In previous years I've basically been able to pick the lesser birds and ship them off to the pet shop but NOT this year.

 

This year however, I am in the fortunate position in that I am very happy with the chicks I have bred so far, so happy in fact that I don't want to be forced to get rid of them too early before gauging their real potential ~ which we all know is at about the 8 months stage.

 

But my current "Young Birds Aviary" only comfortably houses 40 birds and doesn't have too much length (2.2m) so they really don't develop those muscles well enough until I pop them into the main aviary we built some time back.

 

Here is the current Aviary:

 

On the week end we sold the other hexagonal aviary to make way for the extension and cleared the space where we will put the extension:

 

The last aviary we built took over a month to put together and cost an arm and a leg .... this time around we are more experienced and the current extension is to date costing a fraction of what we spent last time.

 

I just want to make clear that we do NOT have a work shop, work bench or anything fancy like that! In fact the sum of our tools are an electric drill, a jig saw (recent addition to cut the wood) and a measuring tape.

 

So here is a step by step guide for the uninitiated:-

 

First we cut the wood to size and painted and then pre-drilled, this is what we need for one side of the extension which will be 3mL x 2mH x 1.2mW (personally I would have preferred something wider but we want it to join up nicely with the pre-existing aviary):

 

Then we completed the drilling of screws and put it together:

 

And we messed up with the first side which is out by 1cmH ..... it was at this point that I got my hubby a useful early birthday pressie ~ the Jigsaw! From then on the wood cutting was much easier - and more exact!

 

Then we put the wire on:

(A trick for beginners: line the wire up and tack on the bottom edge then get someone to stand on the roll the other end to eliminate bowing in the wire)

 

okay that's where we are now ... 2 sides built and wired plus roof trusses prepared.

 

Next update will be when we attach it to the original aviary ..... fun, fun, fun!

So this is whats been keeping you out of mischief

great job too by the way

Have you got a floor plan drawn up ? Wondering how the safety door area will work out with the addition.

Edited September 1, 200915 yr by KAZ

So this is whats been keeping you out of mischief

great job too by the way

Have you got a floor plan drawn up ? Wondering how the safety door area will work out with the addition.

 

No Floor Plan It's all in my head

 

I have been dreaming about this extension for the past 10 days and I have a Vision!

 

The Safety Door will work fine as you will enter the original aviary and then turn LEFT. We are going to remove the wire and middle beam from the end of the exisiting aviary, which you can see in the photo above (next to the bucket).

Good stuff Renee & Tony!!!! Looks like it'll really help out in regards to giving more flight space. Have to say that I made my biggest steps forward when I could keep my young birds longer so that they could mature to their full potential - not sell them off and then find out it turned out to be a ripper

 

Looking forward to seeing the finished article!

Good stuff Renee & Tony!!!! Looks like it'll really help out in regards to giving more flight space. Have to say that I made my biggest steps forward when I could keep my young birds longer so that they could mature to their full potential - not sell them off and then find out it turned out to be a ripper

 

Looking forward to seeing the finished article!

 

Thank you for the encouragement! Yes I am excited about my Red ringers, they are all consistently bigger than any of my previously bred chickies .... my guys seems to develop their heads around the 2nd moult so I am looking forward to just letting them mature

Well today we put the pieces together ... it wasn't exactly smooth sailing as the first section that we put together was out by 1cmH .... and then several more down at the bottom :hurryup: .... but we fixed it! :hurryup:

 

 

Then we primed the roof, maybe that is a bit overkill but we do live quite near the ocean and we decided to be safe than sorry in a few years time.

 

 

We have bought some reflective paint that purports to lower the temperature by 5C.

Looks good Renee! The birds will love to have the extra room to fly the length of the flight! You should post some photos of your red ringers as you move them into the flight!

look's good i wish i has a cage like that

Looks good Renee! The birds will love to have the extra room to fly the length of the flight! You should post some photos of your red ringers as you move them into the flight!

 

Yes, I'm going to photo them before I put them into the Long Aviary .... promise! :hurryup:

 

Rain is forecast for tomorrow evening and then on and off for days .... so we will work to a deadline : Roof on and finished by 4pm. :hurryup:

 

Then on Saturday we plan to do the perches .... we have some ideas so it should be fun. :hurryup:

 

My aim is to have this aviary done from go to woh in 7 days.

 

But I'm still hesitant about putting my chickies in, yes I'm a sook, I worry it'll be a bit chilly for them .... after all last night the temperature dropped to 5C. I am going to look at the long term forecast on Monday and if the temps stay about the 10C mark, I'll chance it.

 

Last year I put my babies out and they got all sooky lala on me and I had to return them to the kindie cage 4 days later - something I am NOT keen on repeating this time around if I can help it.

 

I have another idea and that is to put a couple of adults in with them to show them the way ...

Edited September 3, 200915 yr by renee

Looking really good Renee

 

The concrete slab for my new flights goes in tomorrow too

Edited September 3, 200915 yr by KAZ

The concrete slab for my new flights goes in tomorrow too

Yipeeeeeee!

Edited September 3, 200915 yr by renee

The concrete slab for my new flights goes in tomorrow too

Yipeeeeeee!

Concreters cancelled and rescheduled for next Wednesday

The concrete slab for my new flights goes in tomorrow too

Yipeeeeeee! :happy-dancing:

Concreters cancelled and rescheduled for next Wednesday

 

Damn tradies :glare: ..... thank goodness I have my handy hubby!

I am very impressed by this Renee. It is very inspiring.

And we are done! :happy-dancing: .... almost.

 

 

My wonderful hubby putting the roof on:

 

 

 

Inside ~ Looking down the new extension:

 

 

 

Inside ~ Looking back from the extension into the original aviary:

 

 

You can see we have put sand down, quite a few inches thick, first we put Garden Lime down on the pavers to reduce the risk of bacterial growth.

 

Now all we have to do is give the original aviary a bit of a scrub down and put the perches in: fun, fun, fun!

 

I am very impressed by this Renee. It is very inspiring.

:glare:

Edited September 4, 200915 yr by renee

Looks fantastic !! What will you block your gaps between corrugated sheet and wooden frame with ?

Looks fantastic !! What will you block your gaps between corrugated sheet and wooden frame with ?

 

Oh I am not going to as we wired the it up before putting the roof on. :happy-dancing:

 

If you look closely at the Inside photos you can just see the wire.

Looks fantastic !! What will you block your gaps between corrugated sheet and wooden frame with ?

 

Oh I am not going to as we wired the it up before putting the roof on. :happy-dancing:

 

If you look closely at the Inside photos you can just see the wire.

Very good :glare:

I had no idea that building the perch rack would be so time consuming ..... but then Tony did say we were doing it the complicated way

 

So here it is to date: a perch rack for the original aviary, we chose to do 6 perches (20cm apart) and used dowel rods (2 round and 1 square) and then natural branches along the sides

 

All left to do is a perch rack for the new extension .....

Well done Renee.

 

Your extention to your aviary looks fantastic.

Well done Renee.

 

Your extention to your aviary looks fantastic.

 

Thank you Dave!

 

We feel like we have just run a marathon on this one .... ... one last push and we'll be finally finished!

wow

Looking great renee.

 

Just one question. Why are you using square perches? I know lots of people have done this past and present but I don't see the benefit. A birds foot has evolved over thousands of years to the design of today. The foot sits in an un-natural position on square perches and causes pressure on the parts of the foot coming into contact with corners of the perch. After all, trees don't grow square branches.

Edited September 5, 200915 yr by RIPbudgies

Looking great renee.

 

Just one question. Why are you using square perches? I know lots of people have done this past and present but I don't see the benefit. A birds foot has evolved over thousands of years to the design of today. The foot sits in an un-natural position on square perches and causes pressure on the parts of the foot coming into contact with corners of the perch. After all, trees don't grow square branches.

 

Thanks RIP, well I've put in a couple of square ones just for variety really. Too late to change the perch rack we built yesterday but I'll take your point and use only round ones for the final perch rack we build next.

Great stuff and a lovely job done too! Bet those birdies will love the flight room!