June 2009 Photo Of The Month | Link |
  7th 2009
 

Here we are in June already, last week we made up the frame for the base, this week we are going to set the base in the ground, I find this is a fast and easy way of doing the base especially if the ground is a bit uneven, I will cover how to go about the gaps between the base and the ground next week, anyway back to this week, you can see the back end of the shed where we are building the flight, we took the frame over to the shed and positioned it where we wanted it to go, with it in place we made a 10" X 10" square mark on the ground around each angle iron leg, when you have done this take the frame way.

Dig out each mark about 12" deep for the leg, then bring back the base and stand it in all the holes, if you marked it right it should fit like a dream!

 

With the base in place we need to level it, drive into the ground next to the base a good steak,
using a spirit level lift or lower the base until level, when it's level clamp the base to the steak as we done in the photo, repeat this all around until the whole base is level and square.

If the base needs to be lowered then dig out some ground beneath it.

 

Here is our base all leveled, as you can see we have gaps here and there, this will be over come easily next week.

 
 

Now the easy bit mix some concrete and fill each hole around the legs, don't fill the holes to the top stop about 4" from the base, you will see why next week.

  20th 2009
 

Now all the base has been concreted in and solid, we just dig a small trench inside the perimeter of the base about 8" down (we forgot to take a photo to show you) when you have dug this trench all you have to do is cut lengths of wire mesh about 11" high & 36" long fix this to the base so it hangs down into the trench, now you can back fill the trench with earth, this will now stop any birds escaping from under the base also it is down in the ground deep enough to stop any unwanted wild life from digging into the flight.

See a flight construction I made in 2003 | Link |

  With all the base done now, we made the frames for the sides and roof, at this stage we make sure it all fits together before we fix the wire mesh on.
  As you can see we make the roof section on the ground, it makes life easier. We have also fixed the wire mesh to the under side of the corrugated plastic sheets
  Now we only need to lift it in place. Along the shed we have fixed a length of 2" x 2" so the roof can sit onto this, plus when it comes to screwing the roof down we can screw up through the 2" x 2" this is also repeated around the aviary.
  Now it's starting to look like a flight now, what we have done at the back of the flight is used the same ship lap planks we used for the shed build to give some shelter from winds and driving rain, the back panel is wire meshed one one side of the panel and the planking on the other side.
  The floor of the flight we lightly dig over and rake level, then lay down a weed control membrane before we add the stone chipping's, you can see more about this on my 2003 page
 

To finish the outside of the flight we dig a small trench around the perimeter a few inches deep and fill with chipping's as you can see we don't cover any of the base wood we leave an air gap so the base is not kept damp, this will stop the wood rotting to quickly.

Next Week The Pop Hole and Finishing Off!

  More News To Follow Soon!!