Beautiful Natural Finch Aviary: How to set one up
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- čas přidán 26. 08. 2024
- Here is the finch aviary after it has settled in for 1.5 years. This video tour includes lots of tips on how to set up a natural-looking garden aviary like this. To see how the aviary looked just after it was built and learn more about how it was constructed, look here: • Gorgeous Garden Aviary... or here: • Gorgeous Garden Aviary... .
Here's where you can buy the items you saw in my aviary:
- Clear All-weather seed feeder by Songbird Essentials - 6 quart (same as mine): amzn.to/2pwIIf0
- Clear All-weather seed feeder by Songbird Essentials - 4 quart (same but smaller): amzn.to/2p0j2vd
- Seed hoop/catcher by Songbird Essentials - 16 inch (same as this video): amzn.to/2nHVhYI
- Seed hoop/catcher by Songbird Essentials - 24 inch (the one I have now): amzn.to/2oqMwPB
- Wooden fly-through platform feeder (nicer than mine): amzn.to/2p0sJd6
- Wooden fly-through platform feeder (similar to mine): amzn.to/2nI4ujm
The bird bath was hand-made locally so is not available, but I have since upgraded to this one, which I just LOVE: amzn.to/2oqFrhS
There's also a video all about my bird bath setup here: • How to build a simple ...
Plus, check out this great web page about naturalistic aviary design: www.finchstuff...
Since this video was made the plants have grown and it's bustling with birds: Lady Gouldian Finches in Normal, European Yellow (Pastel) and White Breast mutations, plus Tricoloured (Forbes) Parrot Finches, Red-faced Parrot Finches in Normal, Pied and Seagreen mutations, Orangebreast (Goldbreast) Waxbills, Cordon Bleu Waxbills and various Zebra Finches.
I like your bird cage, well build.
2020 viewer .. i think you’re aviary is great!
Perfect set up! I like the protected area and combined with an open flight area and the safety door, well done video with excellent explanations!
A real cage really enjoy the all tour.
Brilliantly planned I have never seen a better aviary. I'm sure the birds are thriving in the best home they can get.
So kind, thank you! :)
I like your aviary. I like your safety door system, to ensure that no birds escape accidentally. Great idea.
Beautifull aviary.
I learned some important items from your nice description, building my aviary end of last year.
I live in the Netherlands freezing at the moment up to -5 celcius but my goulds still enjoying it every day in the morning to go outside.
Of course I have a night shelter heated a bit.
I even had a nest young goulds. The young ones are also outside during the day loving it.
Thanks, Peter.
Beautiful! You clearly put a lot of thought and energy into this. Lucky, lucky little birdies!
I really love your aviary. I love the nature branches and the protective corner aviary from the rain. Thanks for sharing.
Thank you :). Yes, some birds do become quite friendly. The Gouldians in particular come and greet me every day at the door and stare with a "What have you brought me?" look. I bring them various things like green seed, protein powders, boiled egg or leafy greens, and the Gouldians are always the boldest about approaching me for it. They sit right there and wait! There's another video here somewhere which shows the Gouldians right in front of me...
I love your approach to an aviary.
That was very astounding! Very great aviary and very creative! I loved how you described the objects in the aviary! Very well done! I plan to have an aviary like yours some day! Five Stars!
Aw, thank you Darian. :))
Your very welcome! :D
The aviary is in Sydney, AU, on the coast, with quite a protected microclimate in this particular location. Night time Winter temperatures are chilly but well above freezing - 8-10C, or rarely 4-5C. They do OK in the cold - not great, but OK. The position also gets the very first rays of morning sun in Winter, which helps. Many people in cold(ish) regions like yours build a protected 'warm room' with a heat lamp, attached to the main aviary, which the birds can retreat to. I like that idea.
Now that's an avairy!!!! A walk in avairy , what a dream, for the budgies too😁✌
I have watched this video at least ten times and learned so much. I am presently building an aviary for my 6 finches on my screened porch. 10H x 8'L x 4'W, so is smaller than yours, but will have natural perches and some potted plants. Thanks so much for sharing your useful tips. I live on the east coast of Central Florida, so no worries about cold. Got a misting system, though, for hot weather.
Oh thank you, I'm so pleased you like it. I had a vision for it for quite some time before it all finally came together. If you click 'Show more' under the video description you will see a couple of links to earlier videos of the aviary, which have some information about how it was actually constructed. :)
Thank You. Beautiful beautiful
This aviary is very beautiful, I hate people who only use dowel rods as they are so bad for the birds feet. Aside from it looking hideous, dowel rods cause health issues for birds and not just for their feet. Your aviary is so wonderful, you've done a great job and I know your birds love it!! The perches look good and the birds look and sound happy. Awesome job. :)
Thank you P4L :)
Parrots4Life i
Here's a few ideas for constructing a bird house:
Allow enough time.
Use ready made boat blueprints.
(I read about these and more from Aviary Magic Method website )
You have an amazing little Finch Zoo... really really enjoyed the video... I'm just getting into raising Finches... giving up my Love Birds -- they too mean to all other birds....
Thank you, glad you enjoyed it :). I've always wanted Love Birds - sooo cute! But yes, they are noisy and mean - their looks deceive! Finches are pretty and mostly nice to each other. :)
You are my inspiration! I am building a similar aviary at my garden and final touches are going on now. I mentioned about your channel video and website in my video description. Thanks.
+lloydjadon So glad to have inspired :) Have you seen this page too? www.finchstuff.com/aviary
Yes, I did. But based on my need and availability of the the things I slightly deviated in certain aspects. I like it the way its coming up and waiting for the finches to agree :)
Great video!
you really did an amazing job
Ashlie Neevel Awww...thank you :)
Looks very well planted up and with the very best!
precioso aviario, me a encantado.
Es lo mas parecido posible a estar en la naturaleza, pensado hasta el mas minimo detalle para las exigencias de los pajaros
Your finches look like they have an amazing life, my zebra finch hen escaped yesterday, very sad, i can only hope she'll fly all the way over to you!! Hehe.
mantidgirl Aw, sorry about your finch! If she turns up here I promise to let her in. There are lots of nice looking potential husbands here who'll be very pleased to meet her, so hopefully she's on her way right now... :)
Finchesca Thank you, and hopefully indeed! :)
I'm on the East coast of Australia in a warm-temperate climate. Winter night time temperatures go down to 8-10C, occasionally 6C, and only very rarely lower than that.
Beautifull..i like this video..love birds too🤩🤩
great video i was so amazed with what i just watched love the natural look you went with truely a wonderful avairy :)
what a fantastic aviary, some great tips and ideas there, awesome.
Wow you have some really beautiful finches in that aviary. Nice!!
Beautiful
Very pretty
Thank you! And you are welcome :) I do love my rustic sunny aviary!
Hey this is just from my experience - one of my finches one day got her feet tangled in thin ropes which were in the cage and I was able to rescue her. I just thought Id mention because I saw the thin black ropes as part of your seed catcher. Take care :D
Daniel obviously doesn't understand that finches have been domesticated for hundreds of years .. these are not wild birds and need to live protected. This aviary is a perfect invironment and it is very plain that they are very well cared for.
You have a great aviary.
Love your aviary!! Very lucky birds
One of the best videos on youtube and a fantastic looking aviary, i am building one it's going to be 12 x 6 by 5 mtrs high and fully planted out, the only problem is here in Ballarat it gets cold so i have to position it from the cold winds, what finches do you have in yours
Cute set up cage & defrent birds. From india say weldone
I like it. very nice 👍👍👍
absolutely lovely aviary! so you're saying to cope up with the bird's nibbling the plants, the plants will also have to be the type that grows very quickly... I've learned to use duranta and bottle brush :)
say, if you spend a lot of time there, will the birds eventually become friendly to you? thanks
very nice
50% of the aviary roof is covered - 30% metal roof + 20% clear plastic roof. They shelter safely under there, or sometimes under the big broad-leaved plant. They also like to go out in the rain sometimes, fluttering around and bathing, having a ball!
Very nice birdcage but I don't listen the goldfinch perhaps because there is several sound but I congratulate you for this very beautiful job I have released some goldfinch recently I shared some videos in my chanel good luck
Hi it’s beautiful aviary I wanna ask you do you keep them in winter also? I live in New York City I am thinking of building one like yours but it’s really cold here in winter time.
We're working on converting the pergola now and looking forward to putting our birds in it. We have them now in a patio aviary for now. I can't remember or find where you said to get your bird feeder. Could you post that again. Much appreciated and hope our aviary is as lovely as yours. Cheers
Love love love this I am interested we're you got the solar bird bath from as I think it would be great for mine
Good ol' eBay :). The water pump, solar panel and control box kit, that is. The actual bath was a lucky one-off sample from a small manufacturer. I have pleaded with them to make more, but they are finding them uneconomic to produce. :((
Where do you live? What is the climate there like? Hold cold does it get where you live?
What do you do with the birds when it gets cold? The only thing stopping me from building and aviary is that here in Texas where I live, the temperature can go down to freezing temperatures (30* F) in the winter.
Love your aviary:)
This aviary is a lot like ours. Is this 1" welded mesh? What types of finches do you keep in it?
I absolutely love your aviary! I am jealous:D I have been looking around for inspiration because i have wanting to build an aviary for my finches and parakeets and i have found it!
Wow this is amazing! Gave me a great idea (: thanks!
That's a beautiful aviary. Can you show us the baby chicks?
Nice...
Muito legal parabéns.
luar biasa
Yes, those are cicadas - the sound of Sydney at the height of Summer. :)
Quá đẹp chỉ thiếu một cái hồ súng nữa là tuyệt vời .
Nice one, how u welded mesh to rad? Can u snd one photo pls
super beautiful place for zebras and goldiang
When it rains do the finches get wet? or how do you avoid the problem?
is that noise cicadas?
How do you make sure they don't fly out when you are going in to the aviary?
do you clean their dropping?
Hi Patricia. Happy to talk to you about it. The best thing to do is to hop onto 'aussiefinchforum' - it's a 'dot net' address that CZcams won't let me write properly here. Join up, post in the 'Housing Finches' section, and I will come and find you :)
love it!
awesome
What country/latitude are you located in? I would be interested to know how you find the winter weather. I am a contract nature writer in British Columbia, where we there is some snow every winter, but usually 40 farenheight or 30 during the day. Warmest in Canada. I have an outdoor aviary with heated birdroom that is home to 2 African Silverbills, a European Goldfinch, Pin-tailed Whydah, Chestnut-throated Seedeater, and Java Sparrow. Fun birds that get along very well FYI. I like your bird mix.
Can they survive outside in winter ? Near 50°Fahrenheit ?
Siip mantap
Oh thank you :).
What if between different varieties mated each other...?
Are we going to get mixed color finches...?
It's extremely rare for finches to cross-breed. It can happen, but in 14 years I have never seen it.
nice!
wow
What's type of finch you keep there? Waxbill?
Love it!! So you don't have a rat wall and no concrete floor, is that correct?
Hope you respond, really like to know
Thanks
Yep, no concrete floor. Instead there's vermin mesh buried 6" below the flooring material and stapled all the way around the wooden edging. I wouldn't risk it without that. And yes, no rat wall, but also no way for something as a large as a rat to get in. The freaky critters can get in through cage bars (seen 'em do it!) but not through square finch-size aviary mesh. Mice can still get in of course, but they no longer seem to bother. I think the dog helps a lot :).
Thank you for this. I'm just planning my aviary and have a pergola I may convert to an aviary. I'm in New Zealand and think our climate will be fine. I'm totally in love with the gouldians and see you let them breed as a colony unlike some sites I've seen with breeding cages etc. does this work well for you and what do you do with all the extra babies? Would be hard to keep the numbers down I would think. Cheers for all your help.
Yes, I do colony breed. I prefer them to choose their own mates as nature intended, because I breed for the love of it, not for profit from certain colours etc. I catch and sell the newly coloured-up Gouldian babies every December. That means in the later part of the year it can get quite crowded.
Although I have seen some lovely cage-bred Gouldians, I have also seen some with skeletal deformities from lack of sun (Vit D), who don't know how to bathe or even how to take shelter from the rain because they never learned! So if you do pair up certain birds in cages because you want babies from that particular pair, just make sure that they and their babies go back into the aviary soon afterwards.
Yes planning on this being a hobby for retirement and I've always loved finches and just discovered the gouldians. Beautiful. Want outdoor as well. Don't see lots being bred here in NZ so hope can source good stock. Where in aussie are you. Can I buy from you? Not sure yet on importing rules here. Thanks heaps. Debbie
Debbie Reed I'm in Sydney. Far easier for you to buy locally. I'm sure you'll find some. Last year my spare birds all sold in 1 hour here, so I am very unlikely to have any available for export. Good luck! They are so worth it.
I am thinking of doing an Avery in Florida. One side has hedges to protect wind.
However my will be very small 55 wide 84 length 72 inches high.
What size netting did u use and and what are posts made of.
I luv your Avery and thank you for sharing any information will be appreciated
Mary Ann palm harbor Florida
Hi Mary Ann. The framework is all metal. Have a look here to read about its construction: finchstuff.com/aviary
Loved your video, thanks for sharing! I was wondering if you have a problem with wild birds such as miners and butcherbirds constantly attacking the aviary? I have recently set up an aviary of my own with only a couple of zebra finches to start with and they constantly get attacked by swooping predators who also hang on to the mesh of the aviary, totally freaking out my finches! Any ideas how to deter these wild birds? I've tried a fake owl, cat cutouts and hanging CDs but none of them have had any effect scaring them off! They're brave little buggers. Thanks.
Ha! Your story sounds exactly like mine :|. Only I've got three realistic rubber snakes on the roof as well!...along with the cat and a hawk, all of which have zero effect. I find that Butcher Birds give up and go away when they realise they can't get the finches, but the Noisy Miners are a true pain. They are trying to chase the finches out of their 'territory', hence the constant swooping and intimidating behaviour. If you find a solution, please do tell!
A slug gun will fix them.
Hi Finchesca. Thanks very much for your quick reply. Is the vermin mesh you use cage wire? I use the smallest size for my suspendeds cause it is supposed to be small enough to even keep out mice.
And do you have drainage underneath the aviary floor? I really like to go with a natural soil floor for my newly to build walk in but have been advised to go with concrete floor; easy to clean in case of food build up and less issues with worms.
Any thoughts on the above?
Thanks. Bert
Hi Bert. The vermin mesh is 4mm or 5mm gauge - about half the size of regular finch mesh, or a quarter the area for each square.
I don't have drainage because the location is on a slope and I keep the mulch flooring material about 8cm higher than the surrounding ground, so water can never pool. What I wish I had done though is to build in a drain for the bird bath, so I could wash it out and let it overflow, instead of manual buckets etc.
If I could do it again in a different location I might tile 70% of the floor (concrete looks too miserable IMHO) and have densely planted earth beds on the other 30%. But, no, I don't get problems with worms even now. Earth/mulch floors are fine, but you must be an experienced keeper to do it this way.
Yes it is unnatural. Keeping any animal domestically for pleasure or food is not natural or ideal, yet humans have felt compelled to do it for millennia. I think it's because it motivates us to take care of our fellow creatures and there's a collective benefit.
Gouldian Finches were actually saved from near extinction in the wild by changing rules to allow them to be kept by hobbyists. They are so stunning that a push was made to breed them, which saved the wild populations.
Love it!!! To bad I didn't see this before building my own. I really like your aviary and your set up. How much does that cost and shipping to the United States?
So, Finchesca, where do you put/give them nesting materials?
I give them millet and other grasses on the stems, then break up the spent stems for them to use for nesting. There's also now a dispenser attached to the back wall that's full of Emu feathers.
Cool, I doubt I could get Emu feathers here in the kingdom, but sounds like these finches are well done in,
What about winter? Do you move them inside?
No, they stay outside. I have a climate that is just warm enough for them. Any colder and I would build it differently, with a 'warm room' attached. :)
just because want an open-door aviary I want to move Australia.
Hi was this build of wood or metal ? also do you have a blue print for it. really nice aviary will like to build one for my birds.
thanks.
It's made from metal. I don't have a blueprint, but there's lots of info about its construction here: finchstuff.com/aviary
thanks for your reply!
where did you purchase this aviary, i want one similar for myfinches in my big backyard but can't find any. thank u!
I found a private builder who made it up according to the plans I gave him. He doesn't make them any more - I think it was all too stressful! ;) I'm sure you could find someone else who'd do something similar for you. Depending where you live, it can be hard to find nice-looking powder-coated aviaries. Where I live the standard retail aviaries look like ugly industrial tin sheds or little birdy prisons :(. I feel it's definitely worthwhile going to extra trouble to build something attractive.
Finchesca THANK YOU SO MUCH!
Hello! I too have an outdoor aviary with finches, I absolutely LOVE it!! I am getting ready to redo it here soon, and would love to ask you some questions. Would it be possible to get your email address? I don't want to "clog up" your comments section with all my questions! I am mostly curious about the flooring (I also have a natural floor), and your use of plants and the water feature....
Masha allah🕋💖
3.5m long x 2m wide x 2m high. :)
How to keep birds safe from ants?
😙😍😍😍
That was a really good looking female, I thought it was a male till you said it was female
يوجد صوت مزعج ؟
Can i please have your email address ? I am building a large canary and finch aviary and was a little doubtful about my idea until i saw your aviary video. I have some questions i'd like answered. If you could help , i'd be thankful.
text
This is very hard to hear :(
Beth Thornton
So basically it's just a manmade birds home aka CAGE and you think this birds are so happy that they don't even think about flying high in sky just like other birds outside that cage
I really enjoy/appreciate your videos (subscribed). However you need to pay more attention to your speaking volume. At times it's hard to make out what you're saying....even with my volume all the way up. You have beautiful birds. Thank you for sharing them.