Our Aviaries at Allandoo

Our Aviaries range in size from 144 square feet (12' X 12'), which we use mainly as spare pens and for our chicks, up to 432 square feet, which are "L" shaped pens for our Eared pheasants, Monals and Tragopans.  The Tragopans benefit from the large aviaries as they eat a lot of greenery, so a smaller aviary can become quite bare in a surprisingly short time. I think however it is the Monals and eared pheasants that are most in need of the bigger space. They spend a good bit of their time digging and will soon demolish everything in a small pen. They are also big birds and the eared pheasants like to have the occasional fly around, which they need a fair amount of room for.

We have both heated and unheated aviaries as the Firebacks and Peacock pheasants are not hardy so do need some extra heat during the winter months. Luckily in Stranraer we get very little frost and snow so a low wattage tubular heater is enough to keep the shelters frost free, which is all that is necessary.

Although we have a few different styles and sizes of shelter my favourite ones, which the birds seem to like, are 6' X 12' shelters which are open at the bottom and also have a doorway (no door though) for us to use. The birds, I think, don't feel as trapped with the escape route available to them and they can see anyone approaching the shelter easier. These of course can only be used for our hardy species.

All our shelters have a high perch for the birds to roost on. These are just cut branches which are roughly 3 - 4 inches thick. The birds should be able to cover their toes completely when roosting to keep them warm. If the perches are too thin they can't do this, as their toes are curled under the perch.

We use lighting in the shelters mainly to encourage the birds indoors in the evening as they will go to the lightest part of their aviary. Once they are roosting we turn the lights off.

Some of our pens are on the side of a hill which is a great advantage where drainage is concerned. This is very important especially with our clay soil. The pens we have on more level ground are all based on sand. We removed all the soil and replaced it with around 80 tons of sand and gravel.

We try to make our aviaries as natural as possible for the birds and include lots of plants. The plants give good cover for the birds to hide in which can be vital for the hens.  The plants give the hens the opportunity to escape and rest from an aggressive or overly amorous cock. As well as being good hiding places the plants provide extra food and entertainment. Whether it is the leaves, shoots, buds, flowers, berries or even the insects that the pheasants enjoy they get some nutrition and enjoyment from pecking and scratching at the plants. Also in their outdoor area we have boulders, posts and logs for them to perch on and peck at.

I am sure when I watch our birds that they are happy and content. The work that we have put in to make them a comfortable home has rewarded us with wonderful, relaxed, healthy birds which have been breeding very well for us so far. What more could I ask for?