Budgie cages.

[Bellebelle]

I've finally almost convinced my Mum to let me get Rejy my budgie a friend and a bigger cage. It only took three years, Blah.

So does anyone know what size cage would be best? I've been looking into the Bird "aviaries" or what a petshop calls an aviary anyway. Rejy's current cage is 70 cm (28 inches) long, 40 cm (16 inches) wide and 35 cm (14 inches) tall. It seems to small for her but it was a step up from her first cage, which was a third of the size.

Mum's always refused a new cage because Rejy's perfectly happy in her own cage. I'm fairly sure Rejy would prefer a cage where she have a good long fly rather then a 5 wing beat hop that she does now.

So far the cages I've seen that I like are

Black cage and stand 70 cm (28 inches) long, 45 cm (18 inches) wide and 90 cm (36 inches) tall. It cost $125

Bird "avairy" 100 cm long (40 inches) 70 cm wide (16 inches) and 150 cm tall (60 inches) $400+

Both are extraordinarily expensive and I dont know how to make a bird cage. I've seen mesh grids once before, they cost almost 10 times the price of normal grids and would probably be more expensive to make the same size cage out of them as it would be to buy a pet store cage.

So if anyone could help? with what size is needed for two budgies and any ideas for making a cage?

Emma

[fourbwabbys]

I'd like to know this, too. I have two parakeets that I would love to get them a new cage. Only one will allow me to take him out for exercise, the other will never allow me to take him out. Is the avairy you're talking about those plexiglass things they have at petco? I asked before about making a C&C cage for parakeets and I was told that normal grids have holes that are too big and they can easily escape. The mesh grids can catch their little toenails. I was actually thinking of making a cage with wire shelving with less than 1/2 in. space between the bars.

[Bellebelle]

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/Brand-New-1-6M-Weather-Proof-Bird-Cage-House-w-Wheels_W0QQitemZ220000070917QQcategoryZ20735QQrdZ1 QQcmdZViewItem

Thats similar to the one at the pets store. The pet store I go to is pretty much the only one I trust. They do still sell live animals but the level of care is astounding. Even the large wheels and balls have got the "good for guinea pigs" part blacked in and a sticker or sign added saying not for use with guinea pigs. They also ahve the most humungo piggy cages, I've got one here thats the same size as a 2 x 5 C&C ( C&C grids are in short supply now so i'm trying other alternatives)

I've seen the cage above at the pet store and we've loved it but it does cost $400, only a slight downside LOl. I'm currently broke, I'm trying my hardest to earn the money to have a pair of rescue sows flown down from enchantingcavies rescue, and then I want to get a budgie cage, and then I want to build a large lawn cage so the piggers can have some fun.

Hmmm the shelvings a good idea, do you know anywhere in Australia that would sell it? I've seen it before but it cost almost $50 for a piece 1m x 30 cm.

My budgies the same, she will not be finger tamed. I wish she would let me though, I hate birds in cages. Rej was an extremely unwanted gift from an aunt. She was ill and very unhappy. The pet store my aunt got her and her teeny cage from was almost two hours drive away so there was so way we were returning her. She's part of the family now but I still wish my aunt hadn't decided to get me a budgie. oh well whats past is past and I think it's definately time for a new cage and a frien for her.

Another question i had is on all the sites I've looked at they've said that females often wont get on with other females, and you can house them with a male? The sites said if there wasn't a nest box they wouldn't breed?

Just thought i'd check because I've seen a gorgeous male I'd like and as long as I'm sure they won't breed I'll ask about getting him.

Emma

[Bellebelle]

Here's the cages, just to give an idea of size. The top cage(yellow and white) was the cage i got Rejy in, its tiny and is now used as a transport carrier for my lizards when we need to take them somewhere or to give them some time in the sun. This cage cost $40 from the pet store.

The bottom cage (green and pink) is Rejy's current cage. Rejy is the blue thing that is refusing to sit still. This cage cost $30 from one of those bargain warehouse places.



I know it looks crowded but it isn't really. Everything's placed to maximise flying space. Thats only a third of Rejy's toy collection anyway LOl.

Emma

[fourbwabbys]

Rejy's beautiful! My cage right now is in between sizes of those two cages.

Hmmm the shelvings a good idea, do you know anywhere in Australia that would sell it? I've seen it before but it cost almost $50 for a piece 1m x 30 cm.

You can buy the shelving at Home Depot or Lowes. I'm not sure if you have that in Australia.

I'm not sure about the male and female question. I have two males, so I don't know much in that department.

[Bellebelle]

Thanks, we have a Lowes here but it's a mens clothing shop.

I have seen thseshelving at Bunnings, but i'm fairly sure it was super expensive. Maybe I could use it in someway and sort off add in her cage as part of it? Hmmmm I dunno.

Something i've always wanted to do is do some type of wood work project but I'm confined by using what we have, which is basically left over bits and pieces from when we built the house. I need to talk to my dad but maybe we could make her an aviary for outside. The type of aviary that is closed in on three sides, has a proper metal roof and then a wired front hmmm, I dunno LOl.

Heres a better pic of little Ms-I'm-a-blue-guinea-pig


Emma

[Bellebelle]

Hehe I was just chatting to Dad and talking about how I'd like to build something challenging (i'm an engineer by nature and always have a project on the go, its always for the animals and i'm currently designing a luxury dog house for one of our dogs LOl.)

Well anyways I said i'd love to build an aviary and he actually said he would consider it! We have all the materials here, colourbond roofing, metal grid, the metal poles even screen doors. So all we'd really need to get is some type of wire to wrap over the grid because its just that bit too big to use for a budgie. It would take two secs to wrap mouse wire over it though.

So maybe I'll get a proper avairy, if i did it would probably measure 2 m (w) x 2m (l) x 1.8 m (h). which would give Rej a true chance to fly. Ooooh I'm sooo excited I hope he agrees!

Emma

[fourbwabbys]

That's great! I'm sure she will love it! If you end up making it, tell me how so I can try to convince my parents to make one, too.

[KatsCavies]

You got me thinking and planning now hehe.
In the picture below you can see my current budgie cage. It isn't very wide but it is tall. You can see my budgie (yellow/green) sat on the middle perch.
The cages you can just see on the left of the pic don't get used and just have some travel boxes in. I think I might move them out and see if I can build something in their place so that he can have a good fly around if he wants to. I'm debating whether to get him a friend as he has to live in my outbuilding because boyfriend won't let me have animals in the house . However, its said that they won't become tame and learn to talk if they have another budgie in with them.

Kat

[fourbwabbys]

However, its said that they won't become tame and learn to talk if they have another budgie in with them.

I started out with just L'uccello and then got him a friend, Cuddles. L'uccello was never the tame bird. I'm always afraid he's going to have a heart attack when I try to finger train him. But, Cuddles is great. He is finger trained and loves to fly around the room outside of his cage. I wish L'uccello would come out with him, but Cuddles will just fly around and when he's done, he will climb back into his cage. So I experienced the opposite. Cuddles was very timid at first, but once he socialized with L'uccello, he became very tame.

[KatsCavies]

Yeah, mine is finger trained as well. He hasn't learned to talk yet so having a friend isn't going to change anything. You should hear him sing though, he really belts it out

Kat

[fourbwabbys]

Oh yeah, that's another thing when they get a friend. NOISE!! Sometimes we have to put them in the other room when the dishwasher is on, it's quiet but they go crazy over the lulling noise. So be prepared for double the noise.

[bunnyluv17]

I have had two budgies in the past-a male and a female. They never seemed interested in breeding, and I think if you don't provide a nestbox you should not have a problem with breeding.

As far as the cages go, bigger is better but the best cages are longer than they are tall. Long, rectangular cages provide the most flying room. Stay away from round and fancy shaped cages which do not provide much usable space.

My neighbor down the street built an indoor aviary for her finches. She used pvc pipes to create a frame and then attached hardware cloth around it.

[KatsCavies]

I have looked into that. I think the conditions etc have to be 'just right' for them to breed but to me its not important as I do not want to go down that road

Kat

[Bellebelle]

We may have another idea for a cage. I would love an avairy but the sheer cost to build a proper one seems phenominal.

Although, if no one claims the current lost homing pigeon we've found we may end up with an avairy. Neither me or my Mum can ever turn away an animal in need.

Currently the newest idea is too use some old piping we have as a frame and cover it with some type of wire, probably mouse wire or maybe a slightly bigger gauge wire. The pipinh should make a cage that stands about 120 cm (l) 50 cm (w) and maybe 30 cm (h) maybe slightly larger.

Emma

[Bellebelle]

Hehe, well as our newest addition (the pigeon) has found herself a roost without needing me to build her a cage, it looks like Rejy will be getting the Dovecote once I finish it. I made the PVC frame by pulling a apart and old pot plant stand, I'd already used the actual covers for a piggy cage so yeah, no one needed the stand.

Sadly though I ran out of connectors for the last two joins so I'm waiting for my Dad to come back to help me with it. The entire thing is 125 (l) x 80 (h) x 60 (w) with a 30 (w) x 30 (h) x 125 (l) bit missing from the top.

So heres the frame-
From the front-

From the side, you can sorta see where the missing connectors go-

From the back, extra pieces added for more stability-


I'll also give it legs using something or other and I'm still undecided whether to give it a roof and have it outside or not have a roof and keep it on the verandah. I'm gonna need to line the bottom with something too, I was thinking of using Corflute with Kitty Litter as bedding (used it before and never had a problem, its just compressed newspaper)

But I'm sure that this will make a good sized cage for a pair of budgies, if they dont get along i can always add a divider and still give em plenty of flying space.

I'll probably use mouse wire as the covering or maybe something with a slightly larger gauge but it's for budgies so i can't go to big.

Emma