FEATURE


3’ wide this highest part of the roof is 6’6” and the lowest 5’ so it has a considerable slope which ensures that any rainfall runs rapidly off the roofing sheets to ensure the sand base remains dry. This has two benefits, it reduces the chance that mice will dig into the sand and set up home in the aviary and if any worm eggs are excreted by the birds the dry sand quickly dries them up and kills them. The wire used in the construction of this aviary is 3/4” x 3/4” 16 gauge which is suitable for birds as large as African Greys. There is no doubt that Kakariki are very quick flyers and are difficult to catch especially in large flights, they can also change direction in flight very quickly, additionally they are friendly birds and very happy to come towards the owner when you enter their flight; these two attributes make it absolutely essential that a safety porch is fitted to your aviary because it is certain that if you do not incorporate it in your design you will lose a bird as it flies very rapidly past you. Usually a safety porch will be 3’ x 3’ and 6’ high with two doors, the first to enter the porch which is then closed once you are inside and a second door which allows you to enter the aviary and ensures that no birds can escape. As Kakariki are good parents and feed their young very well I have often used them to foster other species of


50 BIRD SCENE


parakeets. The picture of the three young Pennant’s in the nest box were being reared by a pair of my Kakariki, their eggs were infertile and the adult Pennant’s had a history of plucking their young quite severely. When I took the eggs away from the Pennant’s one was just starting to show chipping to the shell indicating that hatching was imminent. When a hen sits on eggs she can feel the movement of the baby up to a week before it hatches so it must have come as quite a surprise when the Pennant’s hatched so quickly. I did not disturb them again for a week but when I did look all three eggs had hatched and as the other picture shows they are three nice young Pennant’s. When these youngsters left the nest box we were experiencing some very wet July days (so much for the barbecue summer the forecasters had predicted!!) to ensure that they did not become too wet I placed a 4’ x 3’ sheet of plate glass on the top of the aviary, this I left in place for 7 days until they could fly well and knew their way around the aviary.


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