I don't really know anything about the size or layout of your aviary so I can't say. Is there any particular door location that would be more convenient for you?

Have you decided yet where you're going to put perches and stuff? If you know where you're going to put other stuff, you can choose a door location that won't interfere with it.

Since the door is on the side of the aviary, I only put perches and toys on three corners. I can use 4 corners if the cage if the door is in the middle. I originally wanted the food bowls to hang outside the cage. I don't know how I can do that without making an escape rout for the birds while I'm changing their foods. I'm going to ask the professional about this and the double doors.

I don't have time to really look now but there may be some solutions on the internet to the food-changing situation. I did a super-quick look just now and found this at http://birdcages4less.com/page/B/PROD/Aviaries/PA6004



Now THAT is clever. You can quickly rotate the bowls from the outside to the inside without creating a major escape opportunity, as long as the birds aren't near the food bowls anyway. These are super expensive (90 bucks) but a skilled person could make something similar for a fraction of the cost. There might be other ideas out there too.

Look at how they've set up the food bowls for this bird cage: http://www.getbirdstuff.com/getbirdstuf ... 1ef-p.html It looks like the lid lifts up and creates an opening just big enough to slip the bowls out. It wouldn't be good if the birds were right at the food dish (and they probably are a lot of the time). But if they weren't nearby you could get the dishes out quickly, and gravity would shut the lid if you forgot to do it.

Thank you. My mom called the guy who made this aviary. He is coming tomorrow. We are going to talk about the plans and everything.

Thank you so much for everything.

I use the food saving type of dish for my birds. It can go in the inside if the cage, or outside. I don't mind putting it on the inside. It just is annoying when they poop all over it. It took my a while of finding a place for the food bowls so that they won't get Cindy to perch on it. Lu also like to relocate the food and water bowls once in a while but I don't think it would want to make empty spaces in the hardware cloth everywhere for the food bowls when I want to change places.

I have an idea that's sort of a combination of the safety-corridor idea and the food-bowl setup at http://birdcages4less.com/page/B/PROD/S ... s/PA5634DT


The food bowls would be in an area that sticks out of the main cage like the picture. It wouldn't have to be that fancy of course. There would be a sliding door in front of the food bowls that stays open most of the time, and one in the back that stays closed most of the time. When you want to change the food, you close the front door so the birds can't come into the food area. You might need a small dowel that fits through the bars so you can chase away birds who are already in the area lol. Then after the front door is closed you open the back door and take out the food bowls. I've thought of a way that the back door couldn't be opened until the front door was closed, but I haven't thought of a way to guarantee that you don't accidentally leave the front door closed when you're finished. We all make mistakes and get distracted sometimes, so it's good to make it as foolproof as possible.

So we spoke.

We are going to get the half inch stainless steel wire. We are getting the furring strips that are 2 by 2 inches. We are also going to use tile for the floor. He said he can do concrete but it will be hard to clean. The door will be in the middle. I wanted to make the roof gamble but he said it's better to do the shed when it rains. The man also said he is going to look at a material for the roof that will protect the heat. I think we are going in a good direction.

It DOES sound good. This is the advantage of having an experienced construction person - they might not know a lot about birds but they do know a lot about what works outdoors in your climate. Tile is a good water-resistant surface, especially if it's made for outdoor use. Using tile never crossed my mind. I'm not crazy about having tile floors inside the house because the grout is hard to clean, but that doesn't matter outdoors. And unlike concrete, if the tile gets cracked or damaged it's relatively easy to replace it.

He'll have to put the tile on top of some kind of hard flat surface - do you know what it's going to be? It could very well be concrete, just not as the part of the floor that shows. Most houses have a concrete foundation, and the tile in my house was laid directly on top of the concrete.

Stainless steel wire is more expensive than galvanized, but it's very durable and you don't have to give it a hard scrub like you do with galvanized. But it wouldn't hurt to give everything a quick wash before you put the birds in the aviary.

Did he have any ideas about feeding stations where you could safely change the bowls from outside?

I'm not sure what we are going to put under the tiles. I will ask him on Monday. I didn't ask him about the food bowls on the outside of the cage, It wouldn't hurt to let my birds fly to me and chew everything they see until I finish changing the food bowls. I really wanted a gamble roof. I feel like it will look more like a cozy house. I don't really like the shed look. He said it's not a good idea because the roof will make the water go on the sides. I don't really see a problem with the water going on the sides. It's going to get wet anyways from the rain. I'll ask what the reason is and hopefully get a gamble roof.

Baruch, may I suggest laminate flooring? It's much cheaper than tile and doesn't have grout.