Colleen Swearingen
Northern California

Colleen's 42 Conures, 4 Amazons, and 2 Lovebirds are all fully flighted and share a 600 square foot aviary, complete with misting system.

"The changes I have seen, and the benefits to the birds, are so great…

"In a very short time, many of my birds went from looking pretty ratty with numerous stress bars, to gorgeous, healthy, smiling birds, without any stress bars.

"I used all stainless steel, and the frame is called uni-strut and is connected with SS brackets. I used SS aircraft cable, and SS eye hooks to attach the Mesh to the framing. The Phantom Mesh is coiled in such a way, that it hangs like drapery, and I used S-hooks to hang the mesh like a curtain. I initially hung the curtains to separate out some of the birds, just until they were all fully flighted.

"My aviary is approx. 600 square feet... Here is a link to an online album of the building of the aviary. I initially built it 20 ft by 20 ft, but then added on another 10 by 20 foot section.

"I built the aviary up against my house,with two entrances. One of the doors opens into their indoor sleeping area (formerly my formal living room). They quickly adapted to a routine of going out in the morning, and coming in for sleep at night. Amazingly, I can get them all out and fed in 30 minutes, and brought in at night, fed and their area outside cleaned in 45 minutes."

Note: Phantom Mesh is a stainless steel coiled mesh that is easy for small birds to land on and climb. Larger birds may be able to chew through Phantom Mesh.