building a flight cage or?

[6finchfriends]

Well, we need another cage (already!). My husband is very good with wood working and wants to build something for me. I would like that better than store bought anyway. That said, we don't have the room right now for a large flight like the ones made out of screen doors. Which by the way, I love. I was thinking more on the lines of 50-ish X 24-ish base? This would be for 3 Zebbies or for separating my male/female Societies when the 4 babies are old enough to sex. Does anyone have ideas or plans for a smaller flight like this size? Eventually I do want a large indoor flight but not right now. The base is what is troubling us. What type of base can we build so it can be pulled out to clean or left in and cleaned? but that sounds hard to clean a floor that can't be taken out. Any help would be appreciated ! I like the peg board back idea. Oh and how would we put lighting in?

[Flight of Fancy]

Here are a few of the smaller flight cages I've seen on here that might be suitable for your needs. And you could always take the design and tweak it to fit your measurements.

Scroll about halfway down the page on this one. Should be page 7 on the thread.


http://www.finchforum.com/viewtopic.php ... 0&start=90

This is the picture that actually brought me to the forum when I googled homemade flight cages.

http://www.finchforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=9280

A little past halfway down on this page.

http://www.finchforum.com/viewtopic.php ... &start=120

And one of Franny's flight cages:

http://www.finchforum.com/viewtopic.php ... t+my+small

Hope that helped give you a few ideas at least.

[debbie276]

My husband made all my cages and aviaries. The back and sides are out of solid white board which is like paneling. Top and fronts are wire, about 6 inches up from the bottom in the front is also solid to keep the mess inside. I have all solid bottoms and put either clay litter or the oil-dry product. Using a reptile litter scoop (just like a kitty litter scoop) I scoop out all the mess. He makes them in a variety of sizes and shapes to fit exactly where I want it.
Good luck and I hope you come up with a great idea that will work in your space.

[6finchfriends]

Thank you so much FOF and Debbie! That is exactly what kind of information I was needing! Hopefully we can get started on it this weekend!

[lstyles]

Here is what I did. It is a double cage that can be opened up to one large cage by removing tray of upper cage. It has an overall footprint of 3ft x 2 ft and each individual cage is 2ft high x 3ft long x 2 ft wide . Total height is 6ft with legs.


Lori

[6finchfriends]

Thought I'd post a photo of the new flight cage design we decided to go with. We stole a bunch of ideas from Franny!

it's about 1/2 way done! The lower sections are filled with plexi-glass (water splash/seed guard and easy cleaning. the back is peg board with a white board splash back across the bottom for easy cleaning. The floor (will be) white board. The doors, upper sides and top will be wire spray painted black. Thanks everyone that gave us lots of good ideas! I'll post more when it's all done. Oh, it's also light enough for 2 people to carry outside so the birds can catch some rays in the summer

[lovemyfinch]

Very well done

[debbie276]

WOW! VERY nice! You should get very little if any mess outside your cage with that design.
Very well done, best of luck

[6finchfriends]

Thanks Debbie and Janine! Glad you think it's a good design. I'm anxious to have it all decorated with my birdies in it I'm really lucky. My husband is a retired Nuclear Eng. and LOVES a project . I can see a couple more cages in my future He's already talking about improvements to the design. I'll post another photo when it's finished.

[nelloyello11]

Fantastic! What are the dimensions?

[6finchfriends]

The dimentions for the inside living area are~
L 46 1/2 X D 24 X H 30

[Mynard]

WOW Trish! thats a nice habitat...im in a rush now to build mine lol,cant wait to see what your final touches will look like when your done,Koodos to your hubby to

[nelloyello11]

The dimentions for the inside living area are~
L 46 1/2 X D 24 X H 30

Awesome! How are you attaching the wire to the wood? Just trying to get some ideas....

[6finchfriends]

Hi Nelissa, What we're doing is cutting the wire out to fit all the areas left to cover then spray painting them flat black. Then we'll staple the cage wire on the inside of the enclosure (except the roof) and make sure it's nice and tight. Lastly we'll cover all the wire edges on the inside of the enclosure with lathe (1/4 X 2" strips). that way nobodies little toes get stuck or scratched by the ends of the sharp wire. We could have put it on the outside of the enclosure but I opted to put it on the inside. That would make fewer ledges to clean poop off of. If we put the wire on the outside of the enclosure and covered them with the lathe, I'd have all those window and door ledges that would very soon be covered in poo. I suppose we gave up an inch or so of inside dimensions doing it that way but the way I look at it, cleaning ease is more important than that inch. If you want, I will post the pattern we drew up when we're done.

[6finchfriends]

Oh, FYI~ The side doors are 10 inches wide and the front door is 12 inches wide. I wanted fairly large doors so I can get things in and out and also get my net in there if I have to.