Hello all

I've recently registered as a member on this site and I have a few questions.

My avairy is an old chook pen that I rebuilt to make it more suitable for budgies. It is about 10 meters by 3 meters and half of it is covered by a tin roof and half is out in the open. I have 39 budgies, 8 quails, 1 ring neck dove (I found him outside my aviary he had a broken wing and couldnt fly so I put him in my aviary) and 2 cockatiels.

Yesterday I went up to feed and give my birds water and I am sad to say that I found 17 budgies and 1 cockatiel dead on the ground...

I Put in some grass clippings a day earlier for the quails and I beleive that could have killed my birds.

 

If you need anymore info on the birds I will gladly give it to you. Now for the questions..

1. My birds are in little cages until I find out what exactly is killing them, Could it be the grass clippings I put in their? I dont know what else it could be. I doubt a snake would kill 18 birds in 1 day...

 

2. I want to put some trees or somthing in my aviary but Will my birds just eat them before they get a chance to grow? if not what are some good trees I can buy?

 

3. I feed my budgies and cockatiels budgie seed and a few sunflower seeds for the cockatiels, The quails eat all the left over food on the ground and the ringneck dove eats budgie seed aswell (althought it cannot fly). My question is: Is budgie seed good enough for the ringneck dove to eat? I also grow silver beet and feed it to my birds 2 times a week (100% organic)

 

4. Do quails need nesting boxes? I was told they will just breed in the logs I Have in my avairy but I wantto make sure.

 

Well thats about it for the moment.

If this thread needs to be moved by all means move it to where it needs to be.

Thanks very much for your time.

 

P.S: The budgies are english budgies, I choose these because I beleive they look better than australian budgies as they are bigger.

Edited June 18, 200816 yr by pearce

How old were the grass clippings and how were they cut? There are two issues here. If the grass clippings were a few days old they may have been starting to grow micro-organisms on them which aren't good for your critters. If they were cut using a mower there may have been fuel or oil residue on the blades which has transferred to the clippings and poisoned them.

They were 2 days old and Yes i used a push mower. Thats probably what killed my birds and I wont ever do it again.

Thanks for the reply

Don't beat yourself up too muc, everyone makes sily mistakes sometimes. Atleast you have had the sese to try and work out what happened so it doesnt happen again.

 

To answer your other questions, I keep a few old nestboxes on the floor of the aviary on their sides for my quails but logs or any other hidey hole will do, they like some straw or dry grass to nest in sometimes. The pigeon would be better off with some larger seeds but it will survive on budie

It isnt all about grass clippings. There is the issue of quarantining new birds. A lot of wild caught birds carry diseases like psittacosis and others. The bird you caught and put in the aviary could have been a carrier.

It isnt all about grass clippings. There is the issue of quarantining new birds. A lot of wild caught birds carry diseases like psittacosis and others. The bird you caught and put in the aviary could have been a carrier.

 

The ring neck dove has been in my aviary for 3 months, If it was going to give a disease to my other birds, wouldnt it have done so already?

Thanks for the posts.

That is true Kaz, also there is nthing stopping your birds from catching something from a bird outside the aviary

Psittacosis and other nasties are also contracted from open top aviaries which this one is. I would suggest you have disease in the aviary before I would blame the lawn clippings.

How would I go about getting rid of the disease in the avairy and preventing new diseases appearing. Should I cover the entire avairy with a tarp? My only concern is that they would get no sunlight. Thanks

Psittacosis and other nasties are also contracted from open top aviaries which this one is. I would suggest you have disease in the aviary before I would blame the lawn clippings.

 

Knock me down with a feather ... are you saying that if an aviary has an top open section then the budgies are vulnerable to wild bird bourne infections? Or how else does the top open section contribute to infections to psittacosis?? and what other nasties are they exposed to?

Psittacosis and other nasties are also contracted from open top aviaries which this one is. I would suggest you have disease in the aviary before I would blame the lawn clippings.

 

Knock me down with a feather ... are you saying that if an aviary has an top open section then the budgies are vulnerable to wild bird bourne infections? Or how else does the top open section contribute to infections to psittacosis?? and what other nasties are they exposed to?

Any wild bird walking about on top of an aviary and pooping is spreading diseases.

Should I cover the entire avairy with a tarp? They wouldnt get any sunlight then... Ill put the dove in its own cage just incase ( i would let it go but it cannot fly and butcher birds would kill it) Hopefully if i do that i can put the birds back in the avairy tomorow. Thanks for the help

I would say it is a little pointless seperating the dove at this point. Make sure you give the aviary a good clean. Are any of the other birds looking sick?

1 of them could barley move, then i put it in the cage and it died... The budgies i have now in my little cage are all fit and healthy

Should I cover the entire avairy with a tarp? They wouldnt get any sunlight then... Ill put the dove in its own cage just incase ( i would let it go but it cannot fly and butcher birds would kill it) Hopefully if i do that i can put the birds back in the avairy tomorow. Thanks for the help

Some clear sheets would be ideal to let light in but failing that a tarp in the meantime. You needs to check your other brds for signs of ill health, pooey bottoms weight loss, mucky eyes etc.

YES YES YES ... Open top avairies are more prone to getting nasties then a sealed top avairy .......

wild Birds poop, or land and scratch leaving their yuckies behind, including MITES !!!!!!!

Is you avairy floor soil????? Lawn clippings mowed are a big no no for any animal !!!

Just pull fresh grass out from the ground give it a rise and feed them that .....

Quarantine is a BIG Rule for keepiong birds, there is a fine line between having birds and Keeping birds ........

 

All branches, Gum leaves and etc should be rised prior to putting in the avairy ...

 

I too have mad silly choices which has cost the lives of my animals, But we are all learning and that is what we are all here for to help one another........

 

I would use a see through colourbound or perspex for the roof, if your sides of the avairy do not let alot of sunlight in .... I have inclosed my roofs but my side gets ample sunlight, don't forget too that it is winter so the sun direction has changed

 

Sorry to hear of your losses, but look forward to hearing more about your feathered friends,

Edited June 19, 200816 yr by KAZ
spelling police LOL

Thanks very much for the big reply. What do you mean by rise the gum tree branches before I put them in the avairy? half the floor is bricks and the other half is dirt and deadgrass.

typo - she meant rinse them

Did your dead birds have any visible symptoms - did they have anyting in common?? Did they have poop on their feathers around their vent (bottom)?? Did they have stains in the feathers above the cere (nostrils) ??? Could you feel their breast bone being sharp or was it padded with some "meat" ??

 

Also A mouse getting into the food and contaminating it, can kill birds like that too.

Do you have any photos of your setup and birds???

Edited June 18, 200816 yr by **Liv**

My birds were all dead on the floor and the only similarity that I could find is that they all had holes in them. Its hard to explain but I could see the insides of the budgies. I dont know if that is normal though, it looked like somthing could have bitten them. I will get some pictures. I forgot to mention in my first post that i colony breed my budgies, i dont seperate them.

Sounds like you could have a rat problem.

RAT!!!

Sounds like rats :hap:

 

haha SNAP Derek and MB

Edited June 19, 200816 yr by **Liv**

Here are some photos of my avairy, if anything needs fixing please tell me

INSIDE:

http://img519.imageshack.us/img519/817/p1010022ht5.jpg

 

 

http://img441.imageshack.us/img441/5589/p1010024ks5.jpg

 

http://img179.imageshack.us/img179/4373/p1010025tw9.jpg

 

http://img441.imageshack.us/img441/5001/p1010026aq2.jpg

 

http://img519.imageshack.us/img519/4697/p1010027kl8.jpg

Edited June 19, 200816 yr by *libby*
pictures are WAY over allowable size. Please re-size before posting to the allowable size of 640 x 480.

You need to reduce the size of your photos Pearce :hap:

 

Theoretically it looks good but just wondering whether it's just me screen or whether there is mould on those lawn clippings? I would be removing them if there is...

 

What you need to look for is rat holes. Also do your budgies tend to sleep hangin onto the wire? If you don't have a guard around the bottom of the wire to stop rats climbing it then they may have just climbed the wire and taken chunks out of them trhough the wire while they slept.