Growing ornamental or pet birds in stylish aviaries have become a trend now. Some do it as a leisure activity while others earn a living by breeding and selling them. Just looking at these beautiful birds is enough to fill your hearts with happiness and take away the stress. However, not many know how to take proper care or tend to the birds and animals that we grow for our own happiness. This laxity is quite evident from the quality of the aviaries or cages in which these birds are kept.
Birdcages and aviaries play a pivotal role in ensuring the health and well being of the birds. Though lots of varieties of iron meshes are available in the market, many choose meshes with plastic coating to build the cage. They falsely think that the plastic coating makes the meshes more durable. However, they do not realize that these plastic coated meshes would be harmful to both the birds and the humans.
Budgerigar or the parakeet has strong beaks that can bite and break apart even sturdy or hard objects. So, these birds would try to break the plastic coating using their beaks and eat it. Besides, the plastic would break apart and crumble if the aviary is placed in a spot where sunlight falls directly. These plastic crumbles too would be swallowed by the birds. It must be noted that the birds that often eat or swallow plastic would eventually turn weak and then die. A picture of a bird’s intestine was recently shared on a social media group. When the bird had abruptly died, the owner had got a postmortem done at the nearby veterinary hospital to find out the cause. The postmortem revealed that its intestine was filled with tiny plastic bits.
If the mesh is flimsy, other animals may attack the aviary and wound or kill the birds. The same could happen if low quality mesh is used to make rabbit cages. Many farmers in Kerala often complain how dogs attack the cages and kill their rabbits. So, it is better to use good quality meshes to build the aviaries and cages.
Iron meshes whose strands are at least half inch apart are available in the market from Rs 20 onwards. Using poor quality materials to build shelter for your beloved animals and birds may bring you temporary profits. However, in the long run, it would definitely end up in loss, both financially and emotionally.
(ibinjoseph@mm.co.in)
