Renovating My Aviary - Are all wire Cages any good?

waynomelb · Post by **waynomelb** » Mon Apr 07, 2008 9:20 pm

Hi all,

After jetsetting to Asia for 4 weeks I'm back. Thanks to my family for looking after my birds, they all looked fantastic and have 6 young Gouldians out of the nest flying around and 4 more which just hatched.

I'm looking at renovating my bird room and want to try and breed more variety of finches, but of course I have room restrictions.

Talking to a friend of mine recently and he suggested I try All wire cages to breed my finches. The measurments are 90cm wide by 57cm high and 45cm deep. The cages look very decent for one pair of finches, a nest box would be put in the corner plus maybe a cane nest and some shrubs.

What do people think is this a viable option, have any of you had luck breeding finches in cages this size and if so what type of finches.

I have posted pics of my aviary in earlier posts and i want to get these renovations right this time so i do not need major changes again in the future.

Kiko · Post by **Kiko** » Mon Apr 07, 2008 9:53 pm

I have no suggestions, being a newbie, but I was wondering if you will be building the cages or buying them?
That is a nice cage size, translated in to inches for me, 38L x 22 H x 18D.
Since a common breeder cage here is 30x18x18, I would think your cage would be fine.

waynomelb · Post by **waynomelb** » Mon Apr 07, 2008 11:16 pm

I would be buying the cages, they retail here for $60 AUD each. Which i believe is a very good price.

williep · Post by **williep** » Tue Apr 08, 2008 3:46 am

All wire cages are very useful for breeding, but I prefer cages that are closed on 3 sides to allow more privacy to breeding pairs, especially if you want to breed the more difficult species.

I you want to construct a all wire cage I found this wonderful link, I build one to use as a transport cage but I'm sure it will work for breeding as well, the author uses it to breed all his birds.

http://www.efinch.com/cagebuilding/cage ... step-49575

jamezyboo21 · Post by **jamezyboo21** » Tue Apr 08, 2008 4:13 am

I have my cage all wired with just wood to frame it and support it, but its wire on all sides and i used a tarp to cover all the side except for the front and bottom

waynomelb · Post by **waynomelb** » Tue Apr 08, 2008 11:31 pm

The way the cages will be set up is 3 on top of each other x 3 lots. Each cage has a metal tray for easy cleaning so birds will not see each other from top to bottom.

Birds may see others birds across the bird room but they will not be physically next to any other birds, so they will have their privacy.

I would love to speak to someone who breeds in all wire cages?

If there is anyone on this site, pls contact me.

williep · Post by **williep** » Wed Apr 09, 2008 3:27 am

It sounds like a great setup waynomelb, I see no reason why this cannot work and you should have success with this setup.

For me it has worked better to have a single pair per cage in certain species. I only closed mine on 3 sides due to space limitations. Just bear in mind that some species require large flight areas to breed like Blue Cap Cordon Bleus, but if you breed finches that do better one pair per cage you will have success.

As for people with experience in breeding in all wire cages, as far as I know Fancie Flight uses such a setup in her bird room.

waynomelb · Post by **waynomelb** » Wed Apr 09, 2008 5:47 am

Williep,

Thanks for your feedback, In total i will have 9 all wire cages, 2 smallish Aviaries, 2 bigger aviaries and 1 really big aviary. So i have some flexibility. Due to space restraints this is all i can do.

I want to breed more finches and have not got the room to do anything else.

I will put mixed pairs in the large aviary and experiment with bird that are temperamental, aggressive and others in the all wire cages.

I might PM Fancieflight and get her feedback too.

Thanks Again.

Post by **Sally** » Wed Apr 09, 2008 11:42 am

I answered your post under Breeding, but I see this thread has more info. It sounds like you have a good setup, I think the wire cages would work well for the more aggressive species, if that's what you want. The one thing I like about all-wire cages versus breeding boxes, is that the wire cages can be used for birds that are not breeding, with better ventilation. Of course, boxes can also be used for non-breeding birds, but I think non-breeding birds like more interaction with other cages.

The one thing to keep in mind, if space is limited, is where to put all those babies! My bird room is very small, and I have cages just crammed in there right now. It's wonderful to have successful breeding results, but then you have to have somewhere to put the babies.

waynomelb · Post by **waynomelb** » Wed Apr 09, 2008 10:21 pm

Sally,

Thanks for your feedback as well, I will have a spare wire cage and a spare aviary for babies, so they will not be left out.

I agree with you I would like to put more aggressive birds in the all wire cages. An example of this would be Cordon Blues, Nuns, Cut-throats and Cubans.

Thanks

Fancie Flight · Post by **Fancie Flight** » Sat Apr 12, 2008 1:47 am

I just answered this someplace else to, lol

I use all wire NEVER had any problems and space wise its a God send.
My cages are 3 high all have lights and everyones happy,

poohbear · Post by **poohbear** » Mon Apr 14, 2008 1:11 pm

Each to their own...but I prefer the enclosed cages with just the wire fronts.Easy to clean...less draughts...and a sense of security for the birds.
Paul.

The lower cage is 48x24x24