Catching the birds

[Frank]

Hi All,

Just joined. Briefly, I have two reasonably sized aviaries. I have Jacarinis, Yellow faced Stars, Cordons, Orange breasts and St. Helenas in one. Cannot get the St Helenas to breed (and they are a pair). The other has Red Stars, Gouldians, Jacarinis, Emblemas (Red & recent Yellow) and a couple of Bourkes parrots.

As its been a good breeding season, there are now way too many birds and I need to cull. As the aviaries are fairly large (the big one is 9M long), and they are planted and on a terraced slope as part of the garden, chasing birds with a net is simply unrealistic (and I hate doing it).

I really need a good idea for catching the birds. I have built wire enclosures with string pull doors that go over the seed hoppers but standing around waiting for a few birds to go in, pulling the string to close the door, catching a few birds and putting them in a holding cage and then repeating the process is a pain in the proverbial.

What I would like is an automatic system (like those mousetraps the catch mice alive) that will allow a bird in to a feeding area/ small holding cage and automatically reset a door so it can't get out and the next hungry bird simply repeats the process. That way, I could walk away for hours and come back to a small cage full of trapped birds.

Any good designs floating around - I'd be interested.

Cheers,
Frank

[Greg41]

Hi Frank, I recently made myself a trap copied from the attached photos, the top is two trapdoors with a counter weight . When the bird steps on it to get at the food it drops into the bottom section and the trap resets itself. This may give you some ideas.

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Cheers Greg

[Buzzard-1]

G'day n welcome Frank I use the same trap but bait it with greens catch more quicker.

[Frank]

Hi Greg,

Thanks for the quick reply (while I had dinner).

From your pics, I THINK I can see whats happening. Basically, the bottom section is for the 'trapped' birds. The bit on top seems to be 2 separate traps, side by side (double efficiency ?). So the enticement (bait) is at the back at the junction of the floor and the curved roof section. The bird steps on the floor, it's weight is sufficient to drop the floor and the bird ends up in the bottom section. The counter weight resets the trap.

Please let me know if I've got this right or have missed something.

With my aviary setup, I could use this device to have birds move from the aviary to a small holding cage in the work/storage area where it is a simple matter to catch them for transport.

Thanks again,
Frank

[Buzzard-1]

That's correct, the counter weight can be adjusted for sensitivity main thing is to have level

[Frank]

Thanks Mr. Buzzard-1.

I can already see a couple of possibilities for this concept. Apart from the original design, it could easily be modified to provide a one way straight through passage to another area or holding cage as I mentioned earlier.

Cheers,
Frank

[Frank]

Hi all,

Thanks to Greg for his pics.

before I dive straight in and start making these, I'm wondering if there are any other designs that work well.

Any ideas appreciated.

Cheers,
Frank

[Jayburd]

great work!
the basic parrot traps I use at work sometimes can work for finches too. we put one out for an escaped lorikeet and caught a cock madagascar weaver we didn't even know was out will see if I can find a pic online

[Frank]

Thanks Jaybird.

I'll look forward to the pic. All ideas are welcome.

Cheers,
Frank

[Jayburd]

no pics on internet will get my boss to forward me a pic 4 U