Chili's travel cage is here!!!!

[noblemacaw]

I love those King's carriers. They really are very easy to put together. When I was putting mine together I was too gentle so it took me a bit of time to put it all together. I guess I was afraid of bending or damaging something.

I got mine from Love on the Wing. They are the breeders (now just sell parrot supplies) that had bred my Noble macaw Mihijo. I have known them for almost 20 years. I remember when they recommended the carrier to me but the price was a bit out of the budget. They kindly took two payments for it and held it for me until I paid the full amount.

Mine is the medium size so it came with a grate and two lock in bowls. Here is a couple of pictures of it. The color is s weird bronze brown.

Here is with the door opened

I think mine is probably a size up from yours. Valentino is pushing 500 grams and has that long macaw tail. He fits in there but I would only use it to bring him outside or when I am alone when power washing his cage and am getting his 210 pound cage though the patio door onto the patio for the power wash. He has to be caged when I am shoving that giant cage out because I am afraid he will fly out the doorway if I left him on his tree.

I use to set the cage on my patio table but I sold the wrought iron table and chairs during my garage sale. Tomorrow I will be power washing his cage and he will be put into his carrier. I will need to figure out something to use to set the cage on because it is suppose to be in the 70's and I want him to enjoy the outdoors.

Please excuse the toilet paper and folders in the background. LOL

 

[MikeyTN]

Joe's idea is great!!! Another thing I want to mention about the perch is you can use a saw to cut it down to size where it fits across and use the items mentioned in this site here---> Parrot, Birds, Perches: Bird Perch. Bird Safe natural wood perches. Parrots Supplies.

I just did it not long ago for my neighbor to install a new perch in the cage for her birds using these parts as you can find them at Lowe's. I did it long ago for my big birds before I found this site that's easier to show then to explain.

 

[witchbaby]

That's a fantastic travel cage! Now I'm wishing I had bought one of those instead of the one I have.

It really does match Chili perfectly. Love it.

 

[GW.Joe]

Joe- you are freaking fabulous! Thank you for all that info!! I was making a list of bird stuff I'm hoping to get tomorrow- I'll add the hardware to my list!...I'm also going to get lag bolts for each end of the perch so it'll sit easier and not skew the cage. (With washers and wingnuts)

I'll make sure it's square again before we do any drilling (and by we I mean my husband lol!)

Thanks for the picture! I'll mark the spots for the holes with a sharpie so we know exactly where they're going.

You're right- I have no idea what they were thinking on this [emoji51] thanks again for your help, and I'll update as soon as it's fixed!

Aww, Thanks Shirre, In my trade we have to fix problems like this every day

Remember to only pick 4 holes where ever you can get the drill to fit and the tray to be level (try holding the drill in all 4 spots before drilling) you don't want to "torque out" the tray (like twisting it) because of the lips not all being at the same exact level, cause they do look like they are slightly out of alignment in the pic

And you don't want the drill to rub against the bars, marking them, or forcing the drill on an angle making the holes not straight down

I would love to see a picture of the completed project

Joe

 

[GW.Joe]

Joe's idea is great!!! Another thing I want to mention about the perch is you can use a saw to cut it down to size where it fits across and use the items mentioned in this site here---> Parrot, Birds, Perches: Bird Perch. Bird Safe natural wood perches. Parrots Supplies.

I just did it not long ago for my neighbor to install a new perch in the cage for her birds using these parts as you can find them at Lowe's. I did it long ago for my big birds before I found this site that's easier to show then to explain.

Thanks Mikey, Love the link to the perch info, storing to RAM now

Oh BTW Shirre, I know you and Mikey already know this, but someone reading the thread might not, its worth the extra money to buy all hardware in stainless steel AND even wash any "oil" off it so the bird can not be poisoned

Joe

 

[getwozzy]

Michael- thanks for the link!!! That's what I was planning on doing but I never would've thought to use a closed nut to thread the bolt in!

Joe- thanks for the tips! My hubby is a general contractor so I let him do all the difficult work haha

And good point about the readers- any hardware that chili could come in contact with **must** be stainless steel to avoid any sort of metal poisoning...and definitely make sure there is no oil on new hardware parts- companies coat them to prevent rust or weathering while the parts are sitting in the store waiting to be bought.

Thank for your help guys!! [emoji4]

 

[getwozzy]

@rebecca so on yours, if you tip it over as if it's falling does the grate and tray fall out? Yours looks similar to the other one I was looking at, but it was $230 [emoji33] now that I know it fits Valentino in it, I'm kinda glad I got the smaller one....chili weighs about 265g and she fits perfect in it. [emoji4]

It's handy having an extra cage to put them in when we need to though, right?? I bet Valentino will LOVE being outside and enjoying that sunshine with you! Maybe you have an inside chair you can bring outside to set it on?

 

[GW.Joe]

My hubby is a general contractor so I let him do all the difficult work haha

LOL, Oh GREAT, so you totally got this, can't wait to see the finished mod !!

Tell hubby to get it done TODAY cause all your forum buddies are waiting for pictures (joe starts tapping foot impatiently) :11poke:

 

[getwozzy]

Lol! Don't worry! I'm over here tappin my toes impatiently too haha

Chili spent the night it in last night, and it went well! I plan to use it as a sleep cage as well because she won't sleep in her cal cage in the living room- she throws a fit unless she's in a bedroom with the door closed and lights off lol she's been sleeping on her boing every night, but then in the morning as soon as she can see she flies to wherever [emoji51] not anymore! Mwahahahha!

 

[getwozzy]

Ok- so I took the branch out, took the cage all apart and put it back together so it's all square again. I've also taken a video of me tipping it over and you'll see what happens- once we're done with the safety mods I'm going to send everything to Kings Cage because this is concerning....this could either seriously hurt or kill a bird, or they could escape...
[ame="http://youtu.be/hxHVBezkRlU"]Kings cages - YouTube[/ame]

 

[GW.Joe]

OMG.... That video made my laugh and CRY @ the same time.....

I know your hubby must say this once in a while:
"Are the guys that design that IDIOTS?"

As a mechanic, I wonder about things like this all the time
WHO does the final approval on these things?

It took all of a few minutes to realize there was an inherent PROBLEM with this cage
Let alone being Mr Andrew King of King's Cages, I have half a mind to email him and upload your video to an anonymous YouTube channel and just ask him WHY?

BTW, as you saw the next cage up in size in NOT designed that way
(but its too big for your application)



Joe

 

[getwozzy]

Isn't that pretty crazy?! And it's LOUD! Even if it had a perch and dishes in there, it would still cause a huge issue...I know the sound of it clanking (like if it were to get bumped from underneath) would scare the living daylights out of chili!!

He was watching as I videoed that and he just shook his head and asked if I was going to send the video to them lol

He's currently working on it so should have the mod pics soon.

I think it's kind of silly that they designed this cage like this- why not just build them all the same??? I actually would've preferred it to have a grate and then the pan, because she's always walking around on the bottom of her cage and the floor *sigh* so in this, she steps in poop. [emoji26]

 

[GW.Joe]

why not just build them all the same??? I actually would've preferred it to have a grate and then the pan, because she's always walking around on the bottom of her cage and the floor *sigh* so in this, she steps in poop. [emoji26]

Future conversation at Chili's house

"Oh Honey, will you please mod Chili's cage to have a grate on the bottom"

OMG I just realized, it looks like there is enough room in the design of the bottom cage to do that

Make a grate to sit on the lips, and then hang the tray from the bottom !!

 

[GW.Joe]

You could attach 2 pieces of "C" angle metal to the bottom of the 2 lips to just slide the tray in

Like this [ ------- ] <-angle metal ("-------" is tray)

 

[getwozzy]

Alright, safety mods for the travel cage are done- no more worrying about safety issues!

Here are the holes (1/2"), drilled in each side and through the pan and the lip of each side panel




Add the (stainless steel) 1/2" Phillips screws


And lock washers and nuts on the underside -and as you can see, the cage is sitting on it's side with the tray still in place


Next mod- get rid of the dowel attached to the handle; we replaced it with a mulberry branch I had. He had to sand the bottom flat with the belt sander so it's sit flush with the aluminum


And then we fixed the perch; using the other half of the handle perch, we put 1/4"x4" (ss) bolts in


And DONE!

 

[getwozzy]

 

[GW.Joe]

WOW !!!

GREAT Work !!

Looks completely PRO !!

:25_coolgu

 

[GW.Joe]

WOW, LOVE the extra perch now built into the Handle !! AWESOME !!!

 

[getwozzy]

Thanks!! I really like how it turned out...

Enjoying the sunshine

 

[MikeyTN]

That looks really good!!!!