New possible aviary plans

[jennyb]

Hi, me and my dad have been talking about our 'Chipmunk problems', our current situation isn't working very well at the moment, we tried hard built two good sized aviaries but it seems not to be working. We now have four Chipmunks living indoors who have had to be separated from the outside groups.

When we built aviary one i really thought it was great, i was well pleased but then the Chipmunks were fighting and we had to get another aviary and again i was well pleased with the result but still the fighting has continued.

The plans are still in the early stage at the moment but we have begun thinking about changing things next year. Currently we've thought of two options:

1. The Chipmunks that are indoors will stay indoors and we will have to make them separate cages but this poses the problem that our whole room will be taken up with cages again like it was years ago when we had rodents but then we had Hamsters, Mice and Gerbils and the cages were so such smaller. Four large Chipmunk cages will take up a significant part of the room. The cages would need to have double doors because we have Cats and can't have Chipmunks running around the house that was one reason we wanted them outdoors in the first place.

2. Option two we have just started discussing, it means housing them outdoors in individual aviaries. My dad thinks this might be the way to go but i'm not liking having to damage our aviaries we worked so hard on. Also because of not much space in the garden we can't have large aviaries if they are divided. I would like the aviaries to be at least three foot by three foot by six foot high. I want the Chipmunks to have space to carry out their natural behaviour but of course these aviaries will be smaller than our current ones. And if i'm right with my drawn up plan we could only fit six units in the space our aviaries stand on but i'm no expert in plans in fact this is the first one i've done, my dad could do a better one but its just so i can get an idea of what it would look like.

The idea is we would have individual aviary units which would all have their own doors. These doors would be in a corridor. The corridor would be accessed by one main door. This is what i've tried to draw, the corridor would have a concrete base, same under the avairies which we already have done with our current aviaries.

I wonder if any of you have a similar setup

Only thing i'm worried about other than undertaking this project is if there is a corridor infront of all the aviaries would that affect the view of the Chipmunks?

Looking forwards to your views

I'll post photos of what the aviaries look like at the moment

The aviaries are accessed by a central safety porch

Thanks for reading
Jen

[Martyn]

Hi Jen
  Please could you give me the size of the area that you have to build the avairys on and let me no how many avairys you would like to have?
       Martyn
         www.cheekychipmunksse.webs.com        ( builder & designer )

[tarcus/Kevin]

I can understand what you are proposing and should you go ahead with it your concern is visibility may I suggest the roof is made of mesh covered with corrugated perspex while the front could be made with clear perspex panels this would not only allow light and vision but would also keep the aviary a shade warmer during winter months. Having the perspex roof on top of the mesh would allow ventilation

[Marsha]

hello There,

regarding avairy plans I personally would not use corrogated plastic on the sides of the avairy or the front due to the direct sunlight causing it to get too hot. wood and wire is the best, and you could cover the roof.

[Doghouse135]

If you have your corridor running along the front of the aviaries, your viewing will be severely restricted unless you're in the corridor part of it.   Can the corridor run along the back with the door at the end somehow ??

[jennyb]

Thanks for all your comments i'll take them all into account.

Martyn, oh your a designer and builder that explains why your aviary plans on your website are so good.

I've done some measuring:

After the end of aviary two there is about 8 foot of space we can use.

Thats the maxium space we can use because we have a tree, hill and then behind that a shed so can't go any further.

I'm thinking 6 individual units to house 6 Chipmunks. I'd like to keep the smaller aviary to house Hermione's three daughters (the one they are in at the moment if possible, i think three Chipmunks would need the six foot space) that would be unit number seven. Aviary one would be divided into three sections. Then we'd need another three after aviary 2.

The length of the two current aviaries at the moment then adding on another 8 foot is 24 foot.

So 24 foot is the space we have to use as maxium. Its going to be tight i think but hopefully possible, some units might have to be a little smaller than 3 foot to fit in.

I'm not including Abigail, she will stay indoors, she needs a special cage because of her broken foot. As shes getting older she is finding it more difficult to climb.

We will sort out the outside Chipmunks first and then makes Abigail's she quite happy in the cage she is in at the moment.

Tarcus, with our two current aviaries we did consider perspex but in the end we didn't use any.

Marsha, if we were to use the perspex it wouldn't be on the sides of the Chipmunks living areas we would use it for the corridor the part that would lead to the outside (of course we would only need it if the corridor goes on the front, wouldn't need it for the back). I was considering the roof but am not sure about how hot that could get in summer, we do get sunlight on the aviaries in the summer.

Doghouse, thanks thats what i was wondering. Yeah putting it at the back would probably be better, i see what you are saying. The main thing that it will be used for is to gain access to the individual aviaries so it wouldn't matter if it was behind the aviaries.

[jennyb]

Here are new plans.

In both pictures the corridor will be behind as Doghouse suggested so its similar to the first plans but with corridor behind.

I have two possible plans for now. i'd like to know your thoughts on both please

thanks

Plan 1 is carrying on the layout of the aviaries currently. Aviary 2 the brown one sticks out from aviary one by 1 foot (you can see this on pic 4 in the first set of photos i posted). This design has worked well as it makes it easier to see the Chipmunks if looking straight ahead at the aviaries from inside the house. If carried on... the end three aviaries would also stick out 1 foot in front of aviary 2 so again could be seen from indoors. I think anyway.

Plan 2 is just all the avairies lined up next to each other perfectly. More like a cattery. This might be easier to make.

[Martyn]

Hi Jen,
  heres what it would look like with your measurement, what do you think? (i think it looks good?)
    all the best,
        Martyn
           WWW.CHEEKYCHIPMUNKSSE.WEBS.COM

[Doghouse135]

Woo hoo - I'm liking Plan B and Martyn, your plans are wicked.

I think that's your best option.  All chippies will be able to see another of their own kind but will be safe and seperate - Perfect solution in my book.  That's the kind of future set up I'd like if I had the room.

I think sometimes we get so hung up on putting them all together that we lose sight of the fact that they're actually very solitary animals in the wild and with all the will in the world, they do not always get along.

Good plan Batwoman 

[tarcus/Kevin]

Like the plans martyn but I would put the entrance right to the back and leave more room at the front for the end cages to be 3ft each.

[Martyn]

Hi Jen,
    Tarcus idea plan b with out side walk?
         Martyn
           www.cheekychipmunksse.webs.com

[jennyb]

Thanks for doing the plans Martyn, they are brilliant. I really like this one

Hi Jen,
    Tarcus idea plan b with out side walk?
         Martyn
           www.cheekychipmunksse.webs.com

The boxes are a great idea. I'll show my dad and see what he says

But it does look really good

[jennyb]

Woo hoo - I'm liking Plan B and Martyn, your plans are wicked.

I think that's your best option.  All chippies will be able to see another of their own kind but will be safe and seperate - Perfect solution in my book.  That's the kind of future set up I'd like if I had the room.

I think sometimes we get so hung up on putting them all together that we lose sight of the fact that they're actually very solitary animals in the wild and with all the will in the world, they do not always get along.

Good plan Batwoman 

Hi Doghouse, personally i agree with you although Chippies can live with each other and even enjoy another Chippies company, its not natural for them to live like that and i do feel mine would be happier living apart.

[Doghouse135]

It's a shame isn't it - I guess I always thought they could live in groups purely as I'd seen them in zoos and animal parks etc.  In hindsight, the playful 'chasing' I was observing was probably a lot more serious than I realised at the time.

I have two dilute boys that live together but they were brothers.  They've sorted out their hierarchy and live together quite peacefully.   My two agouti's however, were both rescues from different places and they definitely don't like living with anyone - as I found out  .  Theo still has stereotypical 'pacing' behaviour from being kept in a tiny hamster cage.  It's got a lot better but he still does it even with loads of space - bless him.

[jennyb]

It's a shame isn't it - I guess I always thought they could live in groups purely as I'd seen them in zoos and animal parks etc.  In hindsight, the playful 'chasing' I was observing was probably a lot more serious than I realised at the time.

I have two dilute boys that live together but they were brothers.  They've sorted out their hierarchy and live together quite peacefully.   My two agouti's however, were both rescues from different places and they definitely don't like living with anyone - as I found out  .  Theo still has stereotypical 'pacing' behaviour from being kept in a tiny hamster cage.  It's got a lot better but he still does it even with loads of space - bless him.

Yeah i've seen them living in groups at animal parks aswell. I was recently at an Wildlife park and they said theirs have been fighting too, they had to separate some of theirs.  Aww poor Theo.