Cabinets or aviaries

[bleedinggreen]

Curious to hear your experiences on breeding lovebirds in Cabinets.
I've always colony bred in aviaries but my plan is to now breed in cabinets. The birds will then be rested in the flights.
I will need to build a new shed for this which I won't begin until the new year.

[Karen]

I have what I call "a sixpack". I got it secondhand off friends who used to have a pet store.
3 cages up and 3 down. The lovebirds bred very well in there. Actually this particular pair breed anywhere!

[Phill]

When I was breeding my lovies, I bred them in aviaries. I didn't like the idea of having them in them little cages for extended periods. But I know lots of people who breed them really well in the cabinets.

[choco]

i'm in the process of making cabinets for most of my smaller parrots.
each cage is 600mm high 1500mm wide and 800mm deep.
three cages high, i also made one for one of the daughters for her princesses.
it's same width and depth just double the height with a mesh floor, the others all have tray floors. so far the elegants, red-rumps and princesses have all gone down with eggs, no success yet with any, but they are all first time breeders.

[bleedinggreen]

Hey Choco, they are huge 'cabinets'. I'm thinking along the lines of about 1000mm long, 500mm deep, 600 high. Dad has a heap of canary breeding cabinets so I would gauge my dimensions off them to make sure my sizes aren't too small. I would put in a tray, but also a mesh floor so the birds can't access the debris in the tray.
I could also view the box with less disruption to the birds so I think it has it's pros. I recently saw a breeder with a similar setup by much smaller cabinets. He had plenty of young in the nests, but at about 600mm long I think the cabinets were way too small to keep 1 pair of lovebirs for a whole breeding season.

[choco]

they are huge, but i got the wood for free, the trays were free, just a lot of work to get it, so i only had to pay for the cage front and the wire.
I've got a gap at the side of the shed where i'm going to get them and these dimensions fit in nicely. my nest boxes attach onto the front

[bleedinggreen]

Good idea having the nest boxes attached to the front. Nest inspections would be so much easier then having to handle the box. That is my intention also.
What do you do/intent to do to keep the birds stimulated since they will not be in a colony and only have a relatively small space?

[choco]

still working on the stimulation side of things at the moment, possibly make up some cargo nets, some swings, plus they all have one fixed perch and one very light swinging perch, plus fresh flowers and branches every couple days.