The history of our Aviary didn't always revolve around birds, in fact our 20 acre sanctuary used to be a small dairy farm.
There are two metal pole barnes constructed over 50 years ago that we are now converting into our parrot sanctuary. The smallest structure was used for milking the cattle while the largest barn was used to house and shelter the heard. After the passing of the original owner my grandparents bought and took over the land, by this time the cattle were sold at auction and nothing of the dairy farm remained other than the barns, farm equipment and the odd & end items that were left behind.
Here is an airal view of our 20 acre property.
I turned 5 years old on that farm and for the past 21 years the barns were used for storage of tools, random materials and items, old vehicles and scrap. The barns remained only with the basic fittings of electricity. There was no insulation installed, nor heat or air to keep the barns functional during changing seasons. It was just the foundation of the barn and the metal panels to form the outer structure. So once I began my work with rescuing birds and began to run out of room- I had quite a lot of work to do to get this farm cleaned up, repaired & back to functioning order. Only then could I relocate the small flock I previously had to have the ability to expand my operation into what it is today, and this farm was the key.
Summer of 2019 my father and I started the task of clearing out the smallest barn (Barn A) to begin the Aviary project. Once we cleared the largest side of that barn we then hired "Mid Michigan Spray foam" to come and insulate the entire interior in 2020. Due to covid this wasn't installed until June 2021.
After the foam cured I was able to pick out a color to paint over the foam to give our aviary some vibrance, I painted this on my own.
After the Foam and paint cured and we allowed ample time for all fumes and chemical residue to air out, we began installing our large cages into the updated aviary.
2023 we hope to repeat this process on the additional side of (Barn A) that has yet to be renovated. But for now this renovated side provides enough room to accommodate our current flock.
Here is a glimpse as to what our aviary set up looks like so far- 2022.
2022 We also fashioned the same style 8x8 cages we use for our macaws to accommodate our community flock of smaller birds. We secured wire screening to prevent the smaller birds from escaping between the bar spacing of the larger cages.
This year 2022- we also repaired the integrity of the metal roof of (Barn A) by having "North Star Coatings" Hammer down any loose metal roof panels & replace damaged ones. After the initial repairs were completed they finished off with an asphalt based paint to seal the roof and give it a brighter new look. The main purpose of this renovation was to protect the foam insulation from any possible water leaks and weather exposure from the faulting roof panels.
During this time he also redid the silo, which will be used for storage of bird items such as spare cages, perches, toys etc.
After "NSC's" job was finished I took it upon myself to repair the outer wooden structures of the barn. I scraped off the old and flaking paint and applied a latex based outdoor paint in a medium dark grey. and painted the wooden trim white, for a clean and more modern look.
We have yet to replace missing boards on some of the upper trim. Although these areas of the (Barn A) are vacant and in no way effects the birds safety & environment inside the aviary. It is imperative we fix these gaps before winter to prevent any possible winter damage and repair the window.
In summer 2023 we will get the metal sides of the barn professionally painted to protect the integrity of the metal but to also match the medium grey paint of the wooden structure.
Everything has been one project at a time, but none of the progress we have made and hope to make in the future would be possible without the help of our supporters! We can't thank you enough and we hope to keep this steady pace of improvements going. Until then, stay tuned for more projects and updates!