West Allis Zoo Aviary
female rock pebbler a.k.a regent parrot purchased at the Busy Bird Toys exotic bird fair at Oak Creek |
the supscription card for Bird Talk magazine gives you some idea of her size |
she has a nice mix of red and green, so doubles as a Christmas decoration |
"Look at my beautiful butt."
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By the Friday before Labor Day, I had finished cutting and fitting all the parts and pre-drilling holes for screws. I then stripped it down as much as possible to minimize the weight. It was still plenty heavy, believe you me! My sucker I mean neighbor helped me move the shell from the garage to the house on Saturday. We heaved it up onto the base cabinet and then he staggered away as quickly as possible, vowing never again to help me move anything.
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I spent the rest of Labor day weekend frantically attaching the back and the side doors, glassing in the front, and attaching perches and feeders. Voila!
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Aviary being built from huge entertainment center, July 2006. Tall fat lady shown for scale. Front will be glassed in, sides will be screened, back will be of perforated metal. Interior flight space will be 43" wide, ~20" deep, and 50 " high.
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Holes in side will be "triple dutch doors". |
I am sad to say that the jigsaw my father gave me a few years before he died has gone to jigsaw heaven. I guess I used it to build one aviary too many! So I cruised on over to Elliot's Ace Hardware (one of my favorite places on Earth) and invested in a nice heavy-duty new jigsaw. Although it's sad to lose a tool from my father (alot of memories go with that dead saw), a trip to Elliot's is always comforting. One nice feature of the new jigsaw is that it can do "plunge cuts", i.e. if I want to start sawing in the middle of a board, I don't need to drill a pilot hole for the jigsaw blade. This comes in very handy when you need to knock the panels out of panel doors w/o harming the rails and stiles or whatever the rest of the door is called.
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The doors for the sides are constructed of 2 types of molding which sandwich an aluminum grid. |
This stuff isn't cheap but I'm thinking it will provide just the right combination of sturdiness, safety, ventilation, and cleanability.
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On September 2, 2006, a neighbor helped me move the carcass from the garage into the house, and set it up on the base cabinet. Now I owe him BIGTIME. It was no minor task to get that behemoth up the porch steps and through the front door.
Now, to put on the back, attach the side doors, glass in the front . . . |
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I went to Madison, to a bird fair sponsored by Busy Bird Toys. There were several breeders there with non-zebra finches, which you can be sure filled my heart with joy. It was difficult, but I restrained myself and purchased only 3 finches -- 2 stars and a gouldian. |
The new kids are quite vigorous. After the 90-minute car ride home, it took them only a few minutes to get settled in to the quarantine cage and start singing and eating. |
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Perl is a 7+ (?) year old rescue. She is a sweetie and considers my shoulder THE place to be. Her hobbies include french-braiding herself into my hair. |
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Dusty the quail debating whether to eat a mealworm or perhaps some seeds |
Aviary being built from small entertainment center, March 2006. 48" ruler for scale. Front will be glassed in, sides will be screened, back will be of perforated metal. The fixed shelf in the middle was left in place for structural integrity, and because it was too big of a pain to remove it. But as you can see I hacked a nice big hole in it for finches to fly through. Interior flight space will be 24.5" wide, ~16" deep, and 48" high. Upper holes in side will be "dutch doors". click on picture for a larger view |
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I am quite pleased with the way it turned out. |
The finches seem to like it too. In this picture, you can better see the perforated back which allows ventilation. It's aluminum, one of those sheets of metal meant to be a decorative cover for an old steam radiator. click on picture for a nice closeup |
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Baby toys make the best perches. |
The astute metal-worker would deduce, correctly, that I made the floor tray myself by bending valley flashing with a ruler and my feet. The astute metal-worker can just stay out of my house. |
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One of her favorite hangout places, on top of her cage. |
| Trying to decide whether to go in her cage, or fly up my nose. |  |
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Hangin' out with Mama-San guinea pig. |
Zebra finches in the aviary which I built from a $25 second-hand stereo.
Front window is safety glass.
Side windows have hardware cloth on the inside and screen on the outside
(with a half-inch gap between).
(The screen keeps the mess inside, the hardware cloth keeps the little darlings
from ripping out the screen.)
There is a fluorescent light inside the stereo lid. Between the light
and the birds is a
false ceiling of that plastic honeycomb which is typically used under fluorescent
lights.
In addition to the roof access, there is a side door under the right-hand
screen window.
View from the other side, with better view of the door.
Top open, view through false ceiling.
Dolled up for Xmas.
Left side view of the aviary I built for my sister and brother-in-law's lovebird. Rabbit and 48-inch ruler shown for scale. Trash on floor shown for slobbiness.
Right side view of the aviary I built for my sister and brother-in-law's lovebird. 48-inch ruler in front and 18-inch ruler on top shown for scale. Right side is storage, left side is for the birds. Heh.