FINCHforum

Hi,

I now have my cage set up and in place. It is an HQ double flight. This is a big cage. I picked black, seemed like a good idea at the time--to see the birds better--but set up and empty it looks a bit oppresive. It needs color.

Hopefully I'll be getting some Zebs from a rescue organization soon. No better way to liven up a bird cage than with birds I suppose.

While I'm waiting for them, or some other finches, I want to fix up the cage. I'm looking for some colorful toys and plants, both real and fake.

For real plants, I found this site:
http://www.plannedparrothood.com/plants.html

I don't want to breed, so I presume I should not put a pot for a plant in the cage since they may use it as a nest. Instead, I'm planning on putting some pots on the window sill behind the cage and let some vines grow around the cage. Does this sound right?

Also, any suggestions / warnings on fake plants? Any good sources of where to find them? I'm not much of a shopper.

Lastly, toys, any suggestions / warnings?

Thank you so much in advance.

If you put a real plant in a pot in the cage, not only might they use it for a nest, but they will dig in it and throw dirt everywhere! I like your idea of putting a live vine on the windowsill and let it climb over the cage. I get fake plants from Hobby Lobby or any craft store. One thing I found is that they poop all over the fake plants, so that in no time, they don't look very nice. I think it is better to have just a few plants inside the cage, and decorate the top and outside of the cage with the plants--ivy works great for this.

I just use an inexpensive 4' shop light on top of my double flight, with full-spectrum bulbs. The fake ivy placed in front of the light fixture helps to hide it.

My birds don't go much for toys, but they love swings--you can get the little metal swings with wood perch, or you can get some small grapevine wreaths, like 6", at the craft store and hang them up for swings.

Yes, this is a big cage and pretty imposing, but once you soften it up a bit with plants, real or fake, and add the birds and lights, it will change the look. I love the double, and the birds do too. Be sure and replace the dowel perches that come with the cage with natural branches, you can just cut some from your yard, much better for their feet.

I agree that toys would be a total waste of money. But mine LOVE swings. Good luck with not breeding zebras......it is not going to be easy. They are very sneaky. Be sure no nest...

It is great that you are taking these birds from a rescue and providing them with such a great home.

I dont know about toys being a waste of money. I dont' have very many in the cage, just one or two, but I have seen mine playing with theirs. They have one that has little skinny leather straps hanging down that they love to tug on. Same thing with one that has pieces of rope and beads hanging down, they grab the ends of them and yank away. I thought at first it was just because the straps hit them while they were perching or something, but I have actually seen one of my girls seek out the leather toy and hop over to play tug with it. All of my finches seem to enjoy their swings though!, I found a cute little 4" or 5" metal swing that was tightly wound with a soft but sturdy rope that they are always hopping onto!

Do you guys/gals find that putting real branches in this double cage takes up a lot of space and doesn't allow the birds to fly around more than they are able to if you used the perches provided?

Natural looks better but if you want to just have a cage where the juveniles can stretch and roam for a while I would think less is better. Is my thinking right?

Chris

I agree not to cram the cage full of stuff but a few items placed strategically fairly close to the sides leaving a large area for flight should be fine.

My finches like the string/beads toys too to pull or tug on. Just have to make sure the strings are not too long enabling them to get caught up in it. Mine also like plucking toys like tiny pinatas and of course swings!

[My aviary is so full of things to keep them entertained that I don't really need toys. They are always picking at something in there.

I agree that just 3 to 4 perches, as far apart as can be is best. A couple at opposite ends near the top, then one or two placed lower down but so that no one will get pooped on. Go with natural, and put them front to back, not lengthwise. There will be lots of room to fly.

My flight is probably about a foot shorter than your double HQ, and you can see here that my waxbills have still got good flying room. If you wanted to, you could use washers and butterfly nut to attach shorter perches to the back of the cage without going all the way from back to front if you want more room than this:


I tried toys and my finches either ignored or avoided them. And now I prefer a more natural setting. A swing is the only thing I would use as a "toy". They really ignored the others. I often wondered if the birds really noticed all the different colors the toys were made of or if they even recognized most colors. Well with my GBs, I know for certain they recognize yellow! I bought a bright yellow safety jacket (the kind with reflectors that the crossing guards wear) since I nearly got hit by cars a few times (dark, gloomy, rainy damn province!). If I go anywhere near the cage while wearing this jacket they really freak out! I have to take it off and hang it out of site before I can go near the cage.

Beautiful flight cage Franny! Very impressive. Good information too about the perches.

Thanks Bonnie, I'm pretty pleased with it, though as you can see from the picture, the doors aren't exactly "square"! I'm not a carpenter, that's for sure.

I'm looking forward to seeing Mattz flight with those little zebs we've been hearing about. They are going to think they've died and gone to finch heaven when they get to their new home!

I agree with the idea of lots of plants. I put mine inside the cage, but kept them to the sides and top, so that the birds don't really roost in them. The plants are to "shade" them from the light if they want it, and to stop the light from glaring me right in the eye when I'm sitting near the cage. Some ivy trails down the back near the feeders, and they ocassionally pick at it. But so far it's stood up pretty well.

When it does get pooped on, I put luke warm water in a spray bottle and spray the plants, cage, birds and all. The birds like to be misted, and once the poop is soft I reach in and wipe it off with a soft rag. If I'm removing the tray or perches to clean, I add vinegar to the water. So far I've found that careful placement and wiring of the plants to keep them close to the wall keeps the birds off of them.

Love it.... Great job Franny... I sent you a pm.
Adiekaty

My kids and I tried to liven up the cage a bit today.

Here are some before pictures:





and here are some pictures after the kids put some new food dishes, toys, perches, swings, and fake plants in and around the cage:




I'm sure we'll move things around, but it does look better.

I'm still missing something. I can't quite put my finger on it....oh wait, I need some birds!

mattz wrote:....I'm still missing something. I can't quite put my finger on it....oh wait, I need some birds!

Looks much better with the plants and colourful feeders!

Do you have a light on top of it? I got mine at an aquarium shop. It's a very lightweight & slim design and holds one slim flourescent bulb so it's very light. I can still easily move the cage around to clean etc. since I put the light on a long heavy duty extention cord I don't worry about the cat chewing it, and it's long enough to move the cage around when I need to. And it's plugged in to a timer so I don't worry about the birds being in the dark after I leave for work. I close the curtains at night, and don't open them when I head to work at 5am so as not to wake the birds. The light comes on at 8am so if my sister forgets to open the drapes before she leaves for work, they don't sit in a dark room all day!

The light really warms up the look of the cage too, not to mention making it so much easier to see the birds.

I see you have the grates in the bottom of the cage. I hope you'll be putting paper down to cover them though, since there seems to be a risk of injury from toes getting caught in the grates, from what I read here.

Can't wait to see the birds when they get settled into their huge new home!

Mattz,

You can't insert an image from the Gallery. You can use the URL button to link to one you've placed in the gallery though.

Not sure why the img insert from flcker didn't work. But I just went to flcker and found it. This link seems to work:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/21177410@N02/3106076855/in/photostream

Fran

I don't like 'toys' in cages I prefer the natural look...But each to their own. Birds tugging at toys aren't playing...they're quite naturally trying to pull material free for nesting.