Thank you Suz and Joel!! It helps just hearing the names of all these pieces of equipment that I may need - I'm so clueless when it comes to this kind of thing!

Joel, we own our house. And I would like to have a door for myself to enter because I don't think I would leave them out in it without me there - I would worry way too much about predators.

The mesh screening is a good idea to keep mosquitoes out - they can get bad here, but I would try to have the fids back in the house before the mosquitoes came out anyways.

And yes Joel, any pics you may have would greatly help.

Sarah......Do you have a sliding glass door in your house that opens to the outside. If so, then maybe just build your aviary/flight onto that so ya can walk right in and sit down if ya like. Make a wire door on one side that you can open up easily from inside the aviary and step out into the yard thru that.

Yes screening is great, just make sure there is no lead in it or any toxic metal/substance if the screening is wire. If not wire then ya have to be concerned about it being torn by the birds or critters. I don't think it is absolutely necessary though as most all my birds are outside 24/7 and I do not use it. Plenty of mosquitos around here at certain times of the year and no complications so far from them (that I know of). Suit yourself though, if ya want to reduce the remote chance of them catching something from a mosquito bite.

Nope, we unfortunately don't have a sliding glass door. Only the front door and garage doors open to the outside.

Well then, many of you Michiganians are at a disadvantage in that dept... I thought everyone had sliding glass doors to the outside.


So, if it was me, I would still go with a large window type aviary with a small door that allows you to simply open the window and bring in your lil ones safely (with no chance of escape) when you want and have the time to interact with them. Most of the time they will be more than content just flying around in their new large flight quarters, playing around with all their toys and watching/observing all the life around them outdoors.

Plus the wall of the house that the aviary would be attached to provides protection/security and some additional warmth vs. a free standing aviary/flight out in the yard. You could plexi-glass the two ends and the upper part of the front to (again) hold in the heat from the heat source you can provide in there for them. I would make a double floor to protect their feet from any critters below. You would make the cage 7 ft. - 7 & 1/2ft. long x 3 & 1/2 ft. deep (front to back approx.) so the 4 ft. wide x 8 ft. long sheet of galvanized sheet metal would fit nicely on top with a lil overhang on all sides. You could have the back 2-3 inches bent upwards at a 90 degree angle so you could screw that into the wall to keep it in place and also bend the front few inches outward at a 45 degree angle approx. to help direct the rainwater away from the cage/flight. The flight should be about 4 ft. off the ground too IMO.

Yes I will definitely consider an attachment to the outside via a window - one kitchen window would be the only suitable one to do that. And I'm sure I could doggy-proof the flight so that my dog doesn't ruin it - doubt she would, but my immediate thoughts were if I should even have it in her area of the fenced-in portion of the backyard or maybe have it outside the fenced perimeter (I still have plenty of room should we decide to have it free-standing and outside the fenced area, we have a large property).

The only doggy proofing needed IMO would be to make the double bottom I mentioned, as the bottom of the flight would be 4 ft. or more off the ground. The dog however may eat some of the dropped food, if ya allow him in that area - may be unhealthy for him to do so. Anyway, good luck.

I have had several outdoor aviaries and a couple indoors. I built the indoor ones myself because they are a lot easier as you don't have the same considerations as for outdoors. Outdoors you have the elements to consider, predators, and insects, etc.

Personally, if you are going to do one outside, and you are not good at carpentry, I would pretty strongly recommend you pay someone to build it for you. Yes, you can buy aviaries pre-made but the ones I have seen are very expensive.

Here is a site that sells kits, the aviaries look good and are made from good materials. If they are too expensive, you could get someone to copy their design.

Kit Form Aviary

Thank you for that link, jgee! Their aviaries look awesome, definitely something to keep in mind. Buying premade panels and assembling myself might be more my speed - even if I decide to build one myself, it wouldn't be me doing all the carpentry. I'd be more like watching and lifting this and that while someone else does the carpentry

I'm glad this thread was brought back up - I need to get to work more on these ideas, I haven't had much time to think about my future aviary yet!