| Thanks for starting the note, Rita! Here's more than my 2 cents on
using galvanized wire for home built cages.....I hope others will
contribute their pros and cons and experiences so we can all learn
more about this way of providing decent economical space for our birds.
We have built a few cages from 1" x 1/2" galvanized-after ("permagard")
wire, which we got from a local feed store. After investing too much
money in Hoie cages, we tried the home-built way. An advantage is that
you can build a very large cage for a very small price.
You can get the wire in 1/2" x 1/2" up to 2" x 2" and variations in
between, like the popular 1" x 1/2", which is suitable for anything
from small finches to large parrots. If you are building a utility
cage that may get recycled and house different types of birds over
time, this may be the size for you. Wire rolls come in 2 foot and 3
foot lengths, standard. Louis Page Wire Company in Littleton, MA has
the best prices I have found so far, but only if you buy it by the 100
foot roll. Local hardware or feed stores may be a better idea if you
just need a few feet -- enough for one or two cages.
If you are planning on building hanging flights, you will need some
lumber to provide stability; size and placement of the lumber varies
with the size of the cage. If you are planning on having the cages sit
on a table or other surface, a slide-out galvanized tray for the bottom
is a good idea, but costs as much as the wire and J-clips,
though...about $18 for a 2' x 2' x 2 5/8", suitable for a slide-out
tray....the 2' x 3' is more $$ and is better for an enclosed cage...a
little heavy to work with for a slide out tray, but if you're strong,
guess it wouldn't matter.
Some folks build wire cages with no bottom screen between the top of
the galvanized tray, others put the screen in. To add confusion, you
can build the cages with no screen *under* the galvanized tray either,
or you can put a screen in. Depends on the type of birds to be housed,
how fussy you are about cleaning, how much you want to cut and clip
sheets of wire mesh, whether you will be moving the cage a lot or not,
etc. And of course there are those who do not use a galvanized tray at
all, but set the cage down on newspaper or a sheet of plywood or some
scrap linoleum and do just fine! This assumes the cage can be picked
up to change and clean the flooring area and that the birds won't
escape while you are doing this. I've seen this work for others with
medium to large size parrots, but personally wouldn't risk it with
budgies or other small, more active birds.
There is a special tool for clipping the J-clips that hold together the
pieces of cut wire mesh (also called hardware cloth), and another for
unclipping, which a tool place may be able to get for you, or they have
at least the clipper tool at Wingsong Aviary in Merrimack, NH....for
about $27! We just used a variety of small hand tools that seemed to
adapt to this use. The elegant way would be to buy the clipper
tool.....Just like the elegant way would be to buy the electric wire-
snipper, rather than using tin-snips or small wire-cutters.
One troublesome thing I have found with the big wire cages is getting
snagged on the wire edges and J-clips when moving or cleaning the
cages. I have learned the hard way to be extra careful, use work
gloves if I'm doing a lot of handling, and wear only clothing that
I don't care if it gets torn up. Some people use two-sided plastic
strips on the door edges, but this will usually only work if the birds
are not chewers, which mine are. They are also one more thing to
dismantle and clean! Even using a dremel tool to wear down the edges
of the wire where it has been clipped doesn't eliminate all the little
snags.
You can bend the sides of the cage wire to make the corners, rather
than cutting each piece, but is just a different kind of work, not
less work. One advantage is that every corner you bend instead of
cut and clip won't have the clips to get snagged on.
An advantage to the wire cages is that you can cut and recut
doors of any size you need, patch them back in, start over with a
different size door, and cut pieces out for entrances to nest boxes
and then patch over the hole when the cage isn't being used as a
breeding cage. Starts to look weird, but the birds don't seem
to mind! So save those scraps of wire mesh...they may come in
handy sooner than you think!
Having a long-handled scrub brush is essential to getting the inside of
the cage clean, unless you are willing to dismantle one or two sides of
the J-clips so the cage is opened up...not something most people will
do just to clean the cage. Reaching in and around to get the inside
clean is a chore, but worth the effort. Leaving the cages to dry in
the sun is a good idea, unless you have a lot of scrap towels you don't
mind getting ripped up trying to dry the cage off!!
If you want a wire cage but don't want to build it yourself, there
are places around that will build it for you, for a price. Still
less than the pretty cages designed for your living space, but a lot
more than if you do it yourself. Local feed stores that carry the
wire, some pet stores, some commercial aviaries, some private parties
will build cages on order. I talked over the phone with someone in
Dunstable who will build animal cages on custom order and his prices
seemed very reasonable, but I haven't taken the time to go look at his
stuff yet. He advised a visit and on-site discussion to make sure he
would be able to do what you want. He builds stacked breeding cages,
flights, and single cages (his main business is rabbit and other small
animal cages, so he says an occasional order for bird cages is fun!).
His name is Eric Thurkin, but I don't have the number handy just
now....phone company probably does though!
A caution on the galvanized after...there is a controversy about
whether the zinc plating will harm the birds, especially the birds
that are likely to walk around a lot on the wire or chew it. I
have heard testimonials on both sides...successful breeders who have
used the galvanized-after wire for years with all kinds of birds
with no problems, and other breeders who swear they lost birds to
zinc poisoning. An alternative is to get the galvanized-before wire,
which will start to rust after a few cleanings with a disinfectant
or if left outdoors. So then you have the birds eating the rust...
Those of you who made it this far.....how about you? Any experiences
with this kind of housing for your birds? Pls. write in!
Linda
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Here's what I did for the breeding cage I am going to use for my
Senegals.
I acquired an old DEC-10 cab, the kind that is basically a 6' tall, 2'
wide, 2'deep steel frame. There are holes (for rack mounting) drilled
about 1/2" apart on all edges. There is a hinged door on the front,
also just a frame. The previous owner had attached a fluorescent licht
fixture to the top of the cab.
I used 1"x2" 14 gauge wire mesh, cut into 4'sections. I wired this
into the cab with 16-gauge aluminum wire. A top grate was also wired
on, and a bottom grate was set on a larger aluminum wire "grid" that I
wove across the bottom. This left a 1' space on the top so that I
could change the light bulb (I will be using a Vitalight on a timer)
and a 1' space above the floor of the cab, onto which I put an aluminum
roasting pan, to be lined with newspaper.
The back section of wire mesh has a hole cut for access to an outside
nest box. There is a wood platform on the inside *above* the nestbox
entrance, attached with bolts and wing nuts (on the outside), to shade
the entrance to the nest box for privacy. Since lighting is supplied
from the top of the cage, I also then put the original side panels back
on the cab (over the wire mesh) for even more privacy. I've heard that
the easiest way to get these guys to breed is to give them absolute
privacy and security.
With this in mind, I also put screen into the door frame. Now the
front of the cage is double-screened. I cut a large hole into the
inner front screening, which will allow the food/water dishes to be
attached to the door screen, and go through the inner screen opening
when the door is closed. The food and water can now be changed without
my hands ever entering the cage.
Not a bad use for an old computer cab...next month we'll see how the
birds like it!
/Rita
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