are 'window cages' a thing?

[anx]

Hello. I have a Caique, and his favorite place to be is at my window. He's not flight trained yet, so I don't let him outside.

I'm curious if 'Window Cages' are a thing. I'm imagining a light cage that fits into the frame of a window, and is supported by the sill. The purpose would be to let my buddy be 'outside', but not have the hassle of moving his entire cage around to achieve that.

Has anyone heard of such a thing? If so, I'd like to get one.

 

[noodles123]

They have window perches, but unless you were in the room supervising, I wouldn't get a window cage *even if they exist* as a hawk flying by, or the heat of the day etc could seriously harm your bird if frightened or if overheated etc. While they like windows, being caged by one and having no safe space to retreat to is frightening to me. Similarly, most suction perches have been known to fall...so a whole cage seems risky.

 

[chris-md]

I’ll agree with above, so long as you are supervising you can certainly gerryrig something absent a proper window cage.

For a short time once upon a time I let my ekkie hang out in a small wired dog cage in an opened window. Short time, because he didn’t seem to enjoy it, but that’s the supervision part. As a window set up it was perfectly safe, but not enjoyed so I ended it.

 

[fiddlejen]

My Sunny's favorite place is the back window. I have tension rods hung at several different heights and a spiral perch (aka "boing" perch) which I move up or down depending whether I will be standing / moving around the room (up), or sitting in chair at window (in which case I move the perch down).

She also has access to similar perches in other windows, but back window is her favorite. Because of that, I also keep a cardboard-hanging-chew-toy there, as well.

Tension-rod with hanging spiral is much more secure than a suction perch, and she can move around freely. (Also my Sunny prefers spiral perches.) I do not leave her there un-supervised, of course, but I can bring chores into that room and she will stay happily; and she will even let me step away momentarily (like to get something from another room) before getting upset.

If at any point she decides she has had too much sun, or is spooked, or (most commonly) I'm not paying her enough attention, she will demand my attendance upon her, either to carry her, or to applaud her good flying skills when she returns herself, to her own cage in the front room.

 

[ctwo]

There is a house down the street and around the corner that has an external window cage. It looks like something they made, and there is a "pet door" built into the window. It's almost like a window air conditioner, but is more of a permanent structure attached to the outside of the window framing.

Around another corner and further down the street is a Cockatiel that I often find standing on the sill of a transom window (smaller window above the main window). You can see a hazing of the glass around where the little one has paced back and forth probably thousands of times. The bird is usually in a cage that seems to be on a table a couple feet away from the window. You can hear when this one is in that room from a long block away.

I should take pictures and share.

My birds spend most of their time on a home-made play perch that sits on a stool a couple feet from a bay window in what used to be my den.

 

[noodles123]

There is a house down the street and around the corner that has an external window cage. It looks like something they made, and there is a "pet door" built into the window. It's almost like a window air conditioner, but is more of a permanent structure attached to the outside of the window framing.

Around another corner and further down the street is a Cockatiel that I often find standing on the sill of a transom window (smaller window above the main window). You can see a hazing of the glass around where the little one has paced back and forth probably thousands of times. The bird is usually in a cage that seems to be on a table a couple feet away from the window. You can hear when this one is in that room from a long block away.

I should take pictures and share.

My birds spend most of their time on a home-made play perch that sits on a stool a couple feet from a bay window in what used to be my den.

That is cool and I used to want to do something like this, but depending on the bird and the neighborhood, I'd be worried about making it so obvious that I had a parrot. Mine have something like this for their cats, and if you walk by or drive by, you seem them hanging out in there..Same would be true of a bird.

People know birds are worth money in many cases-- it may sound paranoid but bird thefts are fairly common and I wouldn't want anyone to have a reason to potentially target my home. I feel safe where I live, go for walks etc, but crime total rates are 30% higher than nat average..with 48% higher for violent crime (although it still feels safe)...I wouldn't have guessed these stats if I hadn't just looked them up...BUT, that is something to consider.


It's a less obvious if a car drives by and a bird is sitting inside near a window, vs jutting out of the window and drawing attention etc.

 

[noodles123]

by "mine" I meant, my neighbors-- can't seem to edit

 

[ctwo]

I'm not sure this was designed for a bird, but that's what comes to my mind...

 

[Justrosie]

I'm not sure this was designed for a bird, but that's what comes to my mind...

Now that is a cool concept. It looks as if it doesn't affect the window's ability to close, and isn't a permanent structure for the bird to be housed in. Almost like a mini screened-in porch! This could work for multiple of my animals who wish for a (safe) taste of the outdoors.

 

[ctwo]

I had been opening the window in my "bird" room (den) and would sometimes close the door if I had a meeting or otherwise did not want the birds to come out (haven't closed their cage door in over a year).

I came in once and discovered Mango standing on the window frame and looking out the screen. It's a regular fiber screen so now I'm cautious about that. My work area has a window looking out into the front yard, the same as the den window, so I imagine one day I'd see Mango flying around the front yard and then disappear into the trees.

I'd probably build something similar to the photo above, but that is the south facing wall that gets sun all day and it's often quite hot in the summers.

 

[anx]

I'm not sure this was designed for a bird, but that's what comes to my mind...

This is exactly what i'm looking for. I need one of these. My buddy currently just stares out the window all day, and I feel bad for him not being able to be out in the fresh air.