Looking for birds to put in my 8 x 16' outdoor aviary.

[Hoover67]

Help! I am looking to put some birds in my outdoor aviary. At this moment, there is no heat source. I have not built housing inside yet as I am waiting to see what I need. It is covered in 1"x2" welded wire. I live in north Alabama (zone 7a) and would prefer to not have to heat the aviary in winter. Are there any birds suitable? I have a large branched tree stump about 6' tall with three or four 2' to 3' branches inside the aviary. It would be so cool to look and see beautiful birds perched on the branches!

Thanks

 

[zayn]

there are birds which will look bautiful your perch and will withstand the cold. Try 'Pakistani Tipplers/tipplers-( these are mainly white with black speckled necks -will look nice -nice looking breed) or any other breed of pigeons, maybe fantails or rollers?

 

[Ozarkhomesteader]

Help! I am looking to put some birds in my outdoor aviary. At this moment, there is no heat source. I have not built housing inside yet as I am waiting to see what I need. It is covered in 1"x2" welded wire. I live in north Alabama (zone 7a) and would prefer to not have to heat the aviary in winter. Are there any birds suitable? I have a large branched tree stump about 6' tall with three or four 2' to 3' branches inside the aviary. It would be so cool to look and see beautiful birds perched on the branches!

Thanks

Pet birds can do ok, but a shelter is critical. Just like chickens, they need shelter from the wind, rain, and cold or they will get sick. a good simple rule of thumb is under around 40-50 degrees f, you should provide a heat lamp (or 2) to heat the indoor enclosure. Make sure you encase the heat lamp so the birds don't fly into it and get cooked.

do you have any birds you would like? are you going for a mixed aviary or a single species one?

If you absolutly don't want to provide heating, pigeons are hardy, and come in many beautiful colors. they can also be just as friendly (or more so in an aviary type situation) as a pet bird.

By the way, when i say pet bird i am refering to things like parakeets, finches, cockatiels, macaws, cockatoos, greys, etc.

Good luck!! Set up right, aviarys are very rewarding

 

[Ozarkhomesteader]

there are birds which will look bautiful your perch and will withstand the cold. Try 'Pakistani Tipplers/tipplers-( these are mainly white with black speckled necks -will look nice -nice looking breed) or any other breed of pigeons, maybe fantails or rollers?

i love fantails and rollers...they are really pretty birds....

 

[maxsgoldens]

Golden pheasants

 

[Ozarkhomesteader]

Golden pheasants

2x

such beautiful birds...gives the aviary an exotic kind of look

 

[Rosa moschata]

There are some species of European finches which are bred in captivity. You may be able to include them in your aviary -- but perhaps no more than one pair of each species. How large is the aviary?

 

[Tony K T]

Cockatiels,rosellas along with the red goldens.Or you can put multiple pheasants in there,but they all have to be males with no females around.The 1"x2" wire may be too big for cockateils.It is definetly too big fo any finch,plus they don't do good at all in the cold.If your thinking of multiple types of birds you will need lots of perching areas for all species to get away from each other.Whatever you decide to put in there,be sure to put all birds in at the same time.If your pen is occupied the new comers are intruders and they will defend their pen.If you add a new bird to an established pen,there will be problems.
In N.H.,Tony.

 

[Rosa moschata]

Good catch, Tony -- I missed the bit about the wire spacing. The finches I was thinking of, however, should be able to handle the cold because they're native European finches -- Greenfinches, Goldfinches, Bullfinches, etc. If you had smaller wire spacing, those should do OK in your Winters -- but if it was me, I'd still probably cover the aviary in plastic before it gets into the 20s, even if they didn't need it.