Mixed Bird Aviary...Help??

[austin741]

I am planning on building an aviary for a variety of birds. It's going to be fairly large. It is probably 20-40 ft long and 10-30 ft wide. It is about 8-10 ft tall. The sides will be chain link (most likely) and I will run pvc pipe over it to make it look like a greenhouse frame. Right now i have one pair of indian runner ducks that will definitely be going in it. So i will have a decent sized pond. I want a pair of Mandarin ducks to go along with them. I would also like to have a species of pheasant/quail/dove/etc...I don't know what would go good with my ducks. Any suggestions of birds for it would be great!!! Thanks

P.S...If I have to, I'll stick to ducks, but i think it would be awesome to have a mixed aviary...

 

[FenDruadin]

I know that many people keep chickens with ducks, and it's also okay to keep most flying species with most ground species (I think...). You can also keep most domestic waterfowl together safely--geese and ducks generally get along very well.

But I wouldn't keep quail with ducks--quail have severely different needs (chain link won't work at all for them), and would be very unhappy with ducks.

The chain link, by the way, will need to be augmented with some sort of hardware mesh (1/2" or smaller) around the bottom 1.5 feet or so, to prevent raccoons from reaching through and eating the heads off your ducks. They will do this, and you don't want to find out the hard way like I did.

I think, if you provide adequate conditions for them, that you can probably put doves, pigeons, or similar flying species in the pen. Just be sure to keep your populations low enough to not be crowded.

If it were my project, I'd spend a lot of time looking up care requirements for every type of bird I can think of that I'd like to keep in the aviary, and figure out if their needs are compatible or at least complementary (for instance, geese & ducks have compatible needs while ducks and pigeons have complementary needs--the latter don't have the same needs, but they use different parts of the pen so they can still use the same enclosure). Then, when I had a list of those species, I'd bring it here and ask everyone if they see any problems with those combinations.

Good luck. I think a mixed-species aviary would be very cool. They do it all the time at zoos, so with the right research and care, I'm sure you can pull it off.

 

[austin741]

Thank you so much...I'm definitely doing my research...I just want it up by next summer. Ok, so the quail are out...I was thinking (i know i change my mind quick), but i think im going to stick with different breeds of ducks, a few geese, and maybe some small flying birds. I don't know yet...Thanks for your input...it helped a lot.

 

[austin741]

I just noticed your from Charlotte, NC...that's very cool because Im from Goldsboro, NC!!

 

[FenDruadin]

Sure! Glad I could help. Hopefully others will chime in too--I'm sure there are others here with more experience than I have in mixing species.

Since you're in NC, you might check out the Carolina Waterfowl Rescue in Indian Trail, too. They often have rescued geese, ducks, and miscellaneous other birds available for adoption. That might be a great source to "populate" your aviary.

I look forward to hearing more as you move forward. I love mixed-species habitats.

 

[KansasKid]

If you want to raise mandarins here is a link to the ornamental waterfowl thread https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=345303&p=1

iT is not a good idea to keep domestics with ornamentals. Most ducks require 100sqft per pair. most all questions can be answered in old posts in the thread and if there is anymore feel free to ask.

and the mandarins will fit through the chain link. also not a good idea to keep pigeons in with them to, they will give your ducks problems disease wise

and if you want ideas for a aviary look in my signature for a the link to my thread over my aviary. I have a portion for my ornamentals and a portion for my domestics.

here is a link to a post in the ornamental thread. look at post number 78 https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=345303&p=8

when it comes to the ornamental species there are some people on here that can tell you most if not all you need to know about them.

 

[Wifezilla]

There are diseases that ducks and chickens have a natural immunity to that quail do not. I have a pretty big run for my ducks, bu the quail have their own pen. It is an old chain link dog kennel lined with poultry netting.