How to make a bird cage

**Emery** · 03-02-2006, 03:52 PM

My father is a carpenter and was thinking of making a cage for my lovebird, but I was thinking something different. Would it be okay if I made a huge cage for both my lovebird and budgie (keep reading). I was thinking of somekind of cage that I could put some kind of seperater in the middle at night and when I'm around to supervise I could lift the seperater out so that they can mingle (assuming they like eachother when they meet in a couple months). If that's alright for the birds,then are there any tips or websites that help with creating your own bird aviary/cage?

**Squawk and Howl** · 03-02-2006, 04:20 PM

even with a wire separator, they can bite one another's toes. and if it is an acrylic one, they won't get enough ventilation. so not a combo cage.

other issues:
1. wood must be completely untreated- no lumber designed for construction.
2. wood must not be exposed in any way to the inside of the cage (bird will chew until destroyed)
3. metal must be a safe metal- no galvanized wire, nothing with zinc or lead. powdercoated wire is fine, as is stainless steel. this gets expensive. often it's cheaper to buy something.

**Emery** · 03-02-2006, 04:45 PM

Thank you for repling. What if the seperater had a space in between it, so they couldn't reach eachother in any way?

I plan to use some sort of wood (like you said) and (pressed?) stainless steel..but I'm still researching. What other materials are SAFE to use (expensive or not)?

**Little Cricket** · 03-02-2006, 05:03 PM

Personally, I would just buy a cage you know will be safe. I wouldn't risk letting a lovie and budgie spend time together in a cage either. They could have supervised play time out of the cage, but I would cage them together.

**parrotly wild** · 03-04-2006, 10:46 AM

I bought an aviary plan off ebay that uses pvc pipes. I thought of using plexi glass for the seperator between the conures and CAG. It calls for hardware cloth(?) or squaretype wire. I am seroisly thinking about it because I can't find a cage the size I want. All conure cages seem to be about 22 to 36 in deminsion. I am going to college andmight have to work 2 jobs to support the family since the hubby is going too. I want a cage that I know they have plenty of room, they are used to being out all day with me. If you want woodI was advived to use spruce. TSC has aplastic poop tray for under rabbit cages that would make a great bottom. The animal swap meet I whent to last year had people who sold the cages that were bigger and they looked like rabbit cage wire and I saw alot of big birds in them and many of the breeders there said they used them. I am still thinking and researching. Gotta make sure it is all safe first!

**Emery** · 03-05-2006, 11:58 AM

Wow..I found a site with amazing looking aviaries. http://www.kingsolomoncages.com/ourcages.asp

What does everyone think of using acrylic? Are there any cons with using it?

**WolfRyder** · 03-05-2006, 12:34 PM

air circulation for one. and I have seen this site before. It's a "wish list" site but it kinds just "showcases" your bird, like a trophy. Most are verticle and birds prefer going horizontal.

the longer the better I say

Oh and I'd go bankrupt buying anything off that site LOL

**TaffyWduck** · 03-05-2006, 01:26 PM

If you do have money, I prefer this myself :

http://www.cagesbydesign.com/

But alass, I am broke and useless with my hands

**Squawk and Howl** · 03-05-2006, 01:59 PM

again, plexiglass & acrylic separators do not allow for sufficient air flow, even on one surface.

hardware cloth, for what i understand, is metal wire coated in plastic, and is NOT sufficient for bird cages or aviaries- the birds can easily chew off the plastic, and the metal is cheap & most likley toxic.

the reason good bird cages are expenive is because they are made well, with safe materials. there are plen ty of aviary companies out there specializing in bird safe materials. do not take risks with your bird's lives.

frankly, there are plenty of reputable cage makers (kings, island, cal, and elite) that make larger cages with appropriate bar spacing for a conure. you just have to pay a fiar price for the. you will not find high quality cages on ebay (decent ones, to be sure, esp for smaller less destructive birds), but they are out there!

aviary sized enclosure companies:
http://www.expandablehabitats.com
http://exoticenclosures.com/

**parrotly wild** · 03-06-2006, 07:21 AM

I looked on ebay but any of the larger cages were to large of space bar size for conures. Got any ideas? Mine right now is 24x 22x60 I think. Hard ware cloth would not be idael! Wonder what it was. What would be a good one? Or am I worrying to much?

**parrotly wild** · 03-06-2006, 07:23 AM

Last night on tv I saw u2s in a cage outside in CA and it looked like regular wire, I take it that is bad too? Now you know why I am in no hurry.

**Squawk and Howl** · 03-06-2006, 01:35 PM

by regular wire you mean galvanized steel i assume? many breeders & sanctuaries use it, the only issue is the zinc coating. it has to be exposed to the elemnts for quite some time (or powdercoated) in order to make them safe.

look in your yellow pages to see if there is a powdercoater near you. chances are, you can get cheaper gavanized & pay to have it coated!

**Oh Mowsie** · 03-06-2006, 08:16 PM

And also, any pressed board you use is no good. Its pressed with glue and sawdust - the glue is toxic and the sawdust doesn't withstand the chewing that any parrot would do so that's a mega no-no for wooden building material. Stick to untreated hardwood.

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