Hello everybirdy!!!

We are considering making some changes here at the Meadow that would allow us to increase both the size of the physical outdoor aviary, as well as to go from 2 aviary sections to 4 aviary sections.

As most of you have seen in our outdoor aviary recess videos on Facebook and YouTube, we currently have 2 aviary sections, one is 4'w x 4'l x 6'h, and the other is 4'w x 8'l x 6'h.

My desire is to utilize the 10' x 16' open storage area below our sunroom to build 4, 4'w x 7'l x 8'h aviary sections.

The aviary framing would be 1" square aluminum tubing with reinforced plastic connectors, and each section would have a separate door, just as with the current aviary.

All 4 sections would be separated by clear polycarbonate sheets, again just as with the current aviary.

There would also be a 3'w x 16'l x 8'h safety catch 'corridor' that the 4 aviary doors would open into to help ensure that nobirdy could get loose (similar to the current safety catch)

Building a new aviary would have several benefits to both the flock, and me.

This would allow the parrots more outside time, as I could have 4 groups safely out at any one time.

Currently we have 4 sets of 1 hour long recesses, 2 groups at a time....8 groups in total over a period of 4+ hours.

With a larger aviary with 4 sections, we would be able to have 2 sets of 2 hour long recesses, 4 groups at a time - again 8 groups in total but the parrots would get twice as much time outside, and in the same cumulative amount of 4+ hours.

The reason this benefits 'me', is that I would no longer have to go up and down a flight of stairs and through the house carrying the parrots in carriers for each move to and from the bird room - the new aviary would be on the same level as the bird room, and just 15' or so from it.

A rough estimate for the aluminum framing materials and connectors for the new aviary would be around $1000.

4' wide, 1/2 opening stainless steel wire mesh for the aviary exterior, 16 clear polycarbonate sheets for the interior dividers to safely separate recess groups, and other material needs both to assemble the aviary and to prepare the new area would be another $2000 or so.

We would also need to move the stuff currently occupying the space where the new aviary would go, and as we do not have room for it elsewhere, we would need to purchase an 8'x10' or 8'x12' shed kit for the yard for that stuff...another $1500

Yup - some $4500 in total, roughly. All labor and building/assembly would be done by me so there wouldn't be any actual "labor" costs.

I will also likely re-use much of the current aviarys' materials for the new aviary to help keep costs down.

With Patti and I now being retired, we do not have the access to extra spending monies that we used to for this type of upgrade... although we do still cover all of the Meadow's running costs ourselves.

So, after that long explanation, we have NO problem asking for help for other rescues and sanctuaries, but when it comes to asking for help for us - I have a real problem with that....

So, we had a "poll" on our Facebook page asking our 18k+ followers their opinion as to whether or not this was an appropriate, justifiable reason for starting a GoFundMe, and the overwhelming response was "yes!"

So, we are asking for financial assistance in order to expand the outdoor aviary area for the flock of caiques here at Providence Meadow Caique Sanctuary.

Our goal is $4500, and we expect that to cover all of the expenses of the new aviary project.

If we reach or surpass that goal, any funds that might be left after the expenses for this aviary project will become a donation to another or other rescues in need, donated in the name of our loving followers.

The rescue or rescues that would receive any donation of extra funds will be determined by our followers through a Facebook posting at a later date - we live by our motto: #WeAreBetterTogether

Thank you for your participation, and please feel free to comment or post questions - we try to be open and transparent with everything, you should too!

One last note...as we are starting this project in the fall and I will be doing all of the design, work and assembly myself - and due to winter weather, the flock won't be able to use the new aviary until spring -

this is going to be a long, winter project with a planned completion date of March 2026.