building an aviary help

[opticstang]

first off i want to start of by stating im fairly new to the whole bird scene. ive always been a dog person. but my wife and her family on the other hand love birds. Needless to say they finally convinced me to adopt a bird (a baby blue IRN). i mostly did it to make the wife happy. but it didnt take long before i became quite fond of the little guy. now our IRN is 8 weeks old and although he already has his own cage i feel that he should have much more space especially because i mean to surprise the wife with an alexandrine for her upcoming birthday. ive decided that a cage will not do so ill be building them an aviary in our garage. first let me state that our garage is heated and we never use it to park the cars (mostly just for storage). ive seen some videos and pictures of other people building their custom bird aviaries and feel quite confident i can do the same. ive already decided on the dimensions and ive finished a couple of my frames. my question is what kind of mesh should i use? and where can i purchase it. i would prefer getting it at home depot since its only a few minutes from my home. please let me what you recomended. i would really like to have this project finished by this weekend. thank you.

[mikeb]

you should go to your local feed store (agriculture supply) and get either 1/2"x1" or 1"x1" welded wire which will be stronger & more durable than the chicken wire or hardware cloth wire you will find @ home depot or lowes ! they all are galvanized wire products so no matter what one you use all should be treated before you use them for bird cages mix up a solution of about 1 cup vinegar to 1 gallon of water wash the wire with it then let the wire sit out in the weather outside for a couple of weeks or as longer if you can this will reduce the toxic levels of the galvanize as birds will naturally chew on the wire

[opticstang]

thank you for your reply! i was doing some research on the web and most people suggest stainless steel mesh as the best or as you stated galvanized. unfortunatly in my area there is only one feed store. ill be going there tomorrow to see if i can find this mesh. if not then i guess its off to home depot. once again thank you for your reply.

[mikeb]

yes stainless is best but quite expensive compared to galvanized and tho you only have 1 feed store they should have some this fencing in different wire sizing and widths in large rolls and cut the amount you need

[opticstang]

Okay so I went to my local feed and pet supply store today, and was told that they dont sell any mesh. Therefore went to home depot. There they had galvanized zinc mesh, plastic mesh, and PVC with vinyl coated mesh. I ask for stainless steel mesh and was told they only carry for larger fences. Do you guys recommend any of these? I was inclining towards the PVC since it felt durable but I don't know if the material will harm him if he chews through it. If not will any other department store carry the mesh that I need. I'll prefer stainless steel.

[mikeb]

you don't have a local agriculture store a place to buy feed for horses ,or chickens and such not a pet supply store ? thats where you would find the welded wire thats sold to make cages and fence . if not the regular galvanized chicken wire will work pretty well since your planning to use it indoors but make sure you treat it first!!!! i wouldn't use the vinyl coated one as the birds will chew it off as for the pvc i have seen pvc pipe used for perches but don't know how strong and durable the pvc mesh would be for cage making