Building a medium sized flight cage for the first time.

[Lycrisa]

Okay so, being a craft driven sort of person i thought it would be a great idea to build my own cage.
I make all of my mouse cages like it's as easy as breathing so i thought this would be easy too.
Well no, no it isn't.

Firstly I bought the wrong size support brackets, so the moment I went to move my in-progress panel, it fell apart, the weak little brackets, bending and twisting until they were unrecognizable.
Then, it turns out, my nails were also the ittiest-bittiest couple of centimeters too short.

Generally, everything but the actual lumber turned out to be just a tiny bit too little.
I nearly had a tantrum.
A lay down and count to ten sort of event.
I'm just wondering if there are any other horror story like moments from cage building you guys have.
Or tips.

So far, other than the actual falling apart thing, everything has worked out fine.
This thing is going to be huge. Four feet long, three feet deep, five and a half feet tall.
I'm just not equipped to handle this project by myself I think. I'm too small.
The staining proved to be troublesome too. I make my own stains for leather working, so I used a dandelion stain this time. It worked fine for the wood, but it got all over me too.
How do you people manage these things? D:
There wasn't much on the actual building in the information center.

[wilkifam]

That is huge. Is it for indoors or outdoors? Make sure it will fit through doorways if it is for inside....... I would make sure you have some access doors down low too.

[EyesofFreedom]

Take your job and break it down into small tasks that way with each step you can feel accomplishment...

Oh and surgical gloves are so handy for so many things

[Ginene]

Lycrisa
I admire your ambition...I, on the other hand, couldn't build a flight if my life depended on it. Design one...yes! And then gladly assist and supervise the build . Go on-line and look at lots of pics. Some people even post plans or videos on you-tube. And like Lori said, access doors are super important. Include other doors for outside mount nest boxes, feeders, baths, etc. Doors = function. And don't forget the ever important pull out bottom tray. Good luck and post pics...

[Lycrisa]

Oh I certainly will, lol.

I'm good at making things, it keeps me quiet. :3
This has been frustrating so far but doable.
I'm so glad you mentioned doors.
I didn't think of putting some at the bottom.
I think I forgot to mention that the bottom two feet of it won't be cage, it'll be legs like on a table.

It's defiantly going to be indoors.
We have a room that is too small to be a actual room, but too big to be empty without being obviously so.
Once I have the first panel actually done I'll take some pictures.

[cindy]

We built a 8x 6 x 3 flight in panels first, used predrilled holes and screws to hold it together... this is a topic thread on it

http://www.finchforum.com/viewtopic.php ... our+aviary

http://www.finchforum.com/viewtopic.php ... our+aviary

[Rox]

Lycrisa I feel your frustration, as I do most of my projects myself as well. There are times I want to pull my hair out, lol!

Hang in there, sounds like it's going to be a wonderful flight and your birds will love it. All worth the effort in the end and you should feel super proud of doing it yourself. Makes it that much more special