The third lesson was the type of floor surface you use in your aviary. Ideally this should be flag stones or concrete to keep rodents at bay or you could lay ½” x ½” mesh on the floor and cover with soil or chippings and stitch this to the side walls to ensure rodents are kept outside the enclosure. Think of it like a six sided box made entirely out of wire safely keeping the peskie’s at bay.

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The aviary door will need some thought as this can be the “weak link in the design” - if rodents are going to get in anywhere it is here! They can often squeeze through the gaps under the door frames so I always build a “rat run panel” into the bottom of my door frames to make it harder for them to get through.

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I have learnt the hard way to never to install a full height door on an aviary, why? because birds fly high when panicked or disturbed so they are more likely to try to fly over your head to escape than to fly past you and this is dramatically reduced if there is a wire panel above the door to stop their escape. Some customers prefer to have an "air lock" style second door to prevent escapes but this is often not possible due to limited space, and frankly I think they look like an after thought stuck on to a pleasant aviary design. I always try to fit a 1000mm x 600mm door in my aviaries irrespective of the enclosure height in order to alleviate these issues, but that is my choice and you may feel you want something different and at the end of the day it is your design that matters - you are the customer!

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