FINCHforum

My husband and I finally built our new flight...together...without bloodshed. It's 3x10x3 feet and the birds are loving it!

Wow that looks amazing. Superb job there!! Congratulations!

Was it easy?

Easy? Not really. It took all day to build the platform but putting the cage panels together wasn't too hard. We just used a bunch of little cable ties.

Beautiful Job, it looks awesome and great idea.

Renee

Diana
How do you clean the poop in a cage like that?

ac12 wrote:Diana
How do you clean the poop in a cage like that?

It will be a bit of a task. I am using some heavy duty brown paper that comes on a roll. To remove it I roll up the paper. I have to pick up the plants so I can roll up the paper under them. To put in fresh paper I measure out 10 feet, roll it back up, then unroll it in the cage picking up the plants as I unroll it. It takes a little finesse but I only have one large cage so it's not such a big deal.

I'm sure the birdies will love their new home. It's lovely.

Very nice. How do you get the fountain in and out? Or the plants? Does one of the panels remove?

I made a similar shaped flight to winter my Gouldians indoors over winter.But I made mine with dividers and the fronts detached individually.The birds could be shooed down one end for cleaning and catching (Small door each end)...Just a thought for anyone building something similar.I made the base 6inches deep to avoid the house filling with seed husks...not the prettiest,but practical.

Both models are very nice. I like poohbears idea for dividers, as well as the fronts that detach individually..

CandoAviary wrote:Very nice. How do you get the fountain in and out? Or the plants? Does one of the panels remove?

All of the plants will fit through the large doors. The largest sized pot is 10 inches and just fits through the door.

As for the fountain, it is very easy to remove an end panel. We just snip off the cable ties and it comes right out. When done it is re-secured with new ties.

Each front panel is secured to the frame due to the gap at the bottom where the tray used to slide in on the original cage.

The rear panels are not attached to the frame and can also be easily removed.

As long as we don't gain any weight we have just enough room to get to squeeze between the ends and the walls and can lift and move the table enough to have access to the back.

poohbear wrote:I made the base 6inches deep to avoid the house filling with seed husks...not the prettiest,but practical.

Ours is only 3.5 inches deep. That was the distance from the bottom of the lower doors to the bottom of the cages. Any higher and the doors would have been covered up.

lovemyfinch wrote:Both models are very nice. I like poohbears idea for dividers, as well as the fronts that detach individually..

We're still working on a way to make a divider, which is going to be absolutely necessary for catching birds. I'll have to check out poohbear's picture when I get home. (photobucket is blocked at my work) I was thinking maybe we could use clips to hang up a towel or sheet.

Hope you don't mind my poking my nose into your post Dianna? ...Your cage looks fine,and it's nice to see someone giving their birds loads of room for exercise.
I just wanted to impress the importance of cage dividers...as some on here know..it's my pet subject
If folks want to keep happy birds, a divider can make all the difference between a few slightly spooked birds or a lot of stressed out birds
Catching them up in a large area can take ages and leave owner and birds breathless and stressed.Large cage maintenance,cleaning,and nest inspection is so much easier if the birds can be kept seperate from where you are working.
On even larger flights I have always fed and watered the birds in an attached catching cage, with a remote trapdoor operated at a distance by a cord.It takes patience to catch the bird you want but is preferable to entering the flight waving a net around frightening all the rest.They soon get used to entering this to feed,and the best time for catching is first thing in the morning.

Oh, no problem. I'm interested in advice, especially on how to make a divider for catching birds in a larger cage.

When we caught the birds out of their 18x30x18 inch quarantine cages I just opened the side door where the nest box usually goes, placed the net against the opening and help up the tip of the net so it would be easy to get in. Amazingly, my husband was able to shoo the birds to that side of the cage while I held the net and they went right into the net. We're still pretty new at this but that was the easiest time catching birds we've ever had.

Whoops.....Bit awkward fitting a divider now you've already built the cage Dianna You're gonna have to get that old man of yours to think of something...then you can blame him if it doesn't work...