Aussie Finch Forum

Well done Sam,i'm a bit concerned about those gaps in the base boards on the back wall,perfect places for mice to enter at a later stage when the timber shrinks even more.Once they are in there it will be a night mare so it's probably better you fix it now than later,maybe cement sheet to a certain height. Cheers Craig

Craig52 wrote:Well done Sam,i'm a bit concerned about those gaps in the base boards on the back wall,perfect places for mice to enter at a later stage when the timber shrinks even more.Once they are in there it will be a night mare so it's probably better you fix it now than later,maybe cement sheet to a certain height. Cheers Craig

Looks worse in the photo than reality - due to light I'd say - actually the gap at the top is larger but all are well under 10mm. I do intend adding timber strips top and bottom attached to framework on the outside to cover all those gaps and allow for contraction/expansion. In terms of mice - I don't expect it to be mouse proof given the half inch mesh so I've already got poison out all around the walls. I'm confident rats can't get in - for now at least!

Looks good Sam. Plenty of grasses and young bushes for insects to hide. Birds should enjoy a great feed, an interesting work out and fill in their day with added interest.

I took the diffuser off one of the lights. Huge difference this morning.... The above shots are from the webcam - so go look for yourself as the webcam "seems" to be working fine now. I added 2 presets - DiffuserOFF and DiffuserON which move the camera directly to the spot as there can be a bit of a delay over the internet.
http://www.pedc.com.au:88
username:AFF
password:finch
(Instruction for setup in Google Chrome are here - viewtopic.php?f=75&t=13035&start=120#p139718)

Certainly seems to be working a treat. = Happy healthy birds.
LML

I have a 1200 UV black tube in my aviary and have now purchased 2 of the small bug catchers from Bunnings and removed the killing mech.
They actually work better than the big purple tube.
I also have a moth trap. A round UV lamp in front of a fan. The fan sucks the bugs into a fine netting bag and they are collected each morning.
The bag and bugs are put into a freezer for about 10 min then tipped out, they are too cold to fly away and when they start to get mobile they simply crawl to cover nearby. The birds know that and hunt them out.
The problem is you have good catches one night and poor another. Last night was a bumper crop of moths, beetles and crickets plus about half a million thrip.

Would this kind of device be safe to use? http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/New-41cm-Sol ... 2c735bf8f4

I cannot see which part does the actual 'zapping', to know whether or not that could be removed. It seems to have a black metal guard, then a second plastic guard, then the LED casing...but where is the zapping done, I wonder? What do you make of it?

I've got a few of these and they work great...
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/110800517826
Hopeless for catching mozzies, great for the stuff finches like to munch on!

All these units are fine if you simply remove the wires connected to the metal killing grid.
I purchased two of the small round units ($40) from Bunnings. You simply remove the base and you can see where the wire
connects to the circular grid. Disconnect the wire and the grid simply slides out. Replace the base and you have a perfectly safe unit.
I have noticed that my birds fossick continually all day for bugs hiding in the ground and plants near by.