I've been keeping my mind off my peahen eggs in the bator the last week by working on building an aviary for my parakeets.
I really like to watch them, but the noise drives me nuts in the house, not to mention the mess. After doing some research, it looks like they can pretty readily handle temps down in the 50's and below for short periods of time.
Since we only have a few really bitterly cold nights here, I thought an aviary type cage would work to put out on the deck, near the house where the bricks would absorb heat in the winter and radiate it back out at night. With the addition of a heat lamp for the really cold nights, and plastic sheeting to block cold winds, I think they will be fine outdoors here - worst case on really cold nights I can bring them back in using the cage they are in now.
Anyway, after several weeks mulling this over and trying to find a plan for a aviary that would work, I came across Dennis's Playhouse coop plans.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/coops/playhouse-coop.html
Hmmm thinks I.... I can leave out the nest box part, use hardware cloth instead of larger weave wire.... rig a protective wire box around a heat lamp...wire for an outlet....
I got the walls framed out over the last few days, and was able to get them connected today. Overall dimensions are 4' by 8'. Left to do is to build the floor - going to modify his floor frame design to make a plywood floor built on a frame and covered with coroplast (corrugated plastic) for easy cleaning. I am going to use tin roofing - I had to build on the budget - and then some paint and trim.
I reversed the design to better fit the space I had on the deck, and made the doorway a bit wider so I didn't have to cut my 36" width of wire so many times. I'm also considering whether or not I will need to build out an 'air lock' of sorts to keep them from flying outside when I open the door to cleanup, etc.
Any other suggestions or additions to make it a good parakeet habitat?
I've got a small fountain I'm going to put in there as well as some branches of different sizes, etc. The sheltered area will have the heatlamp and some perches for them. I figure I can add a nest box to the outside if I ever want to down the road too...
I really like to watch them, but the noise drives me nuts in the house, not to mention the mess. After doing some research, it looks like they can pretty readily handle temps down in the 50's and below for short periods of time.
Since we only have a few really bitterly cold nights here, I thought an aviary type cage would work to put out on the deck, near the house where the bricks would absorb heat in the winter and radiate it back out at night. With the addition of a heat lamp for the really cold nights, and plastic sheeting to block cold winds, I think they will be fine outdoors here - worst case on really cold nights I can bring them back in using the cage they are in now.
Anyway, after several weeks mulling this over and trying to find a plan for a aviary that would work, I came across Dennis's Playhouse coop plans.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/coops/playhouse-coop.html
Hmmm thinks I.... I can leave out the nest box part, use hardware cloth instead of larger weave wire.... rig a protective wire box around a heat lamp...wire for an outlet....
I got the walls framed out over the last few days, and was able to get them connected today. Overall dimensions are 4' by 8'. Left to do is to build the floor - going to modify his floor frame design to make a plywood floor built on a frame and covered with coroplast (corrugated plastic) for easy cleaning. I am going to use tin roofing - I had to build on the budget - and then some paint and trim.
I reversed the design to better fit the space I had on the deck, and made the doorway a bit wider so I didn't have to cut my 36" width of wire so many times. I'm also considering whether or not I will need to build out an 'air lock' of sorts to keep them from flying outside when I open the door to cleanup, etc.
Any other suggestions or additions to make it a good parakeet habitat?
I've got a small fountain I'm going to put in there as well as some branches of different sizes, etc. The sheltered area will have the heatlamp and some perches for them. I figure I can add a nest box to the outside if I ever want to down the road too...
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