Posted January 6, 200619 yr Can someone please give me tips on how to build an ***INDOOR*** Avairy? Going in the downstairs family room
January 7, 200619 yr Hello.. Only about a month or so ago I made a huge cage/aviary thingy that i made for in the lounge room. It was first made with the intention of putting my breeding pair of Budgies in there but they seemed to go well in the main aviary, so i put my little Apple in there as it was much larger than the cage he was in.. I had it just sitting on a coffee table and had it lined with paper so it was easy to clean, but it would be easy to make a wheeled frame for it to sit on. Its just a basic box frame with wire covering it and bits of ply where needed for doors etc.. When i worked out that Apple was going to be in it, I added a doggy door to the front (upside down) so it made a bit of a landing pad for him and he had easy acess to it anytime. I made two large doors on the side for easy cleaning etc. I made a top and a bottom one because the original idea was to have the breeding pair in there and i could just open the top door to check on the nesting box. Thats also why i put a bit of ply on the back corner, so i could bolt on the nesting box. Not sure if any of that helps you at all but its just what i done and thought id share it with you.. Cheers :beer: Una
January 7, 200619 yr I'm use to making cages/tanks etc .. we always seem to end up with animals coming out of our ears.. most interesting thing i made was a huge reptile tank for a blue tongued lizard (i welded a leg on at a slightly odd angle)
January 7, 200619 yr Its just some small Mahogany saplings that i cut into lengths and drilled holes into and then threaded some sisal rope through.. Cheap, fun and effective.. I also made a swing like this and i used some sisal with just knots tied into it as another kind of climbing ladder. Cheers :beer: Una
January 7, 200619 yr I'm definately making some ladders for my aviaries, you've given me some great ideas. I think you should post pictures of some of your other wonderful creations Una
January 12, 200619 yr Wow, I love your cage Una, it looks fantastic. We're in the process of building a cage a bit like it at the moment actually (we've bought most of the wood, just need to get some avairy wire and then we'll put it together - ahhh the "fun" part ) Can you give us any tips about how to attach the avairy wire to the wood? I'd love to see some more pictures of this cage to help us with building ours - please :ausb:
January 13, 200619 yr Wow, I love your cage Una, it looks fantastic. We're in the process of building a cage a bit like it at the moment actually (we've bought most of the wood, just need to get some avairy wire and then we'll put it together - ahhh the "fun" part ) Can you give us any tips about how to attach the avairy wire to the wood? I'd love to see some more pictures of this cage to help us with building ours - please :D Just incase anyone else wanted to know, i copied the PM that i sent in reply (Laughing out loud) ( I learnt to copy to my sent folder this time Lin ) Heya (Laughing out loud) yeah you did post it twice but its all cool, made me even feel popular for a brief moment .. The cage we made that Apple got use of was actually made in a huge hurry one morning and was designed for the breeding pair i had in the aviary to go into, but budgies being typically cheeky, they had decided to sort out their differences and work things out by the time i had made it.. Thats how Apple ended up in it for a short time until his new cage arrived, now its a spare just incase.. The wire was a bugger to attatch as it was only JUST wide enough to fit across the front and back (i wanted to make it in one piece so it looked neat) and really my only option was to use a few nails to hold the wire tight and then i went around every third wire or so with nails but bending over the ends to hold it in place. Hmmm i'm not sure if even i understand that, hang on ill go and see if i can go get a picture (Laughing out loud) .... thank goodness for digital cams .. This is how i attatched the wire not the best looking job in the world but hey it does the job This is just to show that it was only made with the very basic of wood working skills (Oh as im previewing this before i send it ive noticed the Gecko on the window in the photo too (Laughing out loud)) And this is to show that it doesn't really look all that bad from a distance hehee Hope this helped you out maybe just a little and i might try and post this PM in the forums just incase anyone else wondered too. Cheers and good luck with it Una :ausb:
January 13, 200619 yr Your very clever Una! Very talented indeed. I have today, with your inspiration, bought some wood for the base of a play gym for my birds (kind of figure it might save me washing the couch cover so often ). Let's see how it goes. If it goes badly, I will be abusing you by pm :(Laughing out loud):
January 13, 200619 yr Hey, thanks so much for the pics Una That is one damn fine looking cage you've made there. It looks fantastic to me, probably a heck of a lot more professional than the one we're building will look Bending over the nails to attach the wire is a good idea. We were thinking of using these U shaped nails, but the ones we have might be a bit long for the wood thickness, so it's good to have an alternative idea if they don't work out. Just out of curiosity, do you know what type of wire you used? We bought some from Bunnings today that's 0.71mm thick wire, which seems a little thin to me, but we couldn't find anything bigger with the 10mm square size. It did say avairy wire, so I thought it couldn't be too bad. The wire on your cage looks so solid, and tight/flat - I hope ours turns out that well. I think it was a good idea for you to use the rectangular pieces of wood for your main structure too. We have square pieces, but I don't think they'll nail together as easily as your rectangular pieces have. Another way that your cage is probably better than ours will be is that you've made a square frame and then attached a piece of plywood for the solid back wall. We're going to have a solid back wall too, but ours will be made of a much thicker piece of wood, and that will be instead of the vertical posts, rather than in addition to them. We didn't think of it at the time we bought the wood, but having such a heavy back wall, and also not having a complete box frame, may not be good for the structual integrity :ausb: ...but it might work out, we'll just have to try it and see. I'll post some pictures in a day or two when our cage is done. Oh, and sorry for the giant post guys Edited January 13, 200619 yr by Ausmoz
January 14, 200619 yr :fear Ausmoz, I had actually bought those U shaped nails to use also but the ones i got were too thick to nail in and almost split the wood. The wire I used was the heaviest i could find as its what i used to make the large bird aviary in the garden with aswell and wanted to make sure it was a little Hawk proof.. its if i remember correctly 1.1 mm gauge wire and the squares are 12.2mm. (Gal Mesh).. Cant wait to see some pictures of your creation :fear And Lin the floor is only Ply Wood but i actually line it with newspaper when its in use which makes it really easy to clean.. 1 minute and its all done Cheers :beer: Una
January 14, 200619 yr We're in the process of nailing ours together, I'm taking a break from it. The U shaped nails we have are too thick too :fear They're a major effort to get in, and they do often split the wood. I am sooo glad we used an off-cut as a test piece! The construction is looking a little shaky at the moment. Well, it *looks* okay, but it isn't as rigid as I'd like and it moves a fair bit when pushed, but we're nailing on a kind of skirt (for lack of a better word) around the bottom that may help with that. The wire is annoying to attach, as it's been in a roll and refuses to sit flat (it doesn't help that it's quite thin either). It's a little lumpy/rippley :fear Oh well, I guess the budgies wont notice any of that stuff. If it doesn't fall apart, we'll be doing okay Anyhow, I'll get back to it. Just nailing the wire onto the main frame (already done the doors) and then attaching the skirt. Hopefully they'll be some pics of it finished tomorrow (fingers crossed). Edit: I've just realised we have 12mm squares in our wire too, but I was right about the thickness (1.71mm) Edited January 14, 200619 yr by Ausmoz
January 15, 200619 yr una great cage :ausb: how are the birds liking it? Its only used as a spare at the moment, Apple was only in it while we waited for his new fancy cage with playgym on the bottom to come in the mail :grbud: but the short time he was in there he LOVED IT
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