Wire safe or not???

[MarciaLove]

YARDGARD 3 ft. x 25 ft. 19-Gauge Galvanized Hardware Cloth-308225B at The Home Depot is this safe wire for my aviary?? Im having lots of trouble finding wire

 

[coltfire]

thats fine from what i can see,

 

[Featheredsamurai]

A lot of people use galvanized wire, but I would never do so. Galvanized wire has zinc in it, which can lead to zinc/heavy metal poisoning. I would rather not have an aviary than use galvanized wire and risk zinc poisoning(it can even happen years later)

 

[weco]

Copper's right about the zinc, but there really is not much choice of alternatives unless you don't care about price.....if that's the case, the same product is also available in stainless steel, but not from Home Depot.....

If you use galvanized wire, get a cheap 3" brush, 2-3 gallons of vinegar & once your aviary is built, start at the top & paint the wire with the vinegar, both on the inside & outside of the wire.....best to do this in the morning so it doesn't dry off in the heat.....when you've thoroughly painted all of the wire, hose off the vinegar & floor area to remove any zinc residue created by the vinegar painting.....

Every 3-4 months, take a piece of white cloth & rub it across the cage wire to see if a grey powder comes off onto the cloth...if it does, you will need to go through the vinegar painting operation again.....

There are a couple of galvanizing methods for hardware cloth...hot dipped (dull looking) and electroplated (shiny finish).....the hot dipped will have a thicker coating and provide greater durability in an outdoor installation.....

 

[Featheredsamurai]

Copper's right about the zinc, but there really is not much choice of alternatives unless you don't care about price.....if that's the case, the same product is also available in stainless steel, but not from Home Depot.....

If you use galvanized wire, get a cheap 3" brush, 2-3 gallons of vinegar & once your aviary is built, start at the top & paint the wire with the vinegar, both on the inside & outside of the wire.....best to do this in the morning so it doesn't dry off in the heat.....when you've thoroughly painted all of the wire, hose off the vinegar & floor area to remove any zinc residue created by the vinegar painting.....

Every 3-4 months, take a piece of white cloth & rub it across the cage wire to see if a grey powder comes off onto the cloth...if it does, you will need to go through the vinegar painting operation again.....

There are a couple of galvanizing methods for hardware cloth...hot dipped (dull looking) and electroplated (shiny finish).....the hot dipped will have a thicker coating and provide greater durability in an outdoor installation.....

I read online that the hot dipped is higher risk for parrots, but no reports proving this were provided.

 

[crimson]

Economically it's fantastic. my nephew and I built a 7' x 5' aviary, which we divided into 4 sections, and only cost $200.00 for the hardware cloth, lumber, screws etc...

I had sold four small cages to pay for it, and got a huge cage in return!!, best deal I ever made.

now having said that, the other members are right, but the birds I keep in my aviary are gouldian finches, society, and canaries, and 1 pineapple conure. He is the only one that uses his beak to climb down or around the cage.
since you have lovebirds, you know they love using their beak, but tend to fly more than a conure does when caged.

 

[MarciaLove]

I read online as well that hot dipped was very dangerous. I really don't have another option I cant afford the other wire, but except for my lovebirds (only one of my lovies will go in the aviary) my birds arent big cage climbers they prefer the perches and in the aviary I will have lots of perches and tree stands and toys and real trees (the safe ones) so I was hoping it wouldnt be a big deal and I will definitely do the vinegar thing thanks