An Aviary Thought

For a while I've wanted to build my own aviary. I thought I could fit it in the basement and with proper lighting from heat lamps and such, I could just house my finches there. I kind of gave up on that idea when I discovered that the basement was just way too damp to house a bird successfully, and so the thought dropped.

Well...until yesterday. You see, I frequent this finch forum that has a lot of um...well, knowledgeable finch breeders on there. I'm really not so knowledgeable. Let me rephrase that...I'm knowledgeable, but I lack the actual personal experience.

Anyways, they all seem to have huge out door aviaries for their birds and right now thats just out of budget for me. So is an exceptionally large bird room and yadda yadda...to be honest, I'm not a professional bird breeder. I'm not even a hobby bird breeder. I'm just starting out.

I "met", so to speak, a newer bird enthusiast on that forum who had created his own smallish flight cage out of PBC piping and plastic chicken wire. Bingo. Why couldn't I do that? When I looked at everyone else's aviary, they all seemed so expensive and complicated. I'm blonde...and I'm a woman. Complicated just isn't my forte'. But you know what? I could put together a small aviary or a large flight cage with PBC pipe, zip-ties and chicken wire. I could. And my birds would be happier that way.

As of right now I have 3 decent sized cages. All of them would be in the $50-$150 price range if bought new from a store, but I caught them off of craigslist for $10-$25 each. One of them has barring better suited for a larger bird. The finches could squeeze through if they wanted to, but they just haven't. I can't blame them...there be cats out in them thar hills!

I think I'll start planning for this particular construction after the bird fair. Well...maybe sooner since I'm excited about it. It'll be much safer for my finches to be in this sort of set up than in a cage set up. The cats are still interested in the cages even though they have no idea how to topple them. I'm afraid they'll either do it on accident one day or actually figure it out...then I'll be in the same pickle I found myself in over Christmas.

I've also thought about adding a Java finch to my collection alone with the lady I intend to get for JD. Maybe I'll find one at the bird fair this weekend!