, I've been moving to a new flat and thinking really hard to be sure I won't just ruin my wall and freeze next Winter + I didn't like the idea of a white plastic door in the middle of the wall.. Planing ahead is never wasted!! But now I can't wait getting it done! :dance4:
 
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