Does this cage look suitable?

[cindy]

I love this cage....I can even imagine it on a grander scale as an aviary....love the pull out drawers!!!!!

[w.l.]

Most people have only commented on how pretty this cage is, but Sally and CaliKiwi have expressed doubts about how such a cage can be cleaned, and I am with them.

Here where I live most people use handmade wooden/bamboo cages, often painted in various colors, but others left "natural".
I don't use any of these, because I find them basically impossible to clean/sterilize as thoroughly as metal cages.
Dropping and general dirt seem to get soaked into wood to some extent (everyone should know this from using wooden perches) but the worst parts are "joints".

Probably the species of bird kept in the cage influences the issue, eg. I am sure my hanging parrots would soil it completely in a day, the white-eyes would not leave it clean long either, and most finches that like to hang on the cages' sides would also leave their traces on it eventually, while birds placidly sitting in the middle of horizontal perches and only dropping their scat downwards might leave it clean?

In any case, I'd prefer metal cages, but if your heart is set on a wooden one, try it but be prepared for more work cleaning it! And I am not talking of daily cleaning of the tray/bottom.

[cindy]

Hanging parrots are very messy, we had considered them at one time from a breeder in Ft Myers...the cage would definitely be no match for them.

Personally I would cover the bottom of the cage pictured with a waterproof washable surface. I would put finches in it that did not hang on the side and definitely no hookbills. I would imagine a canary would be less likely to hang on the side and mess down the bars.

[w.l.]

Hanging parrots are very messy, we had considered them at one time from a breeder in Ft Myers...the cage would definitely be no match for them.

Hanging parrots must be among the messiest birds ever, I've only mentioned them here as one extreme end of the messiness scale!
But they also happen to be beautiful, petite birds, peaceful to each other and very quiet by hookbill standards, and of course have a unique behaviour.
I also found feeding them easier than I had feared.
I can only recommend them to anyone prepared to do extra scrubbing! ;)
So do still consider them!

Mine:

FB_IMG_1461477770534.jpg

[cindy]

The breeder we visited had a whole room/building devoted to them... walls were covered in visqueen, drains built into the floor. The room smelled sweet like honey and fruit, droppings were sticky and washed down drains with hoses daily. We were fascinated by these birds. You are one of the first I have seen that has an active colony since I saw them in the mid 90's. Gorgeous birds!

[Paul's Amazing Birds]

CK,

I doubt if there would be much aggressive behavior with just a single pair in a cage this size - particularly with all the "free flight time" you mentioned in your first post. In an open flight, my males might spar a little occasionally in the Springtime but never had any injuries.

Paul

[Stuart whiting]

Most people have only commented on how pretty this cage is, but Sally and CaliKiwi have expressed doubts about how such a cage can be cleaned, and I am with them.

Here where I live most people use handmade wooden/bamboo cages, often painted in various colors, but others left "natural".
I don't use any of these, because I find them basically impossible to clean/sterilize as thoroughly as metal cages.
Dropping and general dirt seem to get soaked into wood to some extent (everyone should know this from using wooden perches) but the worst parts are "joints".

Probably the species of bird kept in the cage influences the issue, eg. I am sure my hanging parrots would soil it completely in a day, the white-eyes would not leave it clean long either, and most finches that like to hang on the cages' sides would also leave their traces on it eventually, while birds placidly sitting in the middle of horizontal perches and only dropping their scat downwards might leave it clean?

In any case, I'd prefer metal cages, but if your heart is set on a wooden one, try it but be prepared for more work cleaning it! And I am not talking of daily cleaning of the tray/bottom.

Hi mate,

Yea I'm inclined to agree here, yes the cage does look nice but not necessarily the easiest to clean,

When it comes to having cages in me birdroom I'm one of the fussiest out there, I never ever buy any shop bought cage as I've not yet personally found one cage that meets my requirements,

One might think that is a big statement to make but is actually true,

My cages are the wooden cabinet style cage with a wooden 1/4" ply board divider in the middle,
My cages can vary in size but do not have any grills or trays in the bottom, in hot conditions a tray on the bottom of a cage can harbour red mite as this is an ideal hiding place for em I learnt this as a child to my cost and vouched I'd never have cages with trays in ever again.

My cabinets have a 4" ( inch ) high run rail fitted at the bottom and full length of the cage, the cage will have a minimum of 2 same size cage fronts fitted in place, the cage fronts have pins positioned at the bottom of the fronts which then slot into drilled holes that are on top of the bottom run rail,
At the top of the cage fronts are 2 plastic spin catches which now lock the cage fronts into place,

Now this is the best and easy bit, when it comes to cleaning the birds out I flush the birds to one end of the cage and then quickly slide the centre divider board, the birds are now in one side of the cage,
Now you can just simply spin the top catches of the cage front of the cage that is the empty side of the cabinet and remove the front,

Apon taking the front out you've now got plenty of space to clean one half of the cage, I put the nozzle of the vacuum cleaner in a suck up all of the wood shavings that I use within seconds, I then spray the cage with anti mite, place fresh wood shavings back into the cage and then put the cage front back into position.

I now pull the centre slide half way and allow the birds to fly to the clean half of the cage and then push the slide back again and then repeat the process with cleaning the other half of the cage,

Once both sides of me cages are clean it's just a case of pulling the slide completely back out again and is job done.

This method I use may seem so very basic and straight forward but one needs to remember that the cages that I build like this is so very easy to gain access inside of the cages and above all I've not once had to catch up any birds to move them out of the way,
If I tried to clean the cage with cage front still in place and with the birds still in the cage they would naturally go belistic and possibly damage them selves,

As I'm a dedicated exhibitor aswell as a breeder I need to keep me birds in the absolute best of condition with the minimum of fuss

[Paul's Amazing Birds]

Well.. I guess we can disagree here with no offense intended.

This is actually a stainless steel cage with an oak hard wood frame. It wasn't designed to be a breeder cage in a bird room... but rather as a display in someones home that will feature a few exotic birds in a gorgeous habitat.. It's spacious and with only a few birds, it really will be easy to clean. The narrow feeder tray is great because the birds tails hang over the side so the food and veggies stay clean all day. The bottom tray can be covered with gravel or sand and just dumped out periodically. And since these birds have free flight time, it would be very easy to just take the whole thing outside and hose off the hard wood every 3 months or so. You can use a disinfectant spray or a miticide if you think that could be a problem with just a few birds.

As far as bird rooms go, in all modesty, I think I may have one of the cleanest designs I've seen in this forum or anywhere else for that matter. It's probably one of the easiest to maintain too but that discussion can be saved for another topic, My E-mail address is off to the right if anyone would like to privately compare notes on indoor/outdoor aviary designs.

Anyway CK, I think this oak and stainless cage is very cool. You and your birds and your visitors will love it!

Paul

[Paul's Amazing Birds]

( off to the other right)

[Stuart whiting]

Well.. I guess we can disagree here with no offense intended.

This is actually a stainless steel cage with an oak hard wood frame. It wasn't designed to be a breeder cage in a bird room... but rather as a display in someones home that will feature a few exotic birds in a gorgeous habitat.. It's spacious and with only a few birds, it really will be easy to clean. The narrow feeder tray is great because the birds tails hang over the side so the food and veggies stay clean all day. The bottom tray can be covered with gravel or sand and just dumped out periodically. And since these birds have free flight time, it would be very easy to just take the whole thing outside and hose off the hard wood every 3 months or so. You can use a disinfectant spray or a miticide if you think that could be a problem with just a few birds.

As far as bird rooms go, in all modesty, I think I may have one of the cleanest designs I've seen in this forum or anywhere else for that matter. It's probably one of the easiest to maintain too but that discussion can be saved for another topic, My E-mail address is off to the right if anyone would like to privately compare notes on indoor/outdoor aviary designs.

Anyway CK, I think this oak and stainless cage is very cool. You and your birds and your visitors will love it!

Paul

As a decorative cage yes but a cage designed for a breeders cage in a birdroom I think not

You can not be serious paul, no way is this classed as a breeders cage for use in birdrooms,

It wouldn't necessarily be the easiest cage to clean,

Yea like you say you can take it outside and hose it down but you've now gotta keep catching the birds up every time and you say let them fly around and have free time, people ain't gonna wanna do this all of the time ,
Can you seriously see the stress of catching the birds everytime one wants to clean the cage and yer talking about catching small finches or canaries here not a hand tame grasskeet,

I completely agree with W.I on this and is why I explained how and why I build my cages in such a way,

Like I say yes this wooden cage looks nice but none like this are regarded as being practical, a few years ago I did actually have several of these cages that I used to house mules in and ended up by throwing them away as they were so awkward to clean

[Stuart whiting]

Well.. I guess we can disagree here with no offense intended.

This is actually a stainless steel cage with an oak hard wood frame. It wasn't designed to be a breeder cage in a bird room... but rather as a display in someones home that will feature a few exotic birds in a gorgeous habitat.. It's spacious and with only a few birds, it really will be easy to clean. The narrow feeder tray is great because the birds tails hang over the side so the food and veggies stay clean all day. The bottom tray can be covered with gravel or sand and just dumped out periodically. And since these birds have free flight time, it would be very easy to just take the whole thing outside and hose off the hard wood every 3 months or so. You can use a disinfectant spray or a miticide if you think that could be a problem with just a few birds.

As far as bird rooms go, in all modesty, I think I may have one of the cleanest designs I've seen in this forum or anywhere else for that matter. It's probably one of the easiest to maintain too but that discussion can be saved for another topic, My E-mail address is off to the right if anyone would like to privately compare notes on indoor/outdoor aviary designs.

Anyway CK, I think this oak and stainless cage is very cool. You and your birds and your visitors will love it!

Paul

Mmmm.......same old self ego again

you state that you think you've got one of the cleanest birdrooms on this forum and anywhere else for that matter !!!!!

A very bold statement with a very high self ego to put across to everyone,

Not necessarily from the pics that I've seen,

You couldn't possibly know this Paul as you've obviously never seen everyone's set up

You need to get yer wording and facts right before making such silly comments

[Sheather]

Stuart he said this is NOT designed as a breeder cage in a bird room and I agree, but it is a nice decorative household cage for one or two indoor companion birds. He explicitly said it would be good for this individual because they will be letting the birds out to fly. For a breeder that doesn't no, it wouldn't be as effective, which he made clear.

I don't see a problem with a cage like this for a canary indoors. Canaries are among the cleanest birds I have experience with, as they really only drop waste directly down. I've never had to worry about cleaning it off the cage bars like you do with budgies or some of the other finches (zebras are bad at this!).

Cleanup should not be difficult.

Paul, I'd love to see more of your setups, your large aviary is among the neatest I've seen!

[Paul's Amazing Birds]

Thanks for your polite response Dylan,

The original post by CK asked for advice about a display cage for a single canary... not a breeder cage and not a bunch of advice on how to set up a cabinet type bird breeding room.

I really do believe that my set up is "one of the best I've seen here"and I think the forum board would agree that personal slams about ego don't belong in this space.

I'm done with this thread.

[cindy]

My mom had some of the decorative wooden cages back in the late 60's for canaries...never had an issue with them...finches on the other hand depending on which species can be a tad messier than most.

[Stuart whiting]

Thanks for your polite response Dylan,

The original post by CK asked for advice about a display cage for a single canary... not a breeder cage and not a bunch of advice on how to set up a cabinet type bird breeding room.

I really do believe that my set up is "one of the best I've seen here"and I think the forum board would agree that personal slams about ego don't belong in this space.

I'm done with this thread.

I just hate it when one seems to think that they are bigger and better than anyone else,

Ego certainly fits the message and I'm done here to