Aviary Design

There are many different considerations when building or selecting an aviary design to suit you, and more importantly, your birds. Our first aviaries were a basic conventional style. Over time I have always been open to better ideas and easier methods of bird keeping, leading me away from the conventional aviary. I will list a few of the drawbacks that I found. The first thing that springs to mind is cleaning. Basically whatever falls to the floor, stays on the floor. The problem is greater if the occupants happen to be a species that requires fruit and veggies. The scraps on the floor attract rodents and germs. The birds have access to all this rotting matter and the end result can be birds with health issues. This style of aviary must be cleaned out on a daily basis. If housing Cockatiels or other cleaner species, a conventional aviary does the job fine. A few things to make the conventional aviary better would be the inclusion of a secure walkway, preferably to the rear. This allows access to the aviary and feed/water bowls without the chance of escape. If a secure walkway isn't possible, try and make the doors considerably lower than the overall height. As you enter the aviary, flighty birds will head for the front every time and if the door is full height, sooner or later one of your birds will escape over your head. I learnt this the hard way. I still have conventionals but all the doors have been modified so that I now have to duck down to enter. Another modification that I adapted from the conventional style aviaries is the inclusion of a feed station. I have made a wire 'box' type of thing, with a metal tray inside. I have access to the tray from the walkway. Food bowls are placed on top of the wire, allowing scrap to fall into the tray rather than the floor. This reduces maintenance as I can empty the tray every second day and only enter the aviary to clean up the little food that has missed the tray, once a week. See photo below.

                     
          My first conventional aviary .......................Tray system for conventional

After discovering the "suspended" aviary, my later designs were a combination of ideas that I'd seen, with a few of my own improvements thrown in. For those of you who aren't familiar, a suspended aviary basically has a wire bottom in it, allowing all the droppings and food scraps to fall to the ground. This method of housing is far more hygienic and lower maintenance. As you can see in the photos, under the sheltered end I have a tray system that I built. I had the trays made up by a local roof & flashings business, at a very reasonable price. This allows me to empty the trays on a weekly basis. I feed my birds a mix of fruit, veg, pellet and seed. The trays catch any dropped food, however, corn cobs, apples and other fruits that I have cut in halves, simply get thrown directly onto the wire base up toward the open end and the mess falls to the ground. The chooks and brush turkeys take care of the rest .

                     
          Our removable tray system..........................A modern suspended aviary