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Bird Room Project: Advice Requested

Fluffaloo

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Faithlyn
Hey guys!
I am working on a new bird room/building project for Fumbles (B&G macaw) and want to make I don't miss anything in the planning process. I will be starting my second year of vet school in August and I know the days might be a bit longer than what they already are. I want to give Fumble a completely bird proof room that she can hang out in while I am in school. Though her cage will be in the room the point of the room is so that she doesn't have to stay in the cage while I'm at school. I also wanted to note that of course, I will still be hanging out with her in both her room and our house so it's not like I'm ignoring her.

So far here is the plan:
1. 12ft x 32ft building (1 garage door, 1 barn door, 1 regular door, barn door is connected to a large aviary with safety catch outside) building will be done in 4 weeks.
2.She is flighted and I want her to be able to utilize flight space
3.I want to attach a tv to the wall but cover it will some sort of cage or protection (recommendations?)
4. There are 5 windows in the room. How do you recommend I bird proof them?
5. I have a bird safe portable air conditioner, heater, mini fridge, and filter than I plan to put inside of a cage of some sort so she doesnt destroy it. Any specific recommendations?
6. I have added outlet covers and cord covers to the list.
7.What are the best perches? I have two manzanita trees already but do you have experience with hanging/floating perches? How would I set those up?
8. Walls will be covered in vinyl backdrop and cage/perches wont be close enough to the wall for her to destroy the wall.
9. I do plan to add toys and such but I wasn't sure how to disperse them or hang them? Any pictures of your own?
10. For the floor I plan to do some sort of vinyl flooring

Anyways thats the list for now. I will add if I think of anything but do you guys have any advice or notice anything I am missing?
 

Feathery

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That sounds like a lot of fun!

I would suggest to add a wifi camera to the room as well and protect it somehow. I have a camera on my birds and I like being able to check in on them during the day while I'm at work and sometimes at night after I put them to bed.
 

Fluffaloo

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That sounds like a lot of fun!

I would suggest to add a wifi camera to the room as well and protect it somehow. I have a camera on my birds and I like being able to check in on them during the day while I'm at work and sometimes at night after I put them to bed.
I totally forgot to add that in the post. Yes right now she already has one on her cage and I plan to add a camera to both the outside and inside of the new room. :)
 

Fluffaloo

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Thought I would give an update and try to ask more questions.
The building is done, floors are done and now we are working on the walls and insulation.

I was wondering if you guys think this portable evaporative cooler would be ok to use during the summer. Amazon.com: Dreo Evaporative Air Cooler, 40" Tower Fans that Blow Cold Air, Cooling Fan with 80° Oscillating, Ice Packs, Touch and Remote Control, 3 Modes, 3-Speed Quiet Floor Fan for Bedroom Home Office : Home & Kitchen It would not be blowing directly on them since it would be protected by a cage of some sort and the macaws are flighted so they can go where they want. (I say macaws plural because we recently took in a young scarlet macaw who needed a good home, she gets along with Fumbles perfectly).

I have also been having trouble finding hanging perches for sale rather than DIY. Do you guys know of anyone who sells hanging perches with built-in feeders?
 

Fluffaloo

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Does anyone know if there is any safe wood stain to make hanging pvc perches look like wood?
 

Fluffaloo

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I wanted to add a bit more information to clear things up. I am trying to make a pvc hanging perch with a feeder bowl attached in the middle. The pvc pipes would be sanded and textured so any paint or stain could adhere. I am considering using this milk paint pumpkin – old fashioned milk paint – milkpaint combined with a hemp oil sealant All Natural Hemp Oil for Wood Finishing (realmilkpaint.com) but I am not sure how safe it would be. There will be many hanging perches in the room so they can fly to wherever they want and there will be toys hanging near each perch. I believe the chances of them trying to each that single perch are low but I just want to minimize the risk. For this particular size, shape, and design I wanted to work with pvc but also make it match the room. What do you think?
 

BrianB

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What are you building the barn out of? A friend built a huge metal barn to house all of his birds and once it was done he realized that he should have built it out of wood. The noise reflecting off of the metal walls made it so loud that he had to wear ear protection anytime he was in there. He built in bird-proof metal sinks with the plumbing hidden and he also had a center drain put in so he could hose the floor off and not worry about buckets of water. The flight cages he used were built half in and half outside of the building. In the winter he closed off the exit to the outside cage and the birds stayed inside. In the spring and summer the birds loved to go outside and play in the rain. A television was mounted up high with an acrylic case over it and speakers high up in the ceiling out of their reach.
 

Fluffaloo

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What are you building the barn out of? A friend built a huge metal barn to house all of his birds and once it was done he realized that he should have built it out of wood. The noise reflecting off of the metal walls made it so loud that he had to wear ear protection anytime he was in there. He built in bird-proof metal sinks with the plumbing hidden and he also had a center drain put in so he could hose the floor off and not worry about buckets of water. The flight cages he used were built half in and half outside of the building. In the winter he closed off the exit to the outside cage and the birds stayed inside. In the spring and summer the birds loved to go outside and play in the rain. A television was mounted up high with an acrylic case over it and speakers high up in the ceiling out of their reach.
Thank you for the advice!!

The barn/building is already built and yes it is completely built out of wood :) It was a custom-built building that was built on-site. I won't be having any sinks in there due to permitting restrictions and due to the fact it will be attached to our casita so we have access to water in there. I like that idea for the aviaries! I was just planning on attaching two of the 8ft x 8ft runs Producer's Pride Universal Poultry Pen, 8 x 8 ft., CR0808 at Tractor Supply Co. so I had one big 16ft x 8ft aviary attached on the outside of their building. I was going to wrap the inside with 1"x1" stainless steel wire to add extra protection.That's a good idea for the tv as well!
 

Shezbug

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Will your birds always be supervised while out in the chicken pen part?
 

Fluffaloo

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Update:
In case anyone was curious or is working on their own bird room I thought I would post an update. The building is nearly done and the birds should hopefully be moved in by next weekend. I will be posting a video when everything is complete.
Some things to note:
1. We tried using just an evaporative cooler and fans to cool the room...that didn't work. Even though it is dry hot air, and the shed is totally insulated, the evap cooler just wasnt cooling the room how it needed to. We ended up just going the other route and mounted a window ac unit that can do both heating and cooling.
2. We will be using a mini fridge in the room and it always has a fridge cover over it. I'm hoping that will be enough to deter mainly Fumble from messing with it but who knows. She doesn't have access to underneath or behind it and the cords are all covered by pvc pipe so it should be safe. I will post an update if it needs to be bird proofed further.
3. All windows have cloth curtains (past mistakes tell me that those are the only curtains I will have around birds. Fumbles destroys the plastic or wood types within seconds). Each window has a wooden trim because we all know that drywall wouldn't stand a chance.
4. We had a custom built box made that would hold and protect the tv so we shall see if it is indeed bird proof.
5. Lastly, I had mentioned above how I intended to paint the pvc with milkpaint well lets just say that was a horrible idea. Im sure the milk paint itself would be fine around the birds but no matter how many times I sanded the pvc pipe the paint just wouldn't stick. It would look beautiful when freshly painted on but they disintegrate as it dries. Horrible idea. Anyways I just wrapped the pvc hanging perch in brown vet wrap. It works.

That's all, for now, I will try to post once it's complete but I feel like it's a lot of trial and error here. Thanks for your previous help!
 

Shezbug

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Have you made or purchased your curtains? Most pre purchased curtains have weights sewn into the bottom corners to hold them from flapping about in the breeze- the metal they usually use is not bird safe. Just thought I’d mention incase…
 

Fluffaloo

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I hadn't heard of that so thank you for informing me. I don't think mine are weighted at all. They are some of the jungle themed ones on amazon. They are pretty thin and blow around just a bit when the wind comes through.
 

Fluffaloo

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I am still bird proofing as Fumbles finds more things to destroy but they have moved into the bird room and have been doing amazing. I will be adding plexiglass sheets to the sections of the wall that she has been attempting to chew. They have been in here for nearly a week now and I already have to replace more toys lol
. IMG_4712.jpg IMG_4714.jpg IMG_4713.jpg
 

Kassiani

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Wow! That's amazing!
 

Icey

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That looks like a great birdie room. ;)
 

FeatheredM

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Wow!! That is such a beautiful bird room!
 

Fluffaloo

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Thank you! I'm just so happy that they don't have to stay in the cage for most of the day anymore. :)
 

Fluffaloo

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I don't know if I had mentioned it earlier but Ember is our newest addition. We have had him for about 2 months now. He is a 1 yr old male scarlet macaw. When we found him at the store he was clipped and on a seed/corn/etc diet. We were already in the process of looking for another macaw and we couldn't help but bring him home. He is in the process of molting so hopefully, he will get to fly soon, he has been trying his best to flap and get off the ground/perch. Fumbles and him have been in the room together for a while now and they seem to be fine with each other. No signs of aggression. :)
IMG_4687.jpg
 

Fluffaloo

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Thought I would update this thread! Well, the wallpaper definitely didn't hold up how I thought it would. The long wall with the TV is holding up fine and is undamaged, the small wall in the back of the house as well as the wallpaper on the upper portion of the side with the barn doors have just been destroyed, yay for wallpaper. Here's what I am going to do.

1. I am replacing the damaged wallpaper walls with pvc walls https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09BK41RMD/ref=ox_sc_act_title_2?smid=A2AM58SFCTEQZL&psc=1 and keeping the green wallpaper walls on the other side since they aren't damaged and I would keep to the theme of the room. The pvc wall panels do require a heavy-duty glue to attach them so I am really hoping that the smell airs out quickly so the birds can move back in within 3 ish days. I also have an air purifier in there that reads air quality and filters up to 3x the square footage so hopefully that will speed up the process.

2. I had a problem with mice getting in this winter and it was VERY annoying. I managed to better seal up the barn doors but now I think I need to add more insulation to the roll up door in the front as well since I am not sure if that is a source of entry. Lots of trial and error with that. I keep a catch-and-release trap back there where the birds cannot access it just in case any more mice sneak in. I haven't caught any in a while so maybe I fixed the problem.

3. Everything else seems to be holding up well so I will update if I run into other issues.
 
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