How to build cage bottom

[koux33]

Hello - I am very new to the finch world - we are still in the planning stages of our future birds' home (a 72" x 35" x 18" acrylic/mesh cage, with a wood frame). We are going to get 2 zebras later this year. As I'm looking around at examples of bird cages, I'm wondering - do we have to put a wire bottom on the cage (above the removable tray), or can we do without? If we don't do the wire, would the birds get poo and seeds stuck to their feet? I'm not sure how much time they'll be spending at the bottom of their cage. Any suggestions?

[L in Ontario]

I cover ALL wire grates that come with my cages. I lay newspaper on top of those awful grates and just swap out dirty newspapers for fresh clean ones. The best part is newspapers are free to me - I collect them from work and free subscriptions.

So I would say you don't have to have the grates at all but I believe some people like them and will give you their viewpoint that the grates keep the birds out of the mess/poop but I know the grates will get messy with poop too and then the grates would have to be cleaned.

[franny]

I agree with Liz. No need to have grates. I think that if you change the paper or what ever bedding you use on a regular basis, there is no real danger from the poop.

My waxbills did love to foray on the bottom of the cage a lot. but I put any treats scattered on the floor for them to "find", as far as I could from the perches.

I now just have gouldians, and they seldom go to the bottom of the cage. But when they do, I've never seen them get poop on their feet, or seed husks or anything like that.

I use kraft paper, or the free newspapers on the cage bottom and change daily or every 2nd day at least. To my way of thinking, cleaning the grates would be a hell of a lot harder than changing the paper in the tray!

[koux33]

Thanks, this eases my mind a LOT. I didn't think about the grates getting that dirty - I suppose it would just be another thing to clean. I'm planning on using newspaper on the bottom (as you mentioned, it's FREE! ). I'll change it as often as it gets dirty, which hopefully won't be too often with just two birds.

[franny]

I've just got the 2 as well, and you can definitely go a couple of days or even more, without changing, depending on how anal you are... I'm pretty anal, and don't even really like the look of newspaper, because the print makes the bottom look dirty. I like kraft paper, but use newspaper when I can't get the roll.

I stack a few sheets in the tray, so I can just pull the top one or two sheets off as they get soiled or wet (or if company shows up unexpectedly), and don't have to change it out entirely each time. (I'm anal, but lazy. )

[colorin]

I don't like grates. I guess they're useful when you don't have time to change newspaper/whatever regularly. All my DIY cages have wooden trays at the bottom, covered first by a 2mm plastic sheet and then newspaper.
For the aviary floor I use kraft paper

[FeatherHarp]

I stack a few sheets in the tray, so I can just pull the top one or two sheets off as they get soiled or wet (or if company shows up unexpectedly), and don't have to change it out entirely each time. (I'm anal, but lazy. )

Franny I belong to the anal club too! I change out the papers at least once a day. I do my cleaning in the early evening and put down clean newspaper on the floor of the cage and then I put a 'night' layer of newspapers over that for them to poop on overnight and take that layer out in the morning so the birdies have clean newspaper to start out the day with. Does that make me "reverse" anal?

But rather than put in layers of clean newspaper for the day like you do, I just put a new layer of papers on top of the dirty if needed until I clean again in the late afternoon. Yea..I am definitely anal (which is my daughter's favorite word ).

I don't use the grates either Koux33. They are even harder to get the poop off of once they get dirty.

[franny]

I stack a few sheets in the tray, so I can just pull the top one or two sheets off as they get soiled or wet (or if company shows up unexpectedly), and don't have to change it out entirely each time. (I'm anal, but lazy. )

...
But rather than put in layers of clean newspaper for the day like you do, I just put a new layer of papers on top of the dirty if needed until I clean again in the late afternoon. .../quote]

I've been known to do that, too!