Escaped bird!

StevePax · Post by **StevePax** » Mon May 07, 2007 11:08 am

I just found out that the gap at the edge of the food-cup doors in the new cage may be slightly to big for my itty bitty tiny orange cheeked waxbill. Honestly, I don't think any of the other birds in there could escape through there, but those of you with OC's know they are very, very tiny. My wife called me at work and said the OC is sitting the the artificial tree right next to the cage.

Here's what I told her to do - the cage is dividable, so I had her shoe all the birds to one side of the cage and put the divider in, so they are stuck over there. Then, on the open side, open the door wide open, and put a nice tasty dish of birdseed in the cage. Eventually, the poor little OC has to get hungry and go looking, right? Do you think there's a good chance he can find the door an get in? It's a big door, by the way.

Next, I'll need to do something about those feeding cup doors - because the whole cage is wrought iron, I'm afraid to just get pliers and bend the things on the door that hold onto the cage bars a little tighter - I'm afraid to break them! Maybe I'd be okay doing that? Any other ideas on how to fix this in the future?

StevePax · Post by **StevePax** » Mon May 07, 2007 11:38 am

Heh - wife just called again, and apparently the bird squeezed back in the side where all the doors were closed, rather than going in the other side that had the door wide open. She's going to put cardboard in the sliding doors right now, and I'll look at it tonight, so it will be more secure. Any ideas?

tammieb · Post by **tammieb** » Mon May 07, 2007 11:52 am

I don't have OCs but I do have Strawberries and they are about the same size. I never housed my Berries in my cage which is similar to yours because I felt the bars were to widely spaced for them.

I went back and looked at the photo you posted of your cage, the one with your wife, and I can't see the gaps by the seed cup doors. Not saying they aren't there, just I can't make them out in the photo. SO... I don't have any good suggestions for ya. Sorry.

Thalia · Post by **Thalia** » Mon May 07, 2007 12:07 pm

would you be able to use black tie wraps or something like that to put an extra "bar" in the gap?

plantsandbirds · Post by **plantsandbirds** » Tue May 08, 2007 7:08 am

Oooh that's scarey! I don't have seed cup doors on mine but I'm now eyeing that gap above the top door again in case Shakti decides to escape!

Could you fit some clear plastic similar to the type used for seed guards and cut it to fit? Some of that Gorilla glue might secure it but I don't know how the toxicity of the glue would affect the finches at close range.

Ragdoll · Post by **Ragdoll** » Tue May 08, 2007 11:28 am

Hi Steve,

Along similar lines to P&B's comments, something I've used as a deterrent is to take some blank transparencies that are used in the printer/photocopier and cut into strips to fit the height of your bars. Then weave through the seed cage door with 3cm hanging out either side that can be pressed through the cage bar next to the door after each opening/closing. It is a quick simple step using my fingernail to 'unhook' the weave on the cage and then press it back through when I'm finished. If the bird was really determined to get out it would probably still be able to, but so far its worked for me. Also, because the strips are clear, they dont impose too much on the overall look of the cage!

Hope this helps.

StevePax · Post by **StevePax** » Tue May 08, 2007 1:51 pm

I think I've got it figured out. If the sliding doors were pressed right up against the cage, the gaps at the sides would be no larger than the gaps between the rest of the bars. So, to keep them right up there, I'm just going to put a single little black binder clip (you know, those butterfly-style binder clips) on each door. It's hard to describe how the doors look, but I'm convinced this will keep the doors right up against the cage, and the gaps down. We'll see if that little bugger gets out again after this. I found 4 of those tiny binder clips here at the office (I know, stealing office supplies again....

), so I'll put them in there tonight, so I'll be able to get rid of the bright purple paper my wife tucked in there.

tammieb · Post by **tammieb** » Tue May 08, 2007 2:10 pm

What would we do without binder clips?!?

The world would cease to exist as we know it!

StevePax · Post by **StevePax** » Tue May 08, 2007 2:50 pm

tammieb wrote:What would we do without binder clips?!? The world would cease to exist as we know it!

No kidding. It was either fix it with binder clips, or break out the duct tape. One or the other fixes everything.

bluefinch · Post by **bluefinch** » Tue May 08, 2007 10:30 pm

Glad to see you were able to fix the problem. Now hopefully you don't have a Houdini bird that can always seem to find a way out of the cage!