FEATURE
3. If you have a wooden building, nail tin plate or aluminium, inside and out, to the height of 1ft (31cm). This precaution will be useless if there are any holes through which mice can enter. Check the point where electricity cables leave the building, cover ventilator and extractor outlets with small mesh and ensure that all doors and windows are tight-fitting. Also remember that if you have pop- holes to allow your birds access to outdoor flights, mice will enter if they have access to the flights. Welded mesh should be buried around the perimeter of the flights to prevent this. For preference, don’t build a bird room from wood. Brick is much more expensive but if you can afford it, brick or breeze blocks are ideal materials. You might also consider obtaining, second-hand, the kind of prefabricated cabins which are used on building sites, for example. As long as there is no wood in their construction!
Precautions
If you have outdoor aviaries and you feed your birds in the flight part, mice will be almost impossible to eliminate. You might also attract rats. To protect food and water from vermin, weather and the droppings of wild birds (increasing the likelihood of disease being transmitted), it is essential to have an indoor section, either an enclosed shelter or a cage inside a building, where the birds are fed. This increases the length of time it will take mice to find a food supply, although it is not guaranteed to keep them out if wood is used to construct shelter or building.
There are other precautions that you can take to discourage mice from finding your garden attractive. If you feed the wild birds, clear up any uneaten food before nightfall. If you keep rabbits or other pets that have a dry food, remove any dry food at night. Finally, do not discourage your neighbour’s cat from visiting your garden at nightfall. Generally speaking, once a cat has discovered it cannot reach the birds
BIRD SCENE 27
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