The new cage came!

[StevePax]

And here are some pictures (click on thumbnail to see full size):





I had my wife stand in one of the pictures to gauge the size. The directions for assembly were, well, non-existent. But I figured it out from the picture. I caught the birds, trimmed their nails, and set them free into the cage. They all huddled up in the corner for a couple of hours before they started to venture out. Now they are chirping and moving about, but it's about bedtime, too, so tomorrow they'll really be able to get to flying the length in there.

So exciting! I really want to get 4 society finches in there with them, for a grand total of 8 birds.

[Crystal]

Looking good! Your wife looks happy with the new cage, too! Congrats :)

[Finchlet]

Wow! Cool cage! I wish I had heard of these before I bought my flight cages!

[plantsandbirds]

Wahoo! It looks great in your home. I agree the instructions were....not......there... All you get is a picture of what the cage looks like finished. A little daunting at first! Aren't you thankful for artificial plants? I never thought I would be but they do make the cage look a lot less industrial and they are easy to clean!

You could fill that baby up with many more little friends! Remember....I have thirteen in the single cage

I look forward to the arrival of seed hoppers. The seed hulls fly everywhere from this cage! Of course, I probably have a more severe problem because I have my feeders/waterers up high because of my little dog.

[tammieb]

Looks great Steve. Your wife looks pleased as well. I'm sure the birds are thrilled with all the space.

Are you going to add a full spectrum light to the cage?

[plantsandbirds]

Are you going to add a full spectrum light to the cage?

Oohh...I'd be interested in information on doing that for my cage. Mine is set up near a window but it seems dark to me. Do you have any guidelines Tammie?

[StevePax]

Yes, my wife *looks* pleased with the cage. She tolerates it - it isn't exactly the formal living room decor she imagined when we first bought that house and painted that wall 9 months ago.

As for the seed hulls, my finches eat about 90% pellets, so there isn't much hull mess to worry about, frankly - seed is an occasional treat for them. There is dust from the pellets, but it isn't bad.

As for the full spectrum lighting - I've been looking into getting an aquarium strip light for one side. It'll probably happen in the next couple of weeks at the latest. Especially with those plants on the cage, it's awfully dark in there.

The first few times the birds flew all the way across the cage, it was almost funny. One would take off from one side, flap a few times and stop, and then I think he was surprised he wasn't at the other end of the cage yet, and had to flap some more. It's really going to be good for them, especially for the black headed nuns in there, since they are remarkably lazy and really should move about more.

[plantsandbirds]

The first few times the birds flew all the way across the cage, it was almost funny. One would take off from one side, flap a few times and stop, and then I think he was surprised he wasn't at the other end of the cage yet, and had to flap some more. It's really going to be good for them, especially for the black headed nuns in there, since they are remarkably lazy and really should move about more.

Isn't it a nice feeling to have given all of that room?

I don't want to hijack your cage thread Steve, but all of these comments and questions are helpful to me! Do you like the pellets? I can't seem to find many choices of alternative foods for finches where I live and am hesitant to try Internet purchasing because my parakeets won't eat pellets, even though I've been trying to introduce them to them for some months now. I'd like to try a small amount, such as I did for the Herb Salad, to make sure they will try the food and eat it. The Herb Salad has been a big hit, even Tansy the parakeet nibbles it!

[bluefinch]

Nice cage Steve. You could definitely fit a few more birds in there!

All this is making me anxious for when I finally have the money to start working on some nicer cages for my birds!

[StevePax]

P&B - hijack away! I love the pellets. My birds eat Lafeber's Finch pellets. They are available at most pet stores (like Petco, PetSmart, etc) in 1-lb buckets for like $6. I bought them that way at first, but now I get the 5 lb-er from Amazon for about $20, including shipping. My finches converted easily. And honestly, the more finches you have, the easier it is to convert them, because of your flock of 13, you will have at least one shamelessly brave one who will try them out, and then the rest will eat.

Here was my conversion process - pellets and seed offered together for a few days (nobody touched the pellets, of course, but at least they got used to having them in the cage). Then I'd start taking the seed out in the morning and evening just for an hour or so. I did that for a few days, and watched them like a hawk until I saw some of them eating the pellets. After that, when I was certain the birds were at least recognizing the pellets as food, I went several days where I left the pellets in there all the time, and only put seed in there for a couple of hours a day, to make sure the conversion was slow. Then I stopped putting seed in altogether. Now, seed is like a once-a-week treat, or any time I have to do something stressful, like clip nails, or transfer cages ( ) or something. Then they get their beloved seed as a treat.

Advantages of pellets: Much higher protein content than egg food (I don't feed egg food as a result - pellets are better), less mess (there are still crumbs and dust, and there is some waste from tossing food about, but not nearly as bad as seed), and generally better nutrition overall. And with all your birds, just one eating it will show the rest that it's okay, and you'll have pellet-eaters in no time, I promise.

(PS - when I had parakeets, they would never eat pellets, either. I finally gave up on that, and fed Lafeber's Nutri-Berries for parakeets exclusively, though I had to crush up the berries a bit for the keets.)

[plantsandbirds]

Thanks Steve! I may give the pellets a try and feed both! Thanks also for the advice on the Nutri-berries. I bought them for my parakeets and they won't eat those either - but now I'm going to take your advice and crush them up a bit.

[kenny]

hi steve
thats a great looking cage you have there...as soon as the birds wing muscles build up they will be flying across with great ease..they just get adjusted to the cage size and they tend to hop from perch to perch rather than fly in a smaller cage so now they have more room they will be fitter and will eat more food and drink more! they will be a lot happier in there also..when i first let my birds out into my avairy half of them landed on the floor mid flight as they could not make the distance but they are flying around like buzz bombs now...good luck with it mate!

ken

[tammieb]

Oohh...I'd be interested in information on doing that for my cage. Mine is set up near a window but it seems dark to me. Do you have any guidelines Tammie?

For my cages I use those under cabinet strip lights with full spectrum bulbs that I get at Wal-Mart. I just lay them on top of the cage and fasten in place with zip ties.

For my aviary I use a 4' shop light with full spectrum bulbs bought at LOWES.

[bluefinch]

I use a florescent light fixture I bought at Wal Mart for I think $12. The light fixture came with a plant bulb but I replaced it with a full spectrum bulb because the plant bulb gave off a bluish tint light that made my eyes all funny. I figured if it drove me crazy it probably wasn’t good for the birds either. I keep my lights plugged in to a timer so that I don't have to worry about turning them on and off all the time.

[StevePax]

Where did you guys look at WalMart to find these light fixtures? Just in the regular lighting area, or something? I really want to go the cheap and simple route here with the lighting.