There is probably no such thing as a true closed aviary. If there were, it would look like the underground bunkers with three or more levels of decontamination portrayed in the book and movie “The Andromeda Strain”. This is not to say that we should not aspire to higher levels of protection for our bird’s health. We must do everything that we can to prevent our birds from becoming infected. By following some of the tenets of the closed aviary concept, what I call the modified closed aviary approach we can come close to a proper level of control of factors affecting the health of our birds.

If we have initially tested our birds for the viral diseases that can be tested for and we follow the suggestions that we have outlined in “Common Causes of Infection”, we have a much easier task in identifying the culprits should our bird become ill. We will already know that our bird does not have PBFD, Polyomavirus or Psittacosis; PDD, the AIDS of the bird world, is another matter.

If we have done the proper testing as described in the new bird screening procedure, we will also have good baseline values to compare to current test values. Such knowledge will enable us to focus on other possibilities and perhaps speed the time for appropriate treatment and hopefully a cure.