Kaz asked me about the shutter system I have on my aviary.

 

We have a 6m x 12m purpose built tin shed as a combined aviary and bird room. On entering the front door you walk straight into our 3m x 6m bird room and adjoining that (in the samd shed but seperated by tin wall with mesh top) are my 6 1.5m x 6m flights (they go across the shed).

 

Each flight has half wall shutters on both sides of the shed so in 40 degree heat I can open both sides to allow breeze flow. 90% of the time the shutters on the Northern side of the aviary stay open except in foul weather. A little rain is fine and the birdies love it but when the wind blows and the rain comes down we shut up completely.

 

Here are some pics.

 

 

This is looking from the western end of the aviary down the northern side (the southern side is identical). You can see at the far end the area without shuttering - this is my bird room. Each shutter opens for each flight seperately. You can have all open or one open or as many as you choose. I often leave the baby flight closed as they have a tendency to sleep on the wire at night and become a target for owls whereas the adults don't seem to have this problem. The aviary was closed up over the last few days as those in Western Australia will know about the horrid weather we have been having. The black stripping is when the hinges are. We used rubber belting fastened by metal strap. This still allows the hinge to operate whilst keeping the water out.

 

I opened a shutter for demonstration. The aviary is made from patio tubing and the shutter frame is no exception. Grant (hubby) welded the frame first then mounted and cut the tim so that the hinge would open and the non-hinge side would overlap the other tin forming a water tight closure. This is why the shutters also seem to open in a strange fashion (not all in the same direction if you look carefully at the photo above!)

 

 

Looking directly into the flight. If the opposite shutter were open you would be able to see straight through the middle of the aviary.

 

 

Close up of the rubber belting and fixings to keep the hinge side of the shutters water tight.

 

 

The shutters are kept open by a simple steel strap with lugs welded either end which fit into holes drilled in bothe the patio tube of the shutter frame and the aviary itself.

 

 

They are kept closed by a simple pin and r-clip system.

 

 

 

I adore the shutter system we designed. It is simple and very effective allowing for a variety of climatic conditions.

Thanks Heaps Nubbly !!!

 

now that is good that wood be good on my breeding room and aviary..

 

thank's nubbly5

Thanks Nubbly that is a great set up wish mine was like that

WOW!!! What a great idea Thanks for sharing.

My lordy What an excellent set up!!! I'm jealous!!!

great ideas :celebrate:

That is avery good set up. :celebrate:

We have a 6m x 12m purpose built tin shed as a combined aviary and bird room. On entering the front door you walk straight into our 3m x 6m bird room and adjoining that (in the samd shed but seperated by tin wall with mesh top) are my 6 1.5m x 6m flights (they go across the shed).

 

Each flight has half wall shutters on both sides of the shed so in 40 degree heat I can open both sides to allow breeze flow. 90% of the time the shutters on the Northern side of the aviary stay open except in foul weather. A little rain is fine and the birdies love it but when the wind blows and the rain comes down we shut up completely.

 

Great set up!

 

Just a couple of questions-

 

Feaher Dust build up: Do you have a whirley bird on the roof? or Does the cross breeze blow away feather dust?

 

Floors: Did you have concrete floor? How do you go about cleaning the flights? Weekly scrubs?

 

Lighting: What kind of lights do you have inside? Fluoros? Have you tried the Arcadia lighting?

 

Breeding Area: Does it get any direct sunlight?

 

In fact I suppose the aviary birds get direct sunlight from when you open the shutter, is that right?

Thanks Renee

 

Yes I have 2 whirly birds both in the breeding room and yes the breeze through the door and out the shutters (or visa versa depending on the prevailing wind) blows SOME of the feather dust out.

Yes I have concrete floors - they are cleaned generally every week - scraped with a floor scraper I bought at Bunnings, swept and then the corners and crannies vacuumed. Feather dust gets vacuumed off the tops of breeding cabinets irregularly, whenever I think about it really.

Lighting is from skylights all down the length of the aviary (if you look at the top pick you can see them on the edge of the roof), when the shutters are open (whenever weather is not disgusting) the birds get direct sunlight. I also have plain fluro's in both breeding room and main aviary but only use these occasionally for my benefit not the birds - usually they stay off and no - never tried Archadia lighting. The breeding room gets sunlight in the morning through the entry door but not much.

Lighting is from skylights all down the length of the aviary (if you look at the top pick you can see them on the edge of the roof), when the shutters are open (whenever weather is not disgusting) the birds get direct sunlight. I also have plain fluro's in both breeding room and main aviary but only use these occasionally for my benefit not the birds - usually they stay off and no - never tried Archadia lighting. The breeding room gets sunlight in the morning through the entry door but not much.

 

Aha! So maybe that's why you were interested in the Vitamin D article? As a safeguard and supplement?

 

What's your feeling about that? Do the breeding pairs really need lots of sunlight? Or is indirect natural light sufficient?

Dunno Renee but I'm willing to give it a go in the breeding pairs to see if I can see any differences. My thoughts however are that my birds get good access to direct sunlight (IF they want it) for a good part of the year but I'm not sure how long natural body reserves of Vit D hang around in birds. Also it is a fat soluble vitamin so is not readily expelled from the body as water soluble vitamins. The exact dose that causes toxicity in humans is not know so tell me what the dose needed to cause toxicity in birds is????????????? So I assume there is some chance of overdosing with this product but how much of one I wouldn't know. I'm assuming there is some research somewhere that indicates daily nutrient requirements for budgies in regards to Vit D but maybe this has just been extrapolated from other bird data.

 

Also in other animals such as rats Vit D is obtained primarily through diet not sunlight. We manufacture Vit D in skin - I would have thought there isn't that much skin on budgies exposed to the sun (maybe same as rats perhaps) so do they ACTUALLY product vit D in their skin too or are we assuming because humans do that birds do too???????? Too many unknowns and unprovens for me to really be a convert but I'm willing to give it a bash.

This is the sort of thing that bothers me..........

 

Vitamin D IN BIRDS & MAMMALS

 

How Much Vitamin D Should My Pet Receive?

 

Ron Hines DVM PhD

 

 

 

Adding vitamin D to the diets of pets is always risky when those commercial diets already contain correct amounts of Vitamin D. This is because too much vitamin D is as bad or worse than not enough.

Vitamin D (also known as cholecalciferol in it’s D3 form) is required for the intestines to absorb calcium to regulate important blood calcium levels and to produce and remodel bone. People, cows, horses, and pigs and people can synthesize their own vitamin D from dietary lipids of animal or plant origin, if their skin is exposed to natural sunlight. Too little vitamin D, the wrong kind of it, not enough natural sunlight, inadequate calcium or inappropriate calcium to phosphorus ratio in the diet cause a disease called rickets. Dogs and cats cannot synthesize vitamin D-3; in the wild they would obtain it by eating prey so it is added to all their complete commercial pet foods.

 

Parrot-like birds appear to do well with about 600 iu of vitamin D3 per pound of dry pelleted diet fed – slightly higher , with increased calcium when they are laying eggs. In the bird species studied, none were able to utilize vitamin D2. I seem to recall that the human recommended daily allowance of vitamin D is about 400iu**. To the best of my knowledge, all commercial pelleted avian diets contain added vitamin D3 in similar amounts. It is a fat-soluble vitamin, so it persists in the body and can not be added to the bird’s water effectively. Signs of too little or a bit too much vitamin D can take considerable time to show themselves because it is stored for long periods in the body’s fat. As I said previously, birds seem to only absorb vitamin D3 whereas people can absorb or synthesize vitamin D2 & D3.

Vitamin D is added to milk, marketed in the United States, as irradiated ergosterol. The problem with vitamin D is that in high doses it can be very toxic. It can cause hypercalcemia (too much calcium in the blood) which affects the heart, other organs and will cause liver toxicosis. In fact, some rat baits are just vitamin D analogues although most are Warfarin-based anti-clotting agents. It causes me fits in iguanas where it is involved in metastatic (wrong place) calcification of the kidneys. Overdoses can do this to birds as well.

At 3-5 times the required amount, vitamin D3 can cause calcification of the kidneys and stomach (proventriculus) of birds and gout in mature birds – probably due to kidney damage. You can get that high if you feed your birds a lot of egg yolk, or certain fish oil supplements in addition to their regular diet. Vitamin D/Calcium/sunlight problems cause me fits in iguanas when it causes calcification of the kidneys. In birds of prey, therapy has been suggested at 1,000iu/300gm/wk. Macaw and parrot chicks seem most susceptible to D3 overdose which at four time the recommended dose causes calcification of the kidneys and stomach and in mature birds leads to gout through kidney damage. So don’t go overboard with vitamin supplements – feed a name-brand, complete pelleted diet instead! Many are available through our web page. I have read scientific articles that claim that cruciferous vegetables - cauliflower and broccoli contain oxalic acid, which combines with dietary calcium as insoluble calcium oxalates. Macaws and parrots can synthesize their own vitamin D3 if they receive plant lipids in their diet and natural sunshine. So it’s all very complicated and poorly understood because so many things are interacting – I have only mentioned a few.

Dunno Renee but I'm willing to give it a go in the breeding pairs to see if I can see any differences. My thoughts however are that my birds get good access to direct sunlight (IF they want it) for a good part of the year but I'm not sure how long natural body reserves of Vit D hang around in birds. Also it is a fat soluble vitamin so is not readily expelled from the body as water soluble vitamins. The exact dose that causes toxicity in humans is not know so tell me what the dose needed to cause toxicity in birds is????????????? So I assume there is some chance of overdosing with this product but how much of one I wouldn't know. I'm assuming there is some research somewhere that indicates daily nutrient requirements for budgies in regards to Vit D but maybe this has just been extrapolated from other bird data.

 

Also in other animals such as rats Vit D is obtained primarily through diet not sunlight. We manufacture Vit D in skin - I would have thought there isn't that much skin on budgies exposed to the sun (maybe same as rats perhaps) so do they ACTUALLY product vit D in their skin too or are we assuming because humans do that birds do too???????? Too many unknowns and unprovens for me to really be a convert but I'm willing to give it a bash.

Yeah, I'm thinking along those lines too. I'm not so keen on adding Vit D as a supplement to the diet for precisely those reasons although having said that the Calcivite Plus I add to the soft food has it in it and I think the seed I buy also purports to having it .... I'd rather have the bird friendly full spectrum lights going in the breeding room as a more natural but still artificial alternative.

 

Again I think one of the benefits of breeding over the warmer months is that natural sunlight is stronger and so the benefits of indirect sunlight during this time are greater.

Breeding over warmer months is good but that means Vit D production over winter is limited so maybe breeding in winter is better as the birds have had a chance to store some calcium and Vit D over summer. Dunno. I have always used breeding aid on my seed for breeding budgies and I see that has substantial levels of Vit D3 maybe by adding more in the form of soluvite d I'm taking a bit of a risk..........?

Breeding over warmer months is good but that means Vit D production over winter is limited so maybe breeding in winter is better as the birds have had a chance to store some calcium and Vit D over summer. Dunno. I have always used breeding aid on my seed for breeding budgies and I see that has substantial levels of Vit D3 maybe by adding more in the form of soluvite d I'm taking a bit of a risk..........?

 

Well yeah that's the rub, how much is too much and detrimental?

Having seen nubbly's setup a few days ago, i have to say its one of the best i have seen. Heaps cool in there and the airflow is just great