An aviary is a safe place to put a lot of smaller birds. Here’s everything you need to know about building an indoor aviary.

Pick the right spot

Not everyone will have the space for building an indoor aviary. Aviaries are large and take up a lot of room. Traditionally people put indoor aviaries in basements, but these days some houses have much larger ceilings and therefore allow for aviaries to be built on an upper level of the house.

Building an indoor aviary requires you to have a tall ceiling (at least seven feet) and adequate room for the width (at least seven feet) and depth of the cage (several feet). You’re also going to need to find a location that has plenty of natural light. The birds you place in your indoor aviary will respond well to natural light. If you have one such spot that fits the aviary specs available, you should try to put the aviary in a corner. Corner spots provide for cage stability and make the birds feel more secure.

When building an indoor aviary, also keep in mind that you’re putting up the aviary because you want to see the birds. Building your aviary in a place that has perfect dimensions, but isn’t visited often by you or other bird watches, probably isn’t a good idea.

Building the aviary

Building an indoor aviary is complicated, so we recommend that you get more complete directions; however, there are some basic guidelines.

The first step to building an indoor aviary is to put up drywall or another surface that’s painted with non-toxic paint, to provide a backdrop for the aviary. Before installing the front piece of the aviary wall framing, make sure that all of the electrical work, such as overhead lights, are installed before you move forward. If you do not know how to do this, ask an electrician for help. When you’re finished with this step in building an indoor aviary, you will construct a screen that stretches across the aviary.

Putting it all together

When you’re finished building an indoor aviary, put the aviary together before you put birds in the case. You aviary should have plenty of perches, food and water sources trees and shrubbery and other toys. You should also test all lighting, make sure the aviary is protected from drafts and is securely built. Building an indoor aviary is challenging, but it can cost less than a store bought aviary.