Page 7

Debbie Myers is a friend I met
through the bird hobby. She
breeds exclusively gouldians.

She hired me to paint a mural
along an 18 foot wall of the
garage.(below) She paid me in
birds. This is how I received my
first pair of blue backed
Gouldians. Debbie taught me
much of what I know about
Gouldians.

Indoor Breeding Setup -
Debbie Myers

My aviary setup is designed for
breeding and housing juveniles
until they are ready to sell. I live
in Arizona and in previous years
I have bred my birds outside.
For many reasons I decided to
build a bird room, including:
complying with city zoning laws,
cats, bad weather, mice, snakes
and poisonous mushrooms that
kept popping up when in rained.
The most convenient thing to do
was to enclose our carport into a
garage and use that as the bird
room. We hired a contractor to
build the garage and install
electric and plumbing. It took
only six weeks for them to build
the garage.

There is no heating or cooling
inside the garage. I had R32
insulation put in the ceilings, R19
in the walls and ordered an
insulated garage door. In
previous years outside my birds
have handled temperatures as
low as freezing and as high as
116 degrees so I am not worried
about the temperatures for the
birds in the garage. I have a little
space heater for thin-blooded
me in the winter though!

I had the contractor install
electrical for 2 light fixtures on
the ceiling and additional sockets
on the walls. They installed
timers on the wall switches for
the lighting. The fixtures are T8
fixtures with electronic ballasts. I
used four T8 super bright Ott-
lites in the fixtures which will
need to be changed every couple
of years and provide full
spectrum lighting. I installed one
48" black light along the wall
facing the breeding cages. There
are also 60 watt, 40 watt and 15
watt incandescent lights in the
room. All lights are on timers
and the lighting increases and
then decreases throughout the
day to mimic outdoor conditions.
The garage door faces west and
can be opened in the afternoon
to let in natural sunlight and fresh
air.

The floor was stained with
concrete stains using a stencil to
make it look like stone. It was
sealed with an acrylic sealer,
which makes it easy to keep
clean. I added good carpet
runners in the areas I would be
walking on a lot. I also
purchased two bakers racks to
use for storing items and for
drying the bird dishes.

Three aviaries were built side by
side that are 12' X 3' 8" X 6'.
One for cocks on the left, one
for hens on the right and one for
unsexed babies in the middle.
On the sidewall of the third
aviary 18 breeding cages are
installed, each 1' X 1' X 4' long.
The aviaries and breeding cages
take up a space 12' X 12'. The
garage is 18' X 18'. The floors of
the aviaries are covered with a
couple of inches of aspen
shavings. There is a door
leading from each aviary to the
next. When I want to totally
clean an aviary I can just open a
door and chase them all into the
next aviary. I use a combination
of manzanita, ribbonwood,
cement, wood dowels, sisal rope
and grape vine in all different
sizes for perches. I decorated
the front and outside of the
aviaries with silk plants and all
the bird related items my friends
and family have given me

Kathy Miller painted me the
most wonderful mural in the
room that makes it looks so cozy
in there. I had to give up some
gouldians for it but it was well
worth it. The mural is like
looking through a window in a
stone wall. There are gouldians
painted here and there on the
wall and sitting on the window
ledge at a feeder. She even used
pictures of my own birds as
models to personalize it. I
purchased a comfortable futon
so that I could have a place to sit
and enjoy the best part of the
hobby � watching the birds!

We installed a deep laundry tub
and a hose bib to use for water
for the aviaries. My husband ran
PVC from the hose bib to
poultry waterers suspended in
the aviaries. They are
automatically filled by gravity so
I don't have to worry about them
running out of water. To keep
seed off the floor I use the Bird-
Zerk feeders. The eggshell and
spray millet is put into a small
cage inside each aviary, which
keeps the spray millet hulls off
the floor. There is a string
holding the door to the cage
open. The birds get used to
going in and out of these small
cages to get their treats. When I
want to catch one I just go
"fishing" and wait until the bird I
want is in the cage and then shut
the door. I decorated 5 gallon
food grade buckets to use for
storing seed, cuttlebone and
nesting materials. A bay laurel
plant in the room keeps seed
moths away effectively.

The adult males are kept in the
left aviary. The hens are kept in
the right aviary against the
breeding cages. So four feet
always separate the adult males
and females. The middle aviary
holds uncolored juveniles or is
empty. When most of the hen's
beaks are all black then I am
ready to set up pairs for
breeding. I take a male in
breeding condition from the left
aviary and put him into one of
the breeding cages where he is
just wire away from the hens.
Interested hens will hang on the
sidewall by the cage with the
singing male in it. I watch them
for several days and note which
hens seem to hang around the
cage with the male in it and
quiver their tail. If the females are
all in breeding condition usually
several hens will be very
interested in the male. From
those that are interested I choose
the one I would like to pair up
with the male and put her into the
breeding cage with the male.
Many times the pair get right
down to business. This is how I
did it when the birds were
outside and I usually didn't have
any problems with the pairs I put
together not getting along using
this system. I repeat this process
until all the pairs are set up and
the aviaries are mostly empty.

As the babies are independent I
put them into the middle aviary.
Later when they start to color up
I move males to the left and
females to the right aviaries.
Towards the end of the breeding
season I start to move the birds I
want to sell outside. There are
two large aviaries outside where
birds that are to be sold are
moved to acclimate them to
outdoor conditions before selling
them. In the past I have bred
them October through March.
Now that they are inside I might
try to spread out the breeding
over the whole year.

I originally purchased canary
breeding cages (2' X 1' X 1')
which I soon realized were too
small for a pair of gouldians and
up to six fledglings. So I took
the ends off of them and put two
together to make breeding cages
4' X 1' X 1'. I use the plastic
nest boxes and hang them on the
outside. I use birdbaths for
water and food. The seed stays
in the bird bath and I can change
the water and seed without
reaching into the cages and
disturbing the birds. The inside
of the cage is not cluttered up
with dishes either.

It will be interesting to see what
changes I observe now that they
are inside instead of outside.
The birds seem to like the extra
length of the aviaries to fly
around in. Outside my old
aviaries were only six feet long.
It was such a joy when I moved
them inside, you could tell they
liked the extra space. I only
wish I could provide even larger
aviaries. Being able to sit in
there and observe the birds is the
best part. I never really spent as
much time as I wanted watching
them when they were outside.
Now I can go in the bird room
and read the paper, fold laundry,
study or whatever I need to do
all while watching my birds. I
love my new bird room and
needless to say you always
know where I can be found!