can i convert indoor cockatiels to oustide aviary cockatiels?

[narufry]

I have three cockatiels, two male and one female, and the males are fighting a lot recently and I think it's because the cage is too small. I don't have enough room in the house for a bigger cage, but we just built a huge chicken run and have a lot of material left over. I'm thinking of making an outside aviary for the three.
Would it need to be completely enclosed/sheltered on all four sides or would three be fine? or maybe a hexagonal with two panels open so it mainly sheltered but open a little in the front? or something along those lines.
I usually take them outside during the day, so they are used to being outside.
Any other tips?
Or is it just not going to work?

 

[weco]

There's a good chance the males are fighting over the female & unless you know which is her choice, you may have to have three separate cage facilities, but to answer your question, a lot depends on where you live and what the average winter and summer temperatures are. Most companion birds can handle temps between the mid 30s and low 80s. Of course you will need to provide a means for them to get in out of the sun when they want to, a means for them to stay out of rain, sleet, snow, etc. and a means to keep them off the ground, otherwise you will need to be concerned about possible parasites they can pickup from being exposed to areas frequented by wild birds.

 

[narufry]

There's a good chance the males are fighting over the female & unless you know which is her choice, you may have to have three separate cage facilities

we had one female and a male first, then we had to take another male of someone who didnt want it
and he kinda stole the female off of the other male
but
the original male didnt really and still doesnt really seem too interested in the female anyway.

we live in a fairly nice climate here
the average maximum is 23.7 °C (74.7°F) in february and 14.5°C (58.1°F) in July during the day and the lowest ever minimum was -0.06 celcius i think
at night its only a little lower that the daily max

 

[weco]

The temps are OK for an outdoor aviary, as long as you provide shade they can readily get under and protection from rain or other storms. It still sounds like two males fighting over the female.

 

[DannyA93]

I would try separating that one male and see how they get on like that. i would say you would probably need some sort of heating or bring them in at night if the day temps are around 58, do you know the night time temp. average? i personally would bring them inside during the night anyway to keep them away from cold and nocturnal predators. As for the design of the aviary i like the hexagon idea personally

 

[narufry]

I tried separating the first male we had, as The other male and the female are more attatched to eachother.
The poor guy made a huge fuss all evening and then all morning from about 5am until I left. So I don't really want to separate him.
We actually went to the pet store today to get him another female so he wouldnt be all lonely by himself. but there was a male blue indian ringneck exactly like we had been looking for for so long so we bought that instead.
I think we'll get him another female if we do build an aviary anyway.
During the day it's usually cooler inside than outside, and I plan to have a little enclosed box for them to shelter in at night.

 

[MikeyTN]

You guys didn't have room for another cage to separate them but you had the room to add another cage for a Indian Ringneck? I really hope you guys are practicing quarantine....Just like weco mentioned, there is a BIG chance they can contract something from the wild birds and if you bring them back inside the house, then your taking chances with your Indian ringneck contracting something from them if they do catch something. And there are diseases such as psittacosis that can be transfer to humans and it can be deadly. The last time I read about it is about one person a year contracting it but it is still a risk....Then there's the mites issue, PBFD, giradia, etc etc.....

 

[narufry]

We had an indian ringneck before and already had a cage from her.
We'd been looking for another irn because the other one got spooked and flew away.
We could have put harry in the irn cage but it's quite large and I feel like it would be a waste to just have one little 'tiel in there. and also the issue with separating the 'tiels and them not being happy was another reason we couldn't put him in there.

We're very aware of diseases from wild birds or anything else that could harm our buddies and we're taking the greatest care to keep them safe.
We would never put them in a situation where we knew they could get harmed or become sick.

We most likely will not be taking them back inside. We've made a plan and started building an aviary with a cover for night time to keep the heat in and the cold out.

There won't be any foreign bird poopies getting in to contaminate the 'tiels, as it will be partially inside the chicken run and completely under cover and out of the way of wild birds. there won't be any way for them to get near the aviary or get any contaminated things in or near.There are no predators here and the aviary we are building now is very secure and will be well sheltered during the day and night.

 

[MonicaMc]

Do not provide a small box for the cockatiels to stay warm in, then. They'll need something akin to a small shed (roof and 3-4 solid sides - doesn't necessarily have to reach to the ground) and then the 'out-door' area for natural sunshine. A small box will only promote breeding.


Also, please be sure that the chicken wire is not zinc coated.

 

[narufry]

What does zinc coated chicken wire do to them?
And yeah, I also realized that if they have a small box they'll probably just fight when they get in there too.

 

[weco]

Zinc is a heavy metal, that when ingested, affects the nervous system and will eventually kill a bird.....it is not chicken wire that is the problem, but the coating that the fence wire is dipped in to resist rusting.....any galvanized wire or metal products will contain the same toxic zinc. Electroplated galvanizing solution is applied differently than hot-dip (like chicken wire) and the wire can be carefully brushed with vinegar to retard the leaching of zinc from the coating solution.

The problem lies in the fact that parrots will beak/taste and chew on almost anything and if they chew on the fencing enough, it will kill them.

 

[narufry]

We went to the bird barn to see if they had any of the stuff they use, and they use regular chicken wire, galvanized. the guy there said that the weather helps to remove some of the excess and that we could also scrub it with vinegar and water to get rid of a bit more. They've been using that method for like, 15 yrs so I think it should be fine? right?

 

[MonicaMc]

Washing it down with vinegar will remove the zinc and potentially lead to rusting, so that's another concern to worry about.

Many people have used zinc coated wire that's been washed down with vinegar (it'll kill grass!) though. Make sure that the wire is GAW and not GBW. That also makes a difference in safety.


I don't know about the chicken wire that you have, but the chicken wire in my area is often large enough for a cockatiel to easily stick his head through, so that would be another safety concern for me.

 

[narufry]

We got really small chicken wire, so It should be fine, I don't see any birds getting anything through this. I can fit one finger through each hole.