Cages

[Lynjupiter]

After seeing some of the cages in the extreme bird makeover contest I have to comment on cages. I am absolutley horrified someone would keep birds in such small rusty cages. Having no money is no excuse ar all. What is it to save five or ten dollars a week for your bird?

My husband and I both work, we have two teens and between doctors, dentist and the likes we barely have two nickels to run together sometimes. But the one thing we do is keep our birds properly caged. When Willie cherry head needed a new cage I looked at a scratch and dent sale in a local cage warehouse. I found a beautiful blackpowder coated cage. It is six feet in height, four feet of cage top to bottom and two feet wide. The problem was the seed catcher was missing and I got the cage for sixty dollars. No room for the seed catcher anyways. You would find the same cage in a pet store with seed catcher for 250+. The large breeder cage Maxi pionus is in cost twenty bucks at a bird show.

Buying a proper cage does not have super expensive. Look online , talk to people with birds, breeders always know where to find good price cages. Do some research and never buy from a pet store.

Also when buying a cage from a thrift shop be very careful! Many of the cages are very old and have heavy metal in them. Check those shiny ( or dulled) metallic cages with a magnet.

When is it time to replace your cage? If you see signs of rust where the bird can chew. When your cage is missing a large portion of it's powder coating.
If your bird does not have a width of 2x it's wing span. If the cage has rough spots, missing bars, ect. When you throw your old cage out make it unusable so some bozo does not try to keep a bird in the free cage they found at the dump.

We won't even go into to the rusty round cage with two amazons in it with no toys or perches. You are not a rescuing the birds if you cannot supply even the basic essentials!

If you live in my area ( Sarasota, Bradenton, Venice) www.parrotmount.com has reasonable priced cages. Tampa area has Quality Discount Cages . I know they sell scratch and dents also.


Lynda

[Doyle'sMommy]

I thought the same thing when I looked at that. I would be so embarrassed for people to know I was keeping my bird in a tiny, rusty cage. Pretty sad, I know people don't always have access to pet stores and such but Petsmart has inexpensive cages. Heck, Doyle has a very nice second hand cage that we got from craigslist inexpensively. I was also shocked at the cheap prices at bird fairs, you can get some great deals there.

[CALVINS MOM]

Joel has some really fabulous prices on cages too.

I totally agree with you on the cages, and wish to add to the list toys and diet. If you cannot afford proper housing, diet and toys, you are not deserving enough to be owned by a bird. Plain and simple.

[gbird]

here's my cage....I often wonder if it's to crowded. Pita seems to love it. It sure keeps him entertianed

[Tiki]

Originally Posted by Lynjupiter

When you throw your old cage out make it unusable so some bozo does not try to keep a bird in the free cage they found at the dump. Lynda

This is an excellent point. Many of us buy or adopt birds that come with unacceptable or even dangerous cages. We know to get rid of them and get proper cages but we can't just toss them out either because some idiot WILL come along and grab the free cage and put some poor bird in it. Take them apart and use them as trellises for plants to climb up!

[Monica]

I've been thinking about Willie and been wondering how he's been doing!

As far as cages go though, there's not too many bird cages out there that are of decent quality, and the ones that are, are normally priced high. There is the bird club that normally has spair cages that they may lend out, but one can't rely on someone else for cages when they (bird club) are also part rescue and do take in birds with undesirable cages. So, as what I've seen, it can be hard to find a decent bird cage unless your willing to wait and keep searching!

[Lynjupiter]

That looks like it is at least twice his wing span. Pretty good looking to me! I was talking big amazons stuffed in tiny visibly rusty cages.

Toys don't count for crowding. I have some birds who want lots of toys in their cage and some birds who just want a few. My sunconure wants as many toys as she can fit. She loves to hide under the toys and play.

Lynda

Originally Posted by gbird

here's my cage....I often wonder if it's to crowded. Pita seems to love it. It sure keeps him entertianed

[Lynjupiter]

Willie is doing great Monica, Thanks! She went nutso for her new cage. It was funny. I placed the new cage next to her old cage so she could get used to it. Instead she jumped in the cage and claimed it for her own immediatley.
Not like she was in a real bad cage. It was an old Hoie conure cage with plenty of room and no rust. It was just ratty looking because it was six or seven years old.

We never have spare cages to loan out at our rescue and club. We only take donations of cages in good condition. That is very rare. Seems like everyone waits until their cages rust out before they replace them. Max's cage sits out at the entrance to our rescue with a sign that says This is a cage to never use for your bird, ask us why! Inside are old tree branches for perches and horribly rusty chains. But during our rescue rummage sale we had four people ask if the cage was for sale. Each one I explained why you should never buy a cage like that and gave them the number of Parrotmount Avaries.
Lynda

Originally Posted by Monica

I've been thinking about Willie and been wondering how he's been doing!

As far as cages go though, there's not too many bird cages out there that are of decent quality, and the ones that are, are normally priced high. There is the bird club that normally has spair cages that they may lend out, but one can't rely on someone else for cages when they (bird club) are also part rescue and do take in birds with undesirable cages. So, as what I've seen, it can be hard to find a decent bird cage unless your willing to wait and keep searching!

[Grillis]

This is my 5 budgies cage.. they really love it. It didnt cost that much to built, the net was the most expensive but i could have bought a less expensive net... soon I will have a cage all most the same size for my meyers

[Dayna]

Originally Posted by Lynjupiter

Do some research and never buy from a pet store.


Lynda

Somestimes pet stores can donate cages that they can't sell (for example ones with a missing caster, etc).

I do that every now and then for people that really need it and can't afford it.

Try not to be too narrow in your search.