Building A Back Porch Aviary

Transcription

1 Building A Back Porch Aviary We turned our upper porch into an aviary. The porch was approximately 20 feet long by 6 feet wide. This is a photo of the finished aviary. We built the aviary before I started ParrotEnrichment.com and I didn t think to take photos of the construction. But I have enough pictures of the aviary that I think you can get a good idea of how we built it. Side view of the aviary. We used pressure treated wood to build the frame of the aviary attaching it to the house and the existing porch. 1

2 For the roof of the aviary, the 1/4 inch hardwire is on the outside of the frame. Since we used ceiling protectors to hang baskets and toys from the aviary roof beams, we weren t concerned with the parrots chewing on the pressure treated wood. The ceiling protectors kept them from getting to the roof beams. Close up photo of how the roof was attached to the eave fascia. 2

3 We used the existing porch floor and didn t put any other covering on it. It was easy to hose off. Here is another view of the aviary looking in from the aviary screen door. 3

4 Close up view of aviary from outside. Here you can see how the frame was attached to the porch. A screen door that latches only on the inside. We didn t want a possibility of someone opening the screen door coming in from the lower porch and letting a parrot escape. You would want to take care that there is no perch or stand near the screen door where a parrot could chew through the screen and possibly escape. For large birds, you might need to cover the screen with hardwire. 4

5 Another view of the outside of the aviary from the lower porch. 5

6 For the walls of the aviary, the 1/4 inch hardwire was attached to the inside of the frame. We stapled the hardwire to the frame. We covered over the areas where cut pieces of wire were attached with untreated pine lattice. We also nailed untreated pine lattice along the frame. This tightened up the hardwire to the frame and added a barrier to the pressure treated wood. The parrots would chew on the untreated pine lattice and not the pressure treated wood. We never had a problem with parrots chewing on the galvanized hardwire. The most they ever did was use their beak as sort of a third foot to climb across the wire to get from one play stand to another. And in that instance they weren t chewing the wire just touching it briefly with their beak. Notice the square pieces of untreated pine. Jerry drilled holes in them and inserted PVC bulkheads in. You can see one of the bulkheads on the right. Those were 1 1/2 inch bulkheads and in inserted 1 1/2 inch PVC pipe into to build play stands. 6

7 I covered the 1 1/2 inch pipe sticking out of the bulkhead with a 2 inch piece. You can see it in the lower left corner of this photo. This kept the parrots from perching on the pipe next to the wire because, 1 it moved, and 2 it was a diameter that was a little big for them to perch comfortably on when it wasn t scored. I used reducers to get to the 3/4 diameter to build the rest of the play stands. And I scored those 3/4 inch PVC pipe and connectors with a dremel tool so they could climb on the play stands without slipping. I made these wall play stands similar to how I made the play stands that I show in The Parrot Enrichment Activity Book, Vol 1., pages You can see the ceiling protectors in this picture too. They are just 2 inch PVC pipe with 2 inch caps and a screw eye at each end. This link will give you instructions on how to make a ceiling protector: 7

8 And this is a view going out to the aviary from inside the house. We found that even in Eagle River, Alaska we had enough occasions to get the parrots outside to make it worth building the aviary. Having the back porch enclosed in an aviary made it more secure for our flighted birds. If one were to follow us outside when we opened the door to let the dogs out, they were flying out into a cage and we would be able to get them back into the house and close the door before ever opening the screen door leading down to the back yard. I painted pictures on the glass doors and the window that faces out to the aviary. It may have been overkill, but made me feel better about a bird not flying into the glass thinking they were flying out to the aviary and it looked pretty when the sun hit the paintings in the winter. This pamphlet is intended to provide helpful and informative material on the subject matter covered. It is distributed with the understanding that the author is not engaged in rendering professional services in the pamphlet. The author specifically disclaims any responsibility for any liability, loss, or risk, personal or otherwise, which is incurred as a consequence, directly or indirectly, of the use and application of any of the contents of this pamphlet. The author assumes no legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information, product or process disclosed in these examples. Copyright 2012 Kris Porter. All rights reserved. This pamphlet may be printed, shared and distributed so long as it remains fully intact including this copyright notice and no profit is made from its distribution or use. 8