A bird aviary is the most important piece of equipment you’ll need to purchase for your new bird. The correct aviary can help your bird stay healthy and safe. There are so many types of aviaries that it becomes difficult for the new bird keeper.. The big question is how to choose the right one?
Firstly, make a point to research about the the type of bird you wish to keep. If you are housing any type of parakeet, cockatiel or some other long tailed bird species, you’ll need a long aviary so that your bird can get enough exercise. The bird aviary should be sufficiently long enough for the bird to fly from one side to the other. The birds with a heavyset body, such as the lovebird or a Senegal parrot, gets a good deal of exercise by climbing around in the aviary. They do well in a aviary that is taller rather than it is wide.
You should then consider the size of the aviary. Generally it is a good idea to buy the biggest aviary you can afford for your bird, a newly weaned handfed baby bird may feel lost and terrified in a large aviary. A young bird also may have difficulty locating food and water dishes. It is a good idea to use a smaller bird aviary when the bird is a baby and then moving on to a bigger aviary after a few months.
Keep in mind when you’re choosing your bird’s aviary the spacing between the aviary bars. It is no good having a great looking bird aviary if your bird fits through the bars! When using an aviary made of wire mesh, it would be advisable to compare the size of the birds head to the size of the hole in the mesh. When the bird aviary is built with one inch mesh it is going to allow for a cockatiel to put his head through. When cockatiels bring their heads back through the bars, they have been known to bend into a ‘U’ shape and put their heads into a different hole.
After you have determined the aviary size and bar spacing, you chould look at a few other facets of bird aviary design. Look at the cage tray. When removing it to clean, is there a grate in the aviary to prevent the bird from escaping? Will the tray be adequately deep to catch the mess of your bird? Even if your bird aviary has a deep tray, you may still find that your bird scatters a lot of seed hulls and feathers on the floor if there’s no cage apron. While you can place your bird aviary in a plastic apron base or cover the bottom of the aviary with a cloth apron, using a built in metal apron is a good option.
Finally, don’t forget to have a look at the aviary cups. There should be a way to easily gain access to the cups without having to reach inside the aviary through the main door. If you are buying a bird aviary for a larger bird, the cups should actually bolt to the aviary unless you want to spend every morning and afternoon for the next 50 years reaching for cups that your bird has flung onto the bottom of the bird aviary
If you a replacing a bird aviary for an older parrot type bird, some owners have told me it’s crucial to get a bird cage of the same colour. It is assumed that if a bird is used to a coloured painted aviary, it will not cope easily with a metal coloured aviary.
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