Cage

How to build a bird cage?

I have a parakeet and want to get another one but i think it would be fun to make the bird cage, considering i don't have $100+ to buy one. So the dimensions i have are 5 ft. height by 2 feet depth by 2 feet width. but the stand is 2 and a half feet height. it is all square and i want the top to be able to come off. and the bottom of the cage to slide out for easy clean up. any ideas? i need the material, average prices, and average times + any thoughts.

Public Comments

1. Good idea on making the bird cage. It's very economical and not a bad idea at all. There are various ways to build an aviary (a large bird cage like the one you described is considered an aviary). The easiest way I know of is to build a 'panel' aviary. Basically, you take untreated wood (must be untreated- anything else could be toxic to the birds) and create six panels (two for top and bottom, four for sides), staple wire mesh to it, and then connect them together. Building a bottom tray is a bit harder and I'm not sure how exactly to go about doing one. If I were you, I would just stick newspaper on the bottom of the cage and just replace the paper a few times a week. To make the top come off, just use a hinge. Average time depends on how good you are at building, but probably no more than three hours considering the size of your aviary. Material would be untreated wood (24 pieces, 6 panels x 4 wood pieces for each) and some heavy gauge wire mesh. Do not use galvanized wire, as it is coated with zinc which is toxic to birds (unless you plan on taking a wire brush and scraping the zinc coating off with vinegar, and then repeating this process a couple of times a year). And a stapler used for building things. Cost depends on what sort of wire mesh you will use, so I can't give an estimate on it. Generally stainless steel is the best type and the highest quality to use, but it's also the most expensive. I included a site on the resources that give a muuuch better explanation than what I did. You will notice it is made for finches- that's because most parrot owners tend to just buy a large cage rather than build their own (as parrots enjoy chewing and require good quality, nontoxic wire, which is expensive) and the fact that while parrot owners can freely let their bird out, finch owners cannot. It doesn't matter much what species the aviary was intended for- the instructions are the same, just use a better quality wire because the gauge used for finches can be torn up by parrots in a heartbeat.