My Non-Traditional Aviary

It is not that I am against the traditional set up of breeding aviaries like the ones that I have visited. In fact, I even called them “ideal”. It is just that I do not have enough space to build such breeding aviary.

But my strong desire to breed lovebirds made me create some workaround. The only space where I could place my aviary is at my driveway. I don’t call it a garage coz’ it doesn’t have a roof. The maximum size I could use is 1 meter deep from the wall and 36 feet long.

Picture above shows the initial set up of my breeding aviary while it is still incomplete.

At first, I’m a bit frustrated that I can only house 18 lovebird breeders and 4 cockatiel breeders. Every time they produce good mutations, I am tempted to sell some of my breeders and try the new ones. Trying to produce different mutation added excitement and that is how I overcome my frustration.

Problems encountered on non-traditional aviaries

1. Mice
Setting up breeding aviaries like mine is a bit complicated and sometimes disappointing. The very first problem I had is mice. They keep on coming back and waiting for the right time to attack. I never gave them a chance though; I immediately find solution to resolve the problem.

2. Rain showers
Since I have a plant box filled with tropical plants on the other side of my driveway, I do not want to entirely put a roof to my driveway. Plants need sunlight, plus roofing the entire driveway is so expensive and will just block the air from entering my house’s windows.
What I did is to roof only the area used for the breeding cages, just enough to keep them dry. I only used plastic roofing since it is less expensive and doesn’t produces heat just like ordinary GI sheets.

3. Too much exposure to sunlight
I have learned that too much exposure to afternoon sunlight is an issue to my lovebirds. I do not have the option to transfer the breeding cages to the other side of my driveway for them to receive morning sunlight instead. What I did is to roof the entire garage with fish net. I’m not sure of the grade or size but according to the seller, it reduces at least 50% of sunlight. After several weeks of observation, my plants and birds seem ok and never had any problem since.

4. Mosquitoes
I learned from a friend who is a long time breeder that lovebirds hated mosquitoes. I’m not sure of the exact reason why but I am assuming that they don’t want to be disturbed with mosquito buzz and bites. Since I do not want to enclose my breeding cages with mosquito nets, I planted several mosquito repellent plants instead. According to the seller this is Malvarosa, but I doubt if it is the real name because searching “malvarosa” from the internet leads me to another type of plant. I propagated the plants to multiply them and placed them under the cages. So far so good! No more mosquitoes even inside my house.

5. It took them sometime to feel at home
When I started breeding lovebirds, I bought 10 proven pairs. Some pairs entered the nesting box after two weeks but most of them after 2 months and worst, 2 pairs after 4 months. Continued research and consulting assured me that this is normal especially when the cages are situated where they can always see people. Just be patient till they feel relaxed and at home.

Ideal Breeding Aviary

In my country, the Philippines, most of the breeding aviaries I visited are so secured from any unwanted elements like mice, lizards, cockroaches, mosquitoes and the likes. The whole aviary is equipped with enough lighting; birds are safe from rain showers but still allowing the sunlight to get in through. All windows and doors are covered by mosquito screens, etc.. This kind of setup is so ideal that your birds are always undisturbed, happy with their environment that even dusts and smokes coming from the outside are limited.

Although, I have seen lots of advantages in setting up traditional aviaries like I mentioned above, I only have one complaint, I couldn’t stand the heat inside. The humidity is so much that I couldn’t stay a minute inside. I’m not really sure if that temperature would somehow affect the health of the birds, but according to the owners, their birds seem to be happy and healthy and all are breeding pretty well.

Another thing, you have to make sure that you clean the aviary on a daily basis especially the catch basins. I visited one, somewhere around Metro Manila, the smell inside is so terrible. The owner said they clean the food and water containers on a daily basis but for the catch basin, only once or twice a week. So, if you’re planning to set up traditional aviary, make sure not to skip this part.