Indoor aviaries
An indoor aviary can either be built into your home or purchased. When I was a teenager, my family had so many birds that my parents built an aviary into our living room. It ran floor to ceiling, about 6 feet long and was about 3 feet deep. Most of the aviary was plywood (that got chewed up quite a bit) with wire across the top half. We outfitted the aviary with safe branches for perches, a few secured food and water dishes, and we lined the bottom with linoleum. There was a removable linoleum liner which made for easy clean up. We housed a Conure, some Cockatiels, and some Budgies in this aviary.
Make your own
You can build an indoor aviary rather inexpensively, compared to buying one. You can use a hardy non-toxic wood such as redwood and some nylon mesh. I’d suggest building it into a corner of a room that gets frequent use, such as a family room. Using natural, non-toxic branches that have not been sprayed with pesticides make for great perches.
Buy an indoor aviary
Indoor aviaries can be purchased for a few thousand dollars. These can actually be more convenient than a do-it-yourself aviary because you can buy all sorts of extras, such as an aviary on casters (so it can be moved), a handy feeding system that allows the bird to be fed without opening the door, and you’ll know that all the materials that have been used are safe. If you live in an apartment or a dwelling where you cannot build one yourself, a pre-made aviary is a great solution.
Outdoor aviaries
Outdoor aviaries get a bit more complicated, because you have to deal with the weather and with predators. If you live in a warm climate you can make your outdoor aviary your bird’s permanent home, or many people choose to use an outdoor aviary just in the summer-time when the weather cooperates.
Make your own
With an outdoor aviary, you’ll need to ensure that your bird has access to shade, protection from rain and wind, and that the interior of the aviary cannot be accessed by predators. This often means placing another layer of mesh or wiring around the aviary that will prevent any animals from reaching in and grabbing your bird. You’ll need to take precautions against other animals digging underneath the aviary frame to get inside. You will also need to use a double entry way so that when you open the door to the aviary, no birds can escape.
Buy an outdoor aviary
If you’re going to purchase an outdoor aviary, expect to pay a lot of money. The safeguards you look for when building your own outdoor aviary are the same things you’ll look for when purchasing a pre-made outdoor aviary. The aviary needs to restrict access from predators, have areas where your bird can get out of direct sunlight, and protect against escape.
Benefits of Aviaries
There are so many benefits to using aviaries with birds. By creating a more natural environment, we increase the quality of life that we provide to our birds.
Flight
The biggest advantage to using an aviary is that it allows your bird safe space to fly. Birds’ bodies are designed for flight, and their physical and emotional health depends upon that ability. When birds are allowed to fly, their respiratory systems work properly. When birds know they can fly, they feel more confident that they can get where they need to go and avoid predators.
Social Interaction
When birds are allowed to live together in an aviary, they get the benefit of interacting with other birds on their own terms. Your Cockatiel may greatly enjoy the company of your Budgie, but really want to avoid the other Cockatiel who bugs her so much. You might not have enough room to house your Amazon and Conure (who are very bonded) together in a cage, but you can with an aviary. If they get tired of each other, there is plenty of room to have quiet time.
Intellectual Stimulation
In an aviary, you can use a variety of safe, non-toxic branches as perches, as well as many different kinds of toys, branches, and food sources. In the wild, parrots work for their food, and it’s so easy to create foraging situations for birds in an aviary by hiding food at different stations. Offering many different kinds of toys and woods to chew provides your bird with hours of stimulation.
If you expect to have birds for a long time (and if you have even a small parrot like a Cockatiel we could be talking about 20 years!), look into using an aviary. Your bird will benefit greatly from this kind of living environment.
Building or buying an aviary for your birds can be one of the best things you can do; not just for your bird, but for yourself, too. When your bird has more room and a more natural environment, his physical and emotional health will improve, which can decrease any behavioral problems he may have been having before.
An aviary is a large enclosure that has enough room for the bird to fly. While a flight cage also allows flight, an aviary is large enough to actually allow a person to walk around in it. There are both indoor and outdoor aviaries.
