# Natural Outdoor Aviary



## Kaush (Jan 12, 2009)

I am going to be building an aviary in the next few weeks and I was wondering if anyone had any ideas as to what animals could live in it. The aviary will measure 10ft long by 10ft wide by 7ft high. I would like it to be quite well planted and look as natural as possible. I would like to be able to keep the animals in groups and would like them to breed but it is not absolutely necessary. They will live outdoors all year round so a roof can be provided if rain is going to be a problem, and the coldest is gets around here is about 0 degrees celcius so an insulated house could be provided. 

Does anyone have any suggestions?


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## white (May 16, 2009)

birds or mammals?


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## bassy 1019 (Sep 26, 2006)

polecats al the time.


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## trw (Mar 2, 2009)

Birds
budgies, zebra finches, cockatiels, conures, amazon parrots

Mammals
ferrets, meercats(if heated accomodation and shelter from the rain is provided)


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## dogmandango (Mar 31, 2009)

if it was me i would choose what i wanted and build around that animal makes sence if you think about it : victory:


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## farmercoope (Aug 19, 2008)

think of the animal you eeally want and get that, dont just get an animal because you can keep it, you wont appreciate it as much if you don't really want it!


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## Kaush (Jan 12, 2009)

I dont really have any preference between birds or mammals. I was thinking ferrets or polecats but I have heard that they like to chew and bite at anything thing they can and they dig, so I was thinking this could be a problem in a planted enclosure. I dont think I have the budget for a group of meercats, and their digging would be a problem. Would any of the conures or amazon parrots or macaws need a heated home, or would a roof on top be ok, to protect them from the rain?


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## ex0tics (Jun 9, 2009)

How about some eastern rosellas?
They are colourful and lovely I'm sure they don't need heating but maybe some shelter.


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## LoveForLizards (Apr 20, 2008)

dogmandango said:


> if it was me i would choose what i wanted and build around that animal makes sence if you think about it : victory:


:no1:



Kaush said:


> I dont really have any preference between birds or mammals. I was thinking ferrets or polecats but I have heard that they like to chew and bite at anything thing they can and they dig, so I was thinking this could be a problem in a planted enclosure. I dont think I have the budget for a group of meercats, and their digging would be a problem. Would any of the conures or amazon parrots or macaws need a heated home, or would a roof on top be ok, to protect them from the rain?


Ferrets are likely to dig/chew up plants and they need mesh embedded into the ground.


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## Kaush (Jan 12, 2009)

How about finches? Could I keep a couple of pairs of finches in a well planted aviary? Could they be kept outside all year with only a nesting box?


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## cmullins (Feb 20, 2008)

harris hawk


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## LoveForLizards (Apr 20, 2008)

cmullins said:


> harris hawk


100x no.:lol2:


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## farmercoope (Aug 19, 2008)

cmullins said:


> harris hawk


maybe not!


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## chickens4ever05 (Feb 5, 2008)

keeping birds reallya proper shelter should be provided for winterand rain if you want healthy stock, also when plantin an enclosure you need to see which plants are best fro the spieces your keeping, also birds will soil plants quickly and beliver me a few finches will make plants soon looking unsightly in an avery of that size, im spaking from experience,
conours are extrenly noisy so if you like your nabours be carful.
most parrots and parakeet chew for fun and double wiringmay be essential.

what have you really got in mind fro the garden, you need to do some resear into things you cancy and work from the, put chicken wire under the soil and just cut holes big enought to plant through then digging is not an issue,a friend of mine had chipmonks and the just had nest boxes and were fine for years, he also had rabbits and guineapigs in the bottom

Tom


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## gazz (Dec 9, 2006)

*Pheasants ?.*

*Golden Pheasant male.Avalible in meny mutations.*
*







*​ 
*Lady Amherst Pheasant male.*






 
*Silver Pheasant male & female.*






 
*are the esayist to get.You don't really want pheasant going by the name of Phoenix or Goldherst.Thses are Golden/Lady amherst hybrids.*​ 
*Phoenix or Goldherst pheasant male a hybrid.*






 
*Maybe in a couple years of pheasant keeping you could go for somthing like the below.They have a higher price tag.*​ 
*Temminck's Tragopan male & female.*
*Males look there best when they do there thing.(click link)*
*YouTube - courtship of a Teminck Tragopan*






 
*Himalayan Monal male.*


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## Scoffa (Nov 23, 2006)

Very pretty those pheasants but don't let the Harris hawk see them.:gasp:


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## Kaush (Jan 12, 2009)

Wow gazz, those are some nice looking pheasants, what type of husbandary do they need, is there anywhere in the surrey area where I could buy some?


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## trw (Mar 2, 2009)

Kaush said:


> I dont really have any preference between birds or mammals. I was thinking ferrets or polecats but I have heard that they like to chew and bite at anything thing they can and they dig, so I was thinking this could be a problem in a planted enclosure. I dont think I have the budget for a group of meercats, and their digging would be a problem. Would any of the conures or amazon parrots or macaws need a heated home, or would a roof on top be ok, to protect them from the rain?


i dont think the space would be big enough for macaws, and also they can be very noisy. Amazons and conures should be fine without the whole thing covered as they quite like the rain, but they would need a windproof indoor bit, like a small shed for them to go in when its cold. in the winter they may need a light to extend the daylight hours to give them enough feeding time.



Kaush said:


> How about finches? Could I keep a couple of pairs of finches in a well planted aviary? Could they be kept outside all year with only a nesting box?


I keep zebra finches outside all year around without lights like some of the parrots would need. they have a small indoor area with some perches in it but i dont use nest boxes otherwise they just dont stop breeding. in a 10x10 foot aviary you could probably keep about 15 or 20 birds as long as their were slightly more females than males so that the males didnt fight over females, and enough perches for them all to fit on one perch at night to keep warm.


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## gazz (Dec 9, 2006)

Kaush said:


> Wow gazz, those are some nice looking pheasants, what type of husbandary do they need, is there anywhere in the surrey area where I could buy some?


Husbandary is much the same as domestic fowl.But pens/flights need to be more secure as pheasant tend to be more flighty than domestic fowl.And pheasant are able flyers so always have a top. 

Here a link to pheasants for sale about the UK.
Pheasants For Sale and Wanted on Bird Trader .co.uk. Private/Trade

Here's a link to pheasant eggs on ebay if you know how to incubate.
Hatch and rase you own(More tame and less flighty).And it doesn't matter where in the UK they as they get posted to you: victory:.
pheasant eggs, Home Garden, Books, Comics Magazines, Collectables items at low prices on eBay.co.uk

If you have no close neighbours how about Pea fowl ?.Look good on the lawn if you have a fair size garden.

Indian peafowl.Meny mutations.









Java peafowl(not so common higher price tag).


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## andrew_mcg (Jun 15, 2009)

Sounds good .


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## Kaush (Jan 12, 2009)

I get daily access to peafowls as the school i go to keeps a large flock of them, including white ones, and i live right behind the school and they come into my garden sometimes. Thanks for the info, i am going to seriously consider pheasants.


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## vipera (May 28, 2007)

*pheasants*

i used to breed golden pheasants, they were lovely birds.
with a bit of patience they can get very tame,
mine were tamer than a lot of chickens, they fed from your hand. i used to be able to just walk in and pick the cock bird up, and bring him in the house to show people.
he was so calm he'd settle down to roost on the back of the sofa!
Damn i need to get some again!


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## Cookaaaaay (Mar 8, 2009)

Chipmunks.


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