What GrOws????!?!?!?!

C0nor · Foundation Member Joined: Oct 24, 2004 Posts: 74

What grows in you aviary??
The only thing that seems to survive my kakariki is flax!
Its driving me insane i want coprosma in there for them to eat the berries or hebe for the flowers but when ever i put a plant in 10mins later all the leaves are gone and the stems are chewed!

Steptoe · Site Admin Joined: Oct 06, 2004 Posts: 4550

Been there done that signlol

Yep they will dismantle everything....Tried native pepper, hebies, grasses, fushia
We put in large branches, mainly native, cut off the shrubs trees around the section. The larger the less often u have to do it for them to dismantle

C0nor · Foundation Member Joined: Oct 24, 2004 Posts: 74

our trees are looking very sorry now with all the weather and me cutting at them!
my aviary is just soil it is so frustrating!

Steptoe · Site Admin Joined: Oct 06, 2004 Posts: 4550

So where ours, for a yr, then got 1st mouse hole...got to work hard at beijng lazy so put a lot of thought into how to do the base.
I mixed mortar , cement pumice sand @ 1 to 5 and reasonably wet, put into 20 l buckets and spread with float. Where the water dish is...check out other post someware re that and soak hole....well i put a slight fall to it, mortar 3/4 to inch thick.
We left the birds in, even the quals, nps.
Works out to about 30 to 40 l mortar per flight.
So the job was rather disapointingly simple signlol

.

Had couople mouse holes since around the cemented in ponga stumps.
It nothing to grab a jug, hand full cement, 4 hand fulls sand, bit of water, and jam down the hole.
So simple.
over the Base is 1/2 inch pumice sand, 30 l per flight, raked debre removed once a week.
After a couple months theres not much sand left so its nothing to sweep up, floors are clean, then throw couple of buckets back in.

As for throwing branches in, do it all yr round, tends to make the big winter trim-up lot less, also u get an idea of what to leave in the winter trim, to keep the birds in supply till summer.