Cage feed/water/bath layout help needed

ac12 · Post by **ac12** » Sat Apr 11, 2009 12:53 am

I'm in the process of designing my breeding cage, and I have run into a problem. Where do I put the feed tray/tube, water tube, bath so as to maximize visual access to the birds?
- The cage dimension will be 32Lx13Dx13H.
- I plan to put in a center divider, so can't put a door there. The divider is primarily so when I need to catch a bird, I can restrict the area that the bird can fly in, making it easier to catch it.
- Nest box will be attached to the side of the cage.
- Wire mesh is on the front and both sides, so that is where the feed/water can go. Wire mesh means I can put doors wherever I want to, but I am stuck with those holes, unless I rebuild the cage.
- I currently use seed/pellet trays that go into a 3-1/2Wx4H door, but I am considering changing over to seed/pellet tubes. But using the tubes requires a perch whereas the seed trays have their own built in perch.

Can you guys point me to some pix of cages that you think have a decent layout for the stuff.

Here is what I am trying to layout for
- seed/pellets tray or tube or hopper (going to need at least 3 of these once the chicks fledge and can eat on their own, depends on the number of chicks is how bad the traffic jam at the food stations will be. You guys breeding know what I mean.)
- treat tray (for egg food, greens, etc, 2 if possible as some treats create a mob scene at the treat tray, the 4 juveniles are like rude teenagers at a party...pushing shoving and climbing on each other)
- water tube (my current flock do not traffic jam at the water tubes, just a sip and they are done, so I think 1 water tube should be adequate)
- external hanging bath

This will be cage #1.
I can always revise for cage #2 (Societies) and #3 (Gouldians)

The benefit of a DiY is you can do what you want, vs being stuck with where the manufacturer put things on a commercial cage. But the problem is deciding where to put things.

Post by **Sally** » Sat Apr 11, 2009 10:24 am

If the nestbox is attached to one side of the cage, can you put a door on the other side of the cage for a hang-on bird bath? That keeps the water confined a little, plus leaves more visibility on the front. I use seed hoppers, and even with parents and fledglings all in the cage, there is not a problem, eventually everyone gets to eat. If you use a seed hopper, I would put it at one end of the cage (probably the end where the nestbox is) on the front. Or, if you don't use the hang-on bath, the seed hopper could go on the side. Actually, that might be better, since the seed hopper stays in place all the time, while the bathtub is not hanging there all the time. Water tubes can go anywhere near a perch. I try to put mine near the ends of the cage, like the end that has the bath. I do veggies and eggfood in little clay saucers that sit in the middle on the floor.

franny · Post by **franny** » Sat Apr 11, 2009 1:28 pm

I've put a post to a thread where RayRay shows his cages. I can see that it seems there are 2 water tubes and they are near perches. All the other feeders, baths, etc appear to be at the front near the bottom. Not sure if they have their own perches or if they are low enough to be accessed from the floor. Maybe PM RayRay and get a picture of the actual feeders and more info from him. His setup is terrific - and will all feeders the same color and low down, they don't distract from the view of the birds.

http://www.finchforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=5129&start=0

ac12 · Post by **ac12** » Sun Apr 12, 2009 12:46 am

I built the shell of the cage today.
Tomorrow I make the poop trays and start cutting the openings into the cage.

Sally
Do you have only 1 seed hopper?

When I had only 1 seed tray the juveniles would shove and push and climb on each other at the one seed tray (only 2 can sit on my seed tray with a 3rd standing in the tray itself), so I added a 2nd and finally a 3rd to ease the "log jam." When they start eating, they just stay there eating, so mom and dad end up waiting. Sometimes mom get hungry, and if the kids don't let her in she gets nasty. Hence my concern with having enough feed stations.

If I could I would use one of those divided troughs. That would give enough stations and keep them separated from each other, but at almost a foot long, you need a LARGE cage/aviary to use it.
http://www.redbirdproducts.com/Clear%20 ... 0$3.98.JPG

But maybe this isn't the big deal I'm making it out to be.

I put my treats in seed trays because it makes it easier to access w/o reaching into the cage (and getting the birds all agitated) and the tray cover keeps them from pooping in the treat tray...most of the time.

Oh on my current cage, the bath is hanging from the main door, so to reach into the cage for anything large, I have to remove the bath.

I have wire mesh on both sides of the cage, so I can cut a door on the opposite side from the nest. The coroplast is only on the back, so that is the one side that I can't cut an opening into.

Fran
I think the seed feeders that Ray has, has a perch built on them.
My original plan was a similar side-by-side feeder station layout.
Buy I also want to "try" to arrange the feeders and perches so the perch is NOT above any of the feeders. Right now they are, and the top of the feeders are always covered in poop

I don't have the same vertical space Ray does.
My breeder cage is only 14" high, so I can stack more of them in the same floorspace.

ac12 · Post by **ac12** » Sun Apr 19, 2009 11:49 pm

I made my 2nd try at a layout, see pix in this thread
http://www.finchforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=5339

I decided to put one bath/feed door into a larger door on each half of the cage to be able to access the inside when/if I need to. I thought about putting the access door on the side, but the right side might end up against a bookshelf = no access, so front access seemed simpler (at least for this version).

I ran into a problem, the 1/2x1/2 wire mesh is not stiff enough to support the bath w/o flexing. I have to figure out how to add stiffeners to prevent the flexing.

Rayray · Post by **Rayray** » Tue Apr 21, 2009 4:05 pm

thank you Franny

for advertising my cages ....

seriously now .... the metal fronts are sold here in all pet stores and do come with the feeding and drinking parts , most of these stores do ship worldwide and it ain't that expensive ( the ones i bought was about 18 usd each )

Ray