Would this be safe to use as flooring in a bird aviary?

Tropical · Feb 19, 2017

Since I'm moving to a condo that has a pretty big screened in balcony I would love to try to build an aviary similar to this except it would have enclosed flooring:

... but would this be OK to use as the flooring in the aviary? Quikrete® Play Sand (1113-51) - Concrete / Blacktop / Sand - Ace Hardware

I remember many years ago when I was a kid I had 4 tiels and they were not kept in a cage but rather on a open custom built open stand area and they had sand as the bedding. The tiels would walk around on the sand for many yrs I had it like this... I HOPE it would be OK if I used this sand as flooring in the aviary? As it would make it MUCH easier to keep clean... I would simply have to replace sand every so often....

Dinosrawr · Feb 19, 2017

I think sand would be just fine so long as it's strictly just sand and has nothing added to it or isn't too fine. If it's too fine, any time your birds fly around it could create a lot of dust which may be a bit of a hazard. If I recall properly, JerseyWendy uses sand on the bottom of her tree stands to keep them clean and it works quite well. I'd play with any of the sands you're thinking about and see if anything is added to them or if it's a bit too dusty.

Otherwise, I think sand is a good option.

Tropical · Feb 19, 2017

Dinosrawr said:
I think sand would be just fine so long as it's strictly just sand and has nothing added to it or isn't too fine. If it's too fine, any time your birds fly around it could create a lot of dust which may be a bit of a hazard. If I recall properly, JerseyWendy uses sand on the bottom of her tree stands to keep them clean and it works quite well. I'd play with any of the sands you're thinking about and see if anything is added to them or if it's a bit too dusty.

Otherwise, I think sand is a good option.

Great thanks! I'll definitely make sure it's just sand and nothing else. I'll also call the company when I'm ready to buy sand to make sure. I'll also have to find bird safe wiring. This makes me rather nervous as I don't want my tiels to get heavy metal poisoning or whatnot...

Dinosrawr · Feb 19, 2017

If you know you're going to build the aviary, you could always buy the panels and start weathering them now if at all possible if stainless steel isn't an option. Alternatively, you can look into PVC coated panelling as an alternative to stainless steel too. Generally the cockatiel beaks won't be enough to destroy the PVC, especially if the main interest is being in the middle of the aviary on a perch vs. on the walls. It just has to be a thick enough gauge with small enough spacing. There's also zoo netting that you can look into, but I only recommend zoo netting if you'll always be out there supervising your birds.

Tropical · Feb 19, 2017

I think I'm in over my head with this. I just read some really scary stuff online:

"The chicken wire may have had a heavy lead component (probably the product originated in China, where maybe lead standards are more lax). The bird constantly had this wire in its beak as it climbed up and down. I think most likely, the sickness was caused by heavy metal poisoning."

My uncle is visiting in June and I was going to see if he could help me build the aviary but it seems to be a major pain finding safe wiring etc?

Dinosrawr · Feb 21, 2017

It's best if you source your metal from actual metal fabricators, versus big chain retail stores. Chicken wire isn't ideal anyways because of the gauge.

Would this be safe to use as flooring in a bird aviary?

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BB's birth place...

Allergies force rehome Gonna miss then.

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