FINCHforum

Has anyone taken a parrot cage with bar spacing of about 2", and converted it to use for finches by covering it with some kind of smaller mesh? Hardware cloth? Nylon or plastic mesh, like deer net (but not as harsh?) I could get a huge parrot cage for free, but would have to convert it to smaller birds, wondering if it's possible and how much work?

Black Plastic 1/4 inch mesh works well

Home Depot or Lowes garden section !/4 inch black mash, you can secure it with black zip ties

The mesh (you could even go 1/2") should work to cover the bars, and then you would have to look for gaps around doors, feed doors, bottom grate/tray. Free is good, and you should be able to convert it without spending too much money.

If you go with the black plastic mesh you can use black zip ties to attach it to the bars.

This thing is BIG, the cage part is 4' x 2.5' x 4', then it can have a round top that adds another foot of height, and it sits on a stand raising it up about another foot or so. We could split it a number of ways, including making the bottom half for the guinea pigs, with part multi-level, and the top half for birds. Wondering how to do it safely, tho, maybe attach the mesh on the inside, so there's no chance for a bird to get between big bars and mesh?

My small aviary (1.8mx0.8mx1.8m) was custom built for an African Grey with large bar spacing. I covered it with chicken mesh (on the outside) and attached it with zip ties. Just make sure all the points of the zip ties are on the outside, as they can be quite sharp when cut. The black plastic mesh will work just as well.

It's a bit of a mission but worth it in the end

Your choice...but sounds like a lot of messing about to me,and I would imagine not very pretty to look at.I made this for what in your money would be $40

Very nice, I love it!

But things cost differently here. There's at least $50 of wire mesh alone in that, with what it would cost me. And then hubby can't do much 'construction' type work anymore, not at any one time, due to his wrist (5 surgeries), and I can't do much of anything physical anymore, so zip-tying nylon mesh is a lot better job than cutting and nailing and screwing things together.

Beautiful flight Poohbear!! So much cheaper to build yourself and not as hard as you may think. I like the multiple doors at different heights with the nests hiding in the "brush" while still allowing a lot of flight space.

debbie276 wrote: Beautiful flight Poohbear!! So much cheaper to build yourself and not as hard as you may think. I like the multiple doors at different heights with the nests hiding in the "brush" while still allowing a lot of flight space.

Watch this space Debbie...I've gone nuts again Anybody crossing the pond hoping for cheap lodging with me had better book a hotel...the spare bedroom is slowly becoming one big flight.
About a week to go and it's ready.

poohbear wrote:

debbie276 wrote: Beautiful flight Poohbear!! So much cheaper to build yourself and not as hard as you may think. I like the multiple doors at different heights with the nests hiding in the "brush" while still allowing a lot of flight space.

Watch this space Debbie...I've gone nuts again Anybody crossing the pond hoping for cheap lodging with me had better book a hotel...the spare bedroom is slowly becoming one big flight.
About a week to go and it's ready.

I can't wait! You always have such good tips, Paul--and I love that flight cage! It is really difficult in the U.S. to get proper cages for finches, they all have some drawbacks. If someone is handy, they can definitely do better making a custom cage.

I bought this for the flight I'm building:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B009VO ... PDKIKX0DER
Very lightweight, flexible and almost invisible but strong - not like pond or bird netting.
If you go with mesh or hardware cloth, I would attach it to the inside of the cage so the birds can't get trapped between the bars and the mesh. You could also use acrylic (Plexiglas) to secure some areas.
Or you could snap it up and then try to trade it or sell it to a parrot person. "Free" is pretty hard to walk away from!

I like the looks of that stuff, thanks for the link.

We're still debating. It could be a very cool set up, especially because we could use the bottom half for the guinea pigs, who right now are in a homemade c&c cage taking up a lot of surface area in our living room, and then still have a big bird cage area in the upper half/two-thirds.

Just not sure we want to take on another project of any size right now. Lots of other life-complications happening (even when you win a lawsuit, the other parties can keep pulling crap to make your life miserable, tho if they don't undo the current really quickly, they are going to WISH they'd just been sent straight to hell instead of what is going to happen to them...). And I've found if we get stuff for a new project, if it doesn't get done right away, if we put it aside for a bit, it never ends up getting done. I don't really need a huge cage piled in the garage forevermore.