ice and rats are extremely resourceful creatures. If there is a way to get into our aviaries and bird rooms, they will find it. This means that waging war on rodents must commence literally before the foundations of the building are laid. In fact it should start with the planning. If you decide to build a wooden bird room or perhaps convert a double garage which is partly constructed from wood, it will be almost impossible to exclude vermin. Gnawing through wood is so easy for mice. Once they enter it will be extremely difficult to exclude them. If you must use timber, take the following precautions:
M
1. Stand the building on a concrete base.
2. Be aware that insulating the bird room is asking for trouble. Of course it helps to prevent heat loss but it is better to spend a little more on heating the room (if heat is necessary) than living with mice breeding in the cavities between the two walls. I know because this happened to me. After two mice- free years, the mice moved in. The glasswool insulating material was deemed perfect for mouse nest- making. The only solution was to rip out the inner wall, including the roof lining, and leave the building permanently without lining. The mice moved out. But that was not the end of the problem. They moved into the other building which was lined, and took up residence in the
14 BIRD SCENE
roof. A nightmare scenario! The patter of feet which I was hearing daily were those of mice. There was no alternative but to take the roof off and construct an entirely new one. That was four years ago and my bird room is now mouse- free. One advantage was that with the new roof I did away with the skylight windows. Its inclusion had been a mistake because it caused condensation to drip from the roof to the floor.
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!
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48
