Custom aviary for pet parrots built in Florida

While filming our One Day Miracles DVD series, we got to meet some fantastic bird people. One couple was Gandolph’s owners, the Holzman’s, who were looking to get their African grey parrot to fly to them on cue as they were building an outdoor aviary and wanted him to come in at night.

After fixing their problem in one day, I asked Michelle to keep me updated with the progress of their aviary so that I could hopefully share what they had done here on our blog with all of you. Many people are looking into building their own aviaries for their birds as they can be very expensive otherwise.

She was kind enough to supply me with all the details, including the pictures.

Inside the aviary

To get a list of toxic and non-toxic plants and foliage here is a link to our free download Household Dangers. 

Here is all the info on this aviary I received from Michelle:

Aviary costs as follows:

1.       Dirt to level the ground, and river rocks for a “rinsable” floor: $600.

2.       Carport – $1000 (can get larger or smaller ones). Mine is 10×21 – 15 ft high. Important to note that this is a 10 ft high carport – they measure by the legs!

3.       Aquamesh 12.5 ga. 1/2×3 inch. – $300 for 50 ft rolls. I needed 4 to enclose the entire area (including safety catch doors).

4.       Screen and hiring of people who could make the porch/enclose the area. I did the entire thing with both the wire and screen – no bugs!  They also dug down 2 feet, laying hardware cloth ¼ inch wire to ensure that rodents and/or snakes couldn’t burrow their way in. Total: $5000.

That’s for the basics. I had to bring in a ton of dirt – but if the ground is level, that step can be skipped. Also rented a mini-tractor to bring the dirt down the driveway. I had a concrete surface already poured for our back porch, but we still had to pour some for the safety catch area and between the dirt and hardware cloth.

I added plants, fountains and bird toys/branches to play on: approx. $300.

So, this can be done for 8-10k. Although it seems like a lot, the health and freedom for the birds is immeasurable, as well as a beautiful screened in porch area to hang out and enjoy them in!

Thank you, Michelle, for your info on this aviary! And if you guys are looking to make your own or buy one, check out the aviaries we use for our birds by visiting https://www.cornerslimited.com/

More pictures of the aviary in progress here.