bird cage

A aviary is the most important piece of equipment you’ll need to purchase for your new bird. Keeping your bird safe and healthy will require a suitable aviary. There are so many types of aviaries that it becomes difficult for the new bird keeper.. How does the bird owner choose the right aviary?

Firstly, study the species of bird you are intending to keep. If you would like to have any type of parakeet, cockatiel or some other long tailed bird species, you’ll need a long aviary so that your bird can get enough exercise. Ideally, the aviary should be sufficiently long enough so the bird can actually fly from one side to the other. A bird with a heavyset body, such as a lovebird or a Sengal parrot, will be able to get a good deal of exercise by climbing around the aviary. This type of bird would do well in an aviary that is taller than it is wide.

You should then consider the size of the bird aviary. When purchasing your aviary you should always buy the biggest one you can afford, although a newly weaned handfed bird may feel terrified in such a large aviary. A juvenile bird may also have difficulty locating food and water dishes. If it is affordable using a smaller bird aviary for your baby bird’s first few months and then changing to a bigger aviary when it is older would be a good idea.

Another thing to be aware of when choosing your bird aviary is the spacing between the aviary bars. A nice $400 bird aviary will not be of much use if the bird can fit through the bars! When considering using an aviary with wire mesh it will be important to compare the sizing of the hole in the mesh to the size of your birds head. An aviary constructed from one inch mesh would be the perfect size for a cockatiel to get his head through. When cockatiels bring their heads back through the bars, they have been known to bend into a ‘U’ shape and put their heads into a different hole.

Once youv’e dedided on the aviary size and bar spacing, you should look at a few other facets of bird aviary design. Seeing the cage tray. When removing it to clean, is there a grate in the aviary to stop the bird from escaping? Will the tray be deep enough to catch most of the mess your bird makes? Even if your bird aviary has a deep tray, you may still find that your bird scatters a lot of seed hulls and feathers on the floor if there’s no cage apron. You can put a plastic apron base on your aviary or have a built in metal apron which is a good option.

To finish, don’t forget to have a look at the aviary cups. Ideally there should be an easily accessable opening to get to the cups without gaining access through the main door. If you are buying a bird aviary for a larger bird, the cups should actually bolt to the aviary unless you want to spend every morning and afternoon for the next 50 years reaching for cups that your bird has flung onto the bottom of the bird aviary

If you a replacing a bird aviary for an older parrot type bird, some owners have told me it’s crucial to get a bird cage of the same colour. They believe that a bird that has been accustomed to a white painted aviary, won’t adapt easily to a metal coloured aviary.