Aussie Finch Forum

Hi to all.
I'm new to the forum but have kept Gouldians on and off for some 48 years. My current aviary is 16' x 8' flight with a 4'x8' shed.
The flight is timber frame on 2 courses of bricks and has soil floor and is planted.

I abandoned the aviary and all finch keeping some 3 years ago after losing 35 gouldians over 2 nights to what I think were bush rats.
Aways having a planted dirt flight in all my aviaries I am used to always having running battles with mice but these rats dont muck around.
First sign of trouble was in early winter 10 nest boxes in a row in the shed on a shelf all with either eggs or young. First box eggs eaten and nothing left of the hen but feathers and beak! remainder of boxes untouched. Searched everywhere for where they were getting in, nothing. Next night, next box, six young gone, and so on down the line.
Just when I thought this can't get any worse, it did. Was greeted one morning to 27 dead gouldians scattered throughout the aviary most without any noticeable injuries. Next night a further 6 birds and A MOUSE! with its head ripped off. With that I caught what was left of my birds and brought them inside. I was done feedin rats.

Anyhow 3 years on and my wife buys 2 pair of gouldians and talks me into refurbishing the aviary.
Now after that longwinded intro, I know (dirt floor + 12mm wire) = mice! Mice I can fight, hell I can remember as a 12 yo lad sitting on a chair at night outside my aviary spotlighting mice with a torch and slug gun! It's the rats I can't stand.
I was going to dig out inside the flight and lay 12mm wire down and say cover with 3" course river sand and then some of the red crumbled rock material.
I would be intersested in your opinions on this and any methods of say hanging/mounting nest boxes in shed to give the birds a sporting chance?
Thanks for reading this short novel.

cheers
Glenng

I was going to dig out inside the flight and lay 12mm wire down and say cover with 3" course river sand and then some of the red crumbled rock material.

If you are certain that the rats got in through the floor, then this is probably your best option.
The only problem might be with drainage if you have very heavy soil.

Cheers
Brett

g'day glenng and welcome to the AFF.
as you say rats are a formidable adversary for us fincho's and i feel your pain!
digging under footings/brickwork etc is easy for them and very obvious but they would prefer not to if possible so i would look elsewhere as an entry point.
flight wire is like a ladder to them so they often gain access via the roof,corrogated iron etc.
something like the ziegfreid line is required. i put corro 600mm in the ground and at least 600mm above ground so they cannot climb the walls.At the 600 mm height i have a 90 degree lip and a electric fence tape waiting for the determined ones so far so good.
Even this setup needs to be installed well and maintained as i recently located a small brown snake in a planted aviary with a similar "ziegfreid line" as mine.Accessed via a small gap in the corro wall.
clear away overhanging branches and as much undergrowth around the aviary as possible. My fox terrier even assists around the yard as they love nothing better than catching mice/rats.
i dont think you can isolate nest boxes from rats once in the aviary as they can jump significant distances to reach food.

you can have the world's best birds, feed them on all the best foods, pamper them like your grandchildren but it will eventually end in tears if you dont keep vermin out.
Once you have mice you will get snakes, rats and disease close behind.

i too have been guilty in the past of building aviaries with a "she'll be right" attitude to detail but no more....i have seen the light!!!

glenng wrote: Anyhow 3 years on and my wife buys 2 pair of gouldians and talks me into refurbishing the aviary.
Now after that longwinded intro, I know (dirt floor + 12mm wire) = mice! Mice I can fight, hell I can remember as a 12 yo lad sitting on a chair at night outside my aviary spotlighting mice with a torch and slug gun! It's the rats I can't stand.
I was going to dig out inside the flight and lay 12mm wire down and say cover with 3" course river sand and then some of the red crumbled rock material.
I would be intersested in your opinions on this and any methods of say hanging/mounting nest boxes in shed to give the birds a sporting chance?

Rather than an internal wire floor, could you bury wire coming out from the aviary walls? Dig a trench around the outside perimeter say 500 wide and 500 deep. Lay mesh in the trench (attached to your footing) and backfill with gravel on top. This is what I've done on my recent large aviary so I hope it works!

If you are the bricklayer for the original. Then extend the bricks down 600/700 below ground, and the same distance above. Depending on your drainage, you will need to put 6mm pipes/tubes in the mortar to allow for drainage. And check the roof/wall joins for anywhere the sods can wriggle in. Welcome back to Gouldian land and good luck with the rodent barrier.
LML

Thanks Finchbreeder for the advice.
I was not the original bricklayer and after my last effort (added 2 courses to new aviary shed) 60 bricks took 2 days!
I just can't get the mud right!! I wouldnt even contemplate laying anymore bricks above ground level let alone below!
I think I'll thoroughly net the flight floor and wire under shed roof as a starter.
As I'm reusing the old 12mm wire due to budget constraints I'm not going to stop mice so building the wall of china underground sounds like too
much hard yakka for an old bloke!!
Any thoughts on mounting nest boxes so the mice cant move in?
I was thinking along the lines of a wall clad in something smooth with a hook type system.

Talking about nest boxes and mice - once peered into a nest box hole to see the tell tail sign of the hole blocked with nest material.
Ahah! mice, I'll fix the !#%**@ers, put my hand over the hole and carried it out to the backyard, called over the dog & cat, put it on the ground
and open the lid. Out jumped 2 rats... cat & rat went one way, dog and other rat went another way and I ran in the other direction
like a big girl!! I hate RATS!!

cheers
glenng

If you are not a bricklayer, you could just dig a trench 600/700 deep and a trenching shovel wide and fill with mortar. If you have enough wire put 2 layers one on top of the other so it =s 6mm x 12mm.
LML

Talking about nest boxes and mice - once peered into a nest box hole to see the tell tail sign of the hole blocked with nest material.
Ahah! mice, I'll fix the !#%**@ers, put my hand over the hole and carried it out to the backyard, called over the dog & cat, put it on the ground
and open the lid. Out jumped 2 rats... cat & rat went one way, dog and other rat went another way and I ran in the other direction
like a big girl!! I hate RATS!!

cheers
glenng[/quote]