Birdroom Project

[nigel]

Hi all,

Just a couple of pics to start off my garage/birdroom progress, as you can see I have a bit of task to clear the decks before construction can start. I am afraid I am guilty of " the use it and dump it and can't find it again next time I really need to use it " syndrome. I am sure that when I can see the area I want to convert I will be able to have a meeting with the 'project manager' and she how much she will let me use out of our bank account to furnish the room. Will keep you post over the next few months as to how the `project manager' and I are getting on with the project.

Kick off meeting (it nearly did)
First task - Reverse car up drive (safely-high viz jacket/site hat/goggles on at al ltimes), fill up go, to the local contaminated waste disposal site numerous times. Decontaminate car, report progress to `project manager'

Nigel

[nigel]

These are a few pics of my canarIes.
The one on the right in pic number 3 is actually a Linnet/Canary Mule I have had for a while, it doesn't do much or look all that stricking but it adds to the avairy

[nigel]

Canaries part 2

[dave85]

hey nigel,

Dont mind me asking - where you got your canaries from? and how much? as id love some reds and grey coloured dimorphics is it?

Also that cupboard in the pic could be converted into a roomy cage :P

Thanks
Dave H

[PAUL HEARN]

Hi Nigel,

Good luck with convincing the 'Project Manager' that your plans are the right ones.:lol:

I like the view of the proposed development, I just hope Planning Permission is granted.:grin:

Paul.:wink:

[Waxbillman]

hello Nigel,

you've got some lovely canaries there mate,
good luck with your development.

matthew

[nigel]

Dave,

I got all the canaries a couple of months ago from a bird auction not far from where i live, the same time I got the pair of yellow bishops.
They were £10 for each, will be goin back in sept (as I am on hols in Aug) to see if I can get some more from the same breeder of find out where he lives. I like the bright red and the grey is quite unusual Hopefully I will be able to breed from them next season in the birdroom.
The cupboard in the garage into to a cage is a good idea but its not in that good a nick and will prob fall apart when I move it.

Nigel

[chris]

Hi nigel,

good luck with your project mate! nice canaries:grin: i can't see why they won't breed next year, i have trouble stopping mine from breeding!:wink:

Chris:wink:

[nigel]

D-Day has arrived, the start of the mission to reach the other side of the garage without gettin swamped by all the c**p piled up in there. I will try and rendezvous with the project manager when I have done my reconnaissance. Hope to be back online on monday !!!

Nigel

[kenny]

nice canaries there nigel,hope your project goes well and you get some succesfull breeding.

ken

[bigal47]

Hi one and all
Hi Nigel how's it going?were is the car to live now ?
I have always found that her "that is to be obeyed" usually can be got around with a few chocs and flower not to many as they think what has he done now!!
I have never had a problem as the wife( as she likes to be called )usually is the one who starts the major projects and always ends up with the best birds in the show she also kept her own birds in the past.
Well Nigel tell us what going on now have you started building and what birds will you be expanding into then?
Allan

[nigel]

Hi Allan,
All good plans fall apart, I have not had time this weekend to start as I intended due to that saturday feelin you get after one to many beverages on friday night, also had a charity dinner dance to go to last night so had to get sorted for that. I will have to put it off till next weekend now, still got plenty of time to do it before birds are ready. I am going to have a look at a couple of chaps set up this afternoon they breed red factor canaries which is they direction I am looking to go in.

Will keep you posted on the progress once it actually starts

Nigel

[bigal47]

Hi Nigel
Just think of the birds!!!! May be a good idea to see other peoples birdroom set up and there birds ,it may give you the LETS GET STARTED moment, and cash in on those moments and act. There will be a lot of problems before you are finished but it will be woth it in the long run. I always found the best way to get motavated to build an addition to our avairys was to go out and buy the birds you want and leave them at a friends place, you will find the time to start building then.
Allan
All ways remember that the great wall of China was built one stone at a time.

[nigel]

Hi all,

Went to see a couple of chaps yesterday and was encouraged by their set up, one in particular has a large set up but he does not work so has time to do all the daily tasks for such a large number of birds. I had a look at their birds and have decided to get a pair from one and a couple of pairs from the other just to widen the blood line a bit although the 2 lads have been friends for years and only live a couple of miles apart so their birds will be related in some way as they have swapped birds to breed in the past, I will probly go for 2 pairs of normal red factors and a pair of Mosaic reds (see pic ). That will give me 4 pairs and a spare hen including the ones I already have for breeding next season, I have managed to put a reserve on a block of 12 (4x3) breeding boxes from a chap who breeds Glosters and is emigrating to Canada in December for £30 which will fit nicely into the proposed bird room. All these will give me the push to start the clear out, may even start this evening as I will not have any tasks from the boss to do as she works till 8:30. Keep you posted.

Nigel

[kenny]

hi nigel,

will look forward to that news ,we always like to follow new projects and see how they work out ,good luck mate.

ken

[nigel]

Hi all,
Does anyone know were the best place to get dimmer/timers for my birdroom.
Exact size of a double breeder, as I need to plan the space out I believe they are 36"long x 10"wide x 15"deep?

Nigel

[kenny]

hi nigel

there are plenty of adverts in the cage and aviary mag and also some dimmer/timers,but if you look on e-bay and you are not in a rush there are some bargains on there now,you are right most of the double breeders are roughly the same size but some are slightly higher and wider but not much in it.

ken

[jimmy]

Hi Nigel,

Check out Arlane Aviculture, thats where i get my breeders, i personally think they are good value..



jimmy

[Waxbillman]

hello Nigel,

i got mine from sunrise aviculture, have had it for 4 years now.

matthew

[PAUL HEARN]

Hi Nigel,

I have bought some very cheap Dimmer/Timers from Wikes for around £4-£5 each, I've yet to find out how long they last but just in case I bought more than I need at present.:grin:

Paul.:wink:

[bigal47]

Hi Nigel.
How far is the new birdroom from the house or main power supply. The main reason I ask is in the past I always use to wire up a light, on a normal house hold dimmer in the house, with the light in the birdroom, this was so that I could dim the light with out going into the birdroom and if we had birds disturbed in the night I was able to turn on the light and dim them with out going out side. Oh yes we always had a camera set up to the computer so we could see what was going on in the shed anyway.
Allan

[nigel]

Hi all,
Thanks for the info.
I have at last started the project. As you can see from the photos I have cleared all the stuff from the wall cupboards onto the work tops, amazin how much you can cram in. Next task is to go thro and throw out anythin which I haven't used in the last 6 months (if I haven't used in in that time I never will).
And yes you do have to move stuff from one side to the other whilst you see were to store stuff and where the dogs are goin to sleep.

Keep yo posted when I have cleared the decks

Nigel

[nigel]

Hi Allan,
The garage is on its own circuit from the mains fuse trip box, the bloke who had the house before me built it like a seperate small bungalow. I will need to get a dimmer/timer that can be run from the garage.

Cheers
Nigel

[kenny]

hi nigel

my kitchen looks like that all the time:grin: :grin:

ken

[jimmy]

Hi Nigel,

Are you getting a dawn to dusk dimmer which takes so many minutes to come on & go off,

I was thinking of using a normal timer to turn lights on & off, do you think this might be to quick and spook the birds.

Like Alans idea of a dimmer in the house.

Jimmy

[nigel]

Jimmy,

Hopefully dawn to dusk, it may give them a bit of a shock but not sure. Also may need to put up a red low wattage bulb to be on at night just to give a small amount of light in the birdroom to allow birds to see where the nest pans are if they get off for any reason ?

Nigel

[jimmy]

Will you put the red light on a timer ?

[kenny]

hi jimmy

have put my red light on to the workings of one of those garden lights with a soler panel on leave the panel screwed to the outside and put the light that normally lights up at dusk inside the bird room and as soon as daylight comes it goes of and the solar panel recharges the batteries

ken

[nigel]

Jimmy,
I was just goin to put it on a timer to coincide with the main light dimming at dusk.
The birdroom will be full of timers and dimmers and no room for breeding cages !!!

[jimmy]

Cheers guys.

I never thought to much about lighting in my birdroom.

Time to get the wire snippers out :)

[nigel]

Hi all

Day 3 of clear out and I've done it, all ready to partition off, board out, wire up and paint.
Damn forgot that I have all the stuff I have thrown out to take to the tip (about 5 trips to the tip with a car bulging at the seams), but at least the inside is ready for the next phase.
Next is to prepare the floor and walls for painting, I will be on hols from next saturday for 2 weeks so will have to commence after that.

Nigel

[jimmy]

Hi Nigel,

Starting to look good mate, bet it seems a lot bigger in there now !!!

Jimmy:)

PS: Have a good holiday and don't drink to much :razz:

[kenny]

my god nigel thats 200% more space there,i bet you will spend all of your holiday planning what you are going to do next,hope you have a nice holiday nigel see you when you get back.


ken

[nigel]

Ken
I am already waking up in the night several times think how's the best and cheapest way to construct it's feel drained already. Hopefully the hols in a week will give me time to relax, in the meantime I will be thinking and preparing and working out costs so it won't shock her in doors.

[nigel]

Jimmy,

Its like a small house now with all the rubbish removed, still won't be puttin car in as thats where the 2 dogs live, they will have ample space to muck about and when the birds are installed will be able to guard them against scumbags who may want to nick them !

[kenny]

hi nigel

thats an ideal set up just like me a nice couple of dogs as a deterrent

ken

[nigel]

Hi All,

Back of hols now and got straight into the birdroom project.Nearly completed building side of it and will now concentrate on finishing touches prior to buying my breeding boxes and building a small indoor flight. Will get some pics on the forum in the next few days.
Its lookin good, could move in there myself .

Nigel

[Waxbillman]

hello Nigal

sounds great, glad to hear your back to work on the project.
good luck

matthew

[kenny]

hi nigel

welcome back buddy,hope you are fit and well and ready to get back to the job in hand.send us some pics of the finished article when you have the time

ken

[chris]

Hi Nigel,

good luck with your project mate:-) it seems to be coming on well so far

Chris:wink:

[PAUL HEARN]

Hi Nigel,

It's great to have you back on here mate, keep up the good work, I hope to see the results of your hard work soon.

Paul.:grin:

[laurab]

Can't wait to see the results of your hard labour :wink:

[kenny]

hi laura

so he hasn`t been on holiday he has been in prison

:grin: :grin: :grin: ken

[laurab]

LOL :razz: It does sound like that :-P

[nigel]

Hi all,

Been a while since I last posted a thread, birdroom project near completion, inside flight finished, took delivery of the 12 breeding boxes on saturday. They were a bit of a mess as the bloke didn't have time to clean them before I picked them up but with a bit of paint and scrubbing they are looking great, he gave me 12 of everything -water bottles,metal and plastic feeders,perches,solid and wire dividers.Only regret is he had sold the dimmer/timer to someone else I will have to look at Stafford for a cheap one. Hope to get canaries in a couple of weeks and then I will be up and running, pictures will be posted ASAP.
My better half is already a bit concerned with all the time I am spending in the garage even before I have the birds, better not to let her know what actually goes on in there !!!! lol

Nigel

[kenny]

hi nigel

welcome back mate,sounds as if you have been really busy mate,hope you can get some pics up of your progress

ken:grin:

[jimmy]

Hi Nigel,

Sounds like you are getting there mate.

Hoping to get a dimmer/timer at Stafford myself.

Jimmy :smile:

[Waxbillman]

hello Nigal,

glad to hear you are nearly getting there, and luck forward to seeing the pics.

matthew

[PAUL HEARN]

Hi Nigel,

It sounds as though you are making great progress there mate, well done!

To you and Jimmy,

Plug in dimmer/timers can be bought from B&Q or Whickes for under £5 each, although they only work on bulbs they are well worth the money, if you want dimmers for light tubes you will be looking at spending quite a lot more than that.

Paul.:wink:

[nigel]

Thanks Paul I will have a look.

No then here we go, I have a few pics of the finished project which did run over budget but I don't know by how much, the project manager will no doubt know to the exact penny as she would of been checking the expenditure from the accounts. I did get a bargain or 2 on the way and it could of cost a hell of a lot more if I had bought new stuff or got someone in to do it ( thats what I've been telling the project manager).
All I need now is the birds to start me off, will have to wait a week or 2 until the chap I am buying from is satisfied they are good enough and which sex they are, will be twiddling my thumbs till then, although my youngest daughter wants her bedroom decorated which no doubt I will be roped into this weekend.
I will attach the photos in 2 threads, if they are not clear I will try again.

Cheers
Nigel :grin:

[nigel]

Next Photos

[jimmy]

Looking good Nigel.

[Waxbillman]

great,

all you need now is the birds

matthew

[laurab]

Great job!


If you have a shop called in-excess near you, timmers only costt £1.99 there!

[kenny]

hi nigel


looking really well there mate what birds are you putting in there mate

ken

[dave85]

Looking good nigel!

Where did you get the cages from? anymore where they came from?

Thanks
Dave

[nigel]

Kenny
I am buying red factor (3 pairs) and clear red dimorphic (2 pairs ) canaries as I already have one pair and the other cage can be used as spare/mule I have a seperate double cage i will use as a hospital cage. The small indoor flight will be used for any young birds (hopefully) and to over winter my pair of weavers.


Dave
I got them from a chap in wigan near manchester don't know if he has any left to sell the ones he had left weren't up to much a bit heath robinsonish, mine were like that when I picked them up,even got my better half to help me clean them up before I repainted them, it took a few hours but worth it as they a perfect for red factors, altho the offical colour stated for the inside of red factor canary show cages is Dulux `somethin' blue which I could not find so I got the nearest I could find. Sounds a bit anorakish espeically to my wife but if I am goin to do them up I want to do it properly. All will be come clear when I get the birds and I post some pics.

Nigel

[PAUL HEARN]

Hi Nigel,

Your cage blocks look great, top job on the paint job mate, but we all know it's all in the preperation don't we?
So a big WELL DONE to the Project Manager!:grin:

And your insulated walls look as if you have put in a lot of time to do the job, good one Nigel.:wink:

I bet you are itching for next Spring to come around very soon.

Paul.:grin:

[jimmy]

Hi nigel,

I like your seed feeders mate, could you let me know where you got them from.

Thanks

Jimmy

[nigel]

Hi Jimmy
They came with the cage block
They were filthy when I picked them up, so dismantled them and painted, not seen metal and glass ones before.
Nigel