Aussie Finch Forum

We don't have hawks or butcher birds where I live, so forgive me if I'm being overly simplistic; but wouldn't some low density shade cloth attached to the wire keep your finches safe?

You are probably right I have thought of it but not gone that far yet it as I still want to see my birds in the top of the aviary . My small aviary has full sheet metal on roof top and 2/3 around the sides from back to front all the way to ground. The mynas I saw dive bombed the finches landing on the front of my aviary scaring the gee bees out of my birds. I would have to put some shade cloth down the front viewing mesh. Its not out of the question I just haven't got there yet in my defensive actions.

How about clear plastic "cafe blinds" then you can put them all the way down in bad weather, and just far enough to stop the Butchers in better weather.
LML

Thats a great idea I will look into that plastic curtains. I was also toying with using shade cloth bit like a downward sloping visor or peak on a cap. The mynars/butchers would have to fly under it and I am sure they would hesitate at that. It would not take away from my view either.

The Noisy Miner has become quite a problem in many places these days as it has adapted to the cities native gardens
They are incredibly territorial and aggressive.
Sadly permanent eradication seems the only way, once they have been sorted out then the smaller and in some
cases big birds return.
If you can't remove them permanently then you may have to put a false front on your aviary, this can be a pain
as you want to see your birds.
I read that you have a roofed aviary and it's the front that needs protection.
if you string very fine single strand wire across the front at around 200mm centres and about 100mm out this should keep them off the front and it will not impede your viewing.
The tighter the wire is strung the better it looks and the better it works. By painting your wire with flat black paint your viewing will be much better as well.
Good luck as they are total pests

vettepilot_6 wrote:I have Noisy mynah ( https://www.google.com.au/search?q=nois ... B305%3B255 ) coming down to my aviary...but I have internal partitions of brush or metal walls where finches can hide out of sight.. (haven't lost any yet) my point is not much you can do about outside interference (other than plastic owl or hawk statue on roof) ..so if you can make some teatree partitions or such may help your problem..

Once a Black Shouldered kite killed one of my fledglings by frightening it to death then the next day the same kite killed another by ripping its head clean off.....

Your wire must be pretty large for a kite to get his beak or talon through to rip a finches head off....more likely injured and mice or rats ate head...

vettepilot_6 wrote:Your wire must be pretty large for a kite to get his beak or talon through to rip a finches head off....more likely injured and mice or rats ate head...

The Fledgling got his head stuck in it somehow forgot to add that bit....

hopefully ive solved my problems

You have a nice rack of finches there John.
I can see in the photo that the high tension is connected in series...where is the ground plane connected and do you know at what kV is it running?
The reason for my asking is that I'm making up a portable grid-type frame that I can hang in the trouble spots (my aviaries are not big) and out of reach of the pets and grand-kids. I am currently experimenting with a few different HT transformer circuits that should supply a useful, but safe, tickle. My plan is to have isolated alternate rows at different potentials.... I just want to discourage rather than injure anything.