On Cages Etc.

[Alwese]

I have had my three macaws for 11-16 years. I bought three of those HQ cages at roughly the same time at bird-marts and for years had pressure washed them each weekend outdoors. The inside of the steel tubing is not coated and they have begun rusting out from the inside. At the time I got them 11 years ago they were roughly $240-$260. Checking online into cage prices I see whopping increases from what I paid years ago.... I guess I'm just living in the past. By a strange co-incidence, a friend from church called me the same time the bar holding the lower pan had rusted completely through informing me of a very nice cage he noticed while checking out garage sales. This lovely cage for $75. had housed their African-Grey and is a little small for two of my macaws, but for my smallish-B&G Kayko it will do just fine. My Catalina; Doogie is as inquisitive as a cat and upon seeing the cage in the dining room, had to come and check it out. Doogie boy is very nesty, so I threw him in some rags and let him play. I have to make some perches from tree branches for it. Click on thumbnails to enlarge: On the third picture you can see Kayko was back behind Doogie

 

[Chesphoto]

Thanks for posting your cage setup.

Skittles' cage maybe a little larger, but I still think it is one the small side. However, she is only in it night time or when she is eating or when we have to run errands during the day.

How do you know when a cage is too small? Does the time spent in it have a bearing on the size need to comfortly keep a macaw?

 

[Alwese]

Certainly they all need plenty of "wing room" The Scarlet Macaw has the longest tailfeathers as you probably already know. I don't think you can ever have a cage that is too big. This cage would be perfect for an Amazon or a Grey. My macaws are only in their cages at night. Their room has a big tree branch spanning it and most of the time they are up there partying. I would love to have cages made out of stainless steel so I could wash them all the time, but this was a nice cheap acquisition. I got some paint tinted to the same color last night and today's project is to touch it all up and make perches.

 

[Alwese]

Today after the touchup paint job has dried and perches made from branches, I rolled the 'new' cage in for Kayko and Clifford to inspect. They were all over that cage, and it only took a few minutes to figure out how to dump the two bowls on the playstand. I will drill the bowls and pin them tomorrow, but these two boys are very happy with the changes

 

[weco]

Al, my Patagonian used to like dumping food/water bowls from playstands or cages, so I pinned hers also.....I had a bunch of repair parts for R/C vehicles, from when I owned a hobby shop, so adapted some aluminum pins & installed aluminum collars w/ set screws to make them relatively easy to remove for cleaning.....both the pins & collars are available in stainless, but I had a bunch of aluminum parts, so used those.....

I'd post pics of the playstand mount, but swapped it for something else, but you should get the idea.....the only modification I did to the pins, was to shorten them, so that they went through the dish, through the square tube of the play top (like yours), leaving just enough pin to receive the collar on the other side.....I also dimpled the shaft end to make sure the set screws would recess below the collar surface rather than being proud of it.....