aviary floor

[kenny]

right you lot get your advice caps on .....i need to know waht you think the best floor would be for my aviary,i used to have pea gravel on the floor of my old one and it was pretty rodent proof,but i dont know whether or not to do the same or put pavers or concrete then some bark chippings i am really torn i dont neccessaraly want the cheapest the beat looking most servicable floor would be ideal.....any anwers!

ken

[Waxbillman]

hello Ken, i would be tempted to either pave it or concrete it and then but eith gravel or bark, both have advantages and disadvatages, gravel is easily cleaned and looks nice, bark chippings are hard to clean, but look nice and will break down, = free livefood, if it help at all both my outdoor aviaries are barked.

Matthew

[Strawblady2000]

Hmmm...

I've seen the floors that are paved...easy to hose off for sure!

But...the bark looks nice too!

As I'm not familiar with the kinds of insects (the problematic ones like fire ants here) or the types of rodents you are trying to keep out...it's hard to say.

For my eventual aviary, lol, I am putting pavers down (sort of like bricks) but am leaving a 1-2 inch space between them and planting seedling grasses that would be edible. This way, I can hose the pavers down while watering the grass. I've seen this in several outdoor aviaries and it looks very attractive, IMO, of course.

Click on the picture here for an example.
http://www.aviaryconnections.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=3GA8-SC-COMBO&Category_Code=Outdoor-Aviaries-Cages-Macaw-Parrots-Outside

I also like the look of coconut chips...but we have a problem, as humidity can be high, with mold spores. So, for here, the drier the better.

Fire ants are a major issue here as well. While a never-ending ant supply would make the birds happy, they are nasty little things that can actually kill cattle and large animals...they get to birds and nests all the time. Of course, Texas is probably next to Australia for things that can kill you, lol. Even Africanized bees are everywhere.

Leave it to me...once again, I've gone off on a tangent.

[Waxbillman]

cocoa nut chips are absolutly pap waste of money, very expensive. they go manky after get wet twice, though like you say better for drier climates, we sell them in the garden centre, they don't sell fast at £7.99 a sack

Matthew

[Strawblady2000]

Hi matthew,

Coco-chips are very expensive for what they are. I dont even think we can buy them at a reasonable quantity that is cost effective here. Do other kinds of chips go bad as quickly?

It seems like chips would be a pain to clean, unless one had a HUGE shop-vacuum to suck it all up with, lol. I once tried recycled paper that resembles fine kitty-litter. It was great, as it was siftable...but it really was a pain, despite it's clean look. Substrate looks nice on cage bottoms...but no matter what I've used, I end up going back to paper. At least I can monitor droppings, though it isnt as sightly as some of the other stuff out there.

Thanks for the information, Matthew...it will certainly come in handy when I get to that point.

Waiting for the day when we purchase a home...then I can go absolutely MAD with the birds!!!!!!! Inside AND out!!!

;}

[laurab]

Hi Kenny

We have concrete floors which we cover with Easy-bed (used for horse stables). As it is light in colour the bird poop does not show up as much as it does on bark.

I change the floor covering every 2-3 months, or sooner if needed.

I think I have mentioned before, Easy-bed is the same as Dry-bird except we pay £5.99 for a bale of Easy-bed as opposed to £8.99 which is what Dry-bird sells for in pet shops.

[kenny]

hi all
thanks for all the ideas.matt i was going to go with the bark chippings but how do you keep mice out!


ken

[laurab]

You don't!!!

[Waxbillman]

hello Ken, pretty easy really matey, i said concrete or pave it first then put the bark chippings on top. if like me you cannot be bothered to concrete the lot, or need soil for planting then then digg around a 30cm deep, (or more) trench around the perimeter of you aviary then fill it with a course of gobbo, or lay a course of bricks to save money.

Matthew

[kenny]

hi matt
as you have seen all the way round my avairy i have limestone chips about a foot deep i dont think they can get through that stuff as it is pretty deep and quite heavy for amouse to burrow under i would ahve thought

ken

[PAUL HEARN]

Hi Ken,

Obviously concrete slab or cement floors are the best for helping to keep Mice out of the aviary, but it becomes a pain with planting as everthing is restricted to being planted in tubs, when it comes to watering them you may disturb birds that are nesting.

I still prefered having soil floors in the aviaries because of better planting, but even with 2ft deep balast and gravel trenches supporting the 2ft brick wall surounding base the Mice were a huge problem.

Good luck with your choice mate.

Paul.:grin:

[Dave7545@blueyonder.]

Hi Kenny, I also use easibird in both my aviaries. I have one with Australian finches which has a wooden floor and the other with Bourkes parakeets which is paved with slabs. The floor always looks clean and in the Bourkes aviary it soaks up any damp that rises through the slabs.
Rgds

Dave

[paullee]

Well thats a lot of ideas, and to be honest i have used most of them, my last large flight was soil on 10" of ballast so i could have a well over grown flight. This time as i have built a birdroom with cages, a inside and outside flight i have used concrete but made it look like slabs, one handy thing if you have a brick or wood base around the flight and slightly slope the floor down you can leave a removable brick or just a meshed gap so when you spray it down all the water runs out at that point.
At the end of the day its how much time you have to keep it clean and how nice you wish it to look.

[geffski]

hello Ken, i would be tempted to either pave it or concrete it and then but eith gravel or bark, both have advantages and disadvatages, gravel is easily cleaned and looks nice, bark chippings are hard to clean, but look nice and will break down, = free livefood, if it help at all both my outdoor aviaries are barked.

Matthewrealy like the idea of bark chips but how do you go about keeping them clean and how often is a replacment needed?

[Waxbillman]

well there is a few different ways really, providing the aviary is not over crowded they won't be too mucky for cages, when they do i just turned them over and when that side gets mucky obviously i replace them, but its not very often, my aviary are fairly sparsely populated so its not a problem

regards

Matthew

[geffski]

cheers for that!
its going to be a large aviary but wont to to keep maintainance to a minimum
so im gana stick with gravel over hardcore with earth areas planted.