Fitting out a cage

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Kimma
Posts: 87
Joined: Tue Oct 15, 2013 9:46 pm
Location: Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia

Fitting out a cage

Post by Kimma »

This is the cage I have for one Indian Ringneck.
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I've never had a bird before, so have no experience setting up a cage. I don't know how much space they need versus how closely spaced they need perches to be to be able to get around comfortably, or where to put toys for best access.

I have branches and hardware to make as many perches as I need, I have lots of toys to go in as well, plus I am having fun making my own - a swing, ladder and bungee so far that you can see in the photo. So I can fill the cage to the brim if needed. :)

I've googled a bit, but the advice is very vague. So I would love some specific advice, or any rules of thumb for spacing/positioning perches that suit a ringneck.
MissK
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Re: Fitting out a cage

Post by MissK »

I *love* setting up the interior of a bird cage. That's a nice looking cage, too.

*First thing I would say is that some of the perches should be thinner - I believe the bird's foot should be able to close 75% around some of them, in particular the sleeping perch, which will most likely be the highest perch in the cage.
*Second thing is remember the advice to not set things up in such a way that poop will fall on other stuff. Heed that advice. :wink:
*I like to give the bird a lot of places to go and a reason to go there - so, toys or foraging stations that should be accessed by cage furnishings.
*I also like to give some moving perches, not just a swing. One great way to do this is to let one end of the perch hang by cord or chain (read up on appropriate chain) so it sways and fix the other end loosely in position. This affords a "branch" that moves in a more natural way than rigid perches and swings. My bird has a perch that is hung on jute like a long swing, but is loosely tied, so it rotates like an axle. It provides enrichment and exercise whenever Rocky goes to his pellets dish.
*I also love to include slack rope "perches". If you pair these with a hanging food kabob, bird will amaze you with slack rope walking skill. Tip: tie it tight to start, so bird has a fighting chance to learn this, and increase the slack over time according to skill.
*What else? Rocky enjoys some bolt-on 10" perches arranged like a ladder. He had to learn to use them, but now is a pro going up AND down. You guessed it - almost every perch offers a chance to stop and play. I can get back to you on spacing if you PM me.
*I have provided vines recently which he has not yet learned to traverse. Right now he's eating them, but he *will* get it.
*He has a mesh of shower curtain rings hanging vertically. Sometimes he plays there, sometimes goes there to access toys I placed in the mesh. Loads of fun.
*I leave flying space, but it is not used almost ever.
*I also leave plenty of clear floor space because he likes to strut around and scurry about managing his foot toys.
*Not applicable in your situation, but I have a cage of Budgies right next to Rocky's. They have perches set up so they can hang out together, which they do a lot, but in their own cages. One day I aspire to place a single thin perch between the cages so they can share it and feel each other's vibrations as they move.
*As you can see, I definitely prefer to use as much natural materials as I can.
-MissK
Kimma
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Joined: Tue Oct 15, 2013 9:46 pm
Location: Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia

Re: Fitting out a cage

Post by Kimma »

Thanks so much for the response.
MissK wrote:I *love* setting up the interior of a bird cage. That's a nice looking cage, too.

*First thing I would say is that some of the perches should be thinner - I believe the bird's foot should be able to close 75% around some of them, in particular the sleeping perch, which will most likely be the highest perch in the cage.
I think I misread something about perches and thought they meant diameter when they meant circumference. I am sure it said 1 to 1.5inches for perches for IRN. I found a formula for calculating the perfect perch size, but it requires measuring the bird's feet, and I don't have my bird to measure yet.
MissK wrote: *I like to give the bird a lot of places to go and a reason to go there - so, toys or foraging stations that should be accessed by cage furnishings.
What do you hang toys from? Mostly from the sides and roof of the cage itself?
MissK wrote: *What else? Rocky enjoys some bolt-on 10" perches arranged like a ladder. He had to learn to use them, but now is a pro going up AND down. You guessed it - almost every perch offers a chance to stop and play. I can get back to you on spacing if you PM me.
This sounds great and definitely something I could make easily.
MissK wrote: *He has a mesh of shower curtain rings hanging vertically. Sometimes he plays there, sometimes goes there to access toys I placed in the mesh. Loads of fun.
I can't picture what you mean. Would you mind posting or pointing me to a photo?
MissK wrote: *I leave flying space, but it is not used almost ever.
Do you mean you keep the perches and toys to the sides of the cage?
MissK wrote: *I also leave plenty of clear floor space because he likes to strut around and scurry about managing his foot toys.
My cage has a wire bottom. I only have 1 foot toy so far, but it would fall through the gaps easily. I can't imagine a bird wanting to be on the bottom of this cage. ( I have made a play gym too with space at the base for playing with foot toys)
MissK wrote: *As you can see, I definitely prefer to use as much natural materials as I can.
I'm totally on board with natural materials. I love making stuff and it's so much easier finding stuff outside than online. :)

Sorry for all the questions. I want so badly to do this right and am feeling very ignorant.
MissK
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Re: Fitting out a cage

Post by MissK »

Hi Kimma!

Now it's daytime, so I can be smarter!

*Try a perch about the same size around as your thumb and see how that goes.
*Yes- toys hang best from the ceiling (where they are generally safe from falling poo) and wall. Some toys can be fixed to a perch, but expect to clean them. Remember not every toy is a hanging one. Rocky has a bead ring that stays on the perch until he pulls it off. I just threaded large beads on jute, tied the ends to make a circle, and slipped it on the perch.
*Rocky's ladder perches are about five inches apart in either direction (horizontal or vertical) as measured from the center of the actual perch. I made sure to vary the size of the perches and also make some of them a bigger stretch to give him a maximum workout from using them. It's very entertaining to watch him with a toy or a nut on the highest perch, see him drop it, use the ladder allll the way down to get the thing, and climb allll the way back up the ladder, just to drop the thing and go again. :D
*Technology is not likely to happen for me. Just go to the Dollar Store and pick up the chunky plastic shower curtain rings. Get 3 or 4 dozen rings. Open them all on the table in front of you. Join two. Now join another to the one on the end. Repeat. Now you have a chain. Make a second chain and lay them on the table, parallel, stretching left to right. Now take a fresh ring and join the first "link" of each chain together. Do it again for the second "link" in each chain. You are joining the chains and increasing the vertical size. Keep going, adding layers, and you end up with a mesh. That's not exactly the way I did it, but it is good enough to get you started. Customize at will. Hang the mesh laying against the side of the cage until the bird learns to use it, and then you can move it farther from the wall so he can use both sides. Another option is hang from the ceiling like a cargo net.
*Yes- because the ladder perches are half the dimension of the cage, there is air space where the rest of them is not. Also, my cage is a bit longer than yours, and half of it is mostly air space.
*The bottom of my cage is not close to the floor like yours is. However, gravity will take the foot toys down there so your bird is going to have to either go get them or else do without. My money is on going to get them. You can buy stuff that is too big to fall through or you can just wash them as needed. Be sure to provide a container for the bird to put the foot toys in.
*Not only is it easier to find natural materials, but it's way cheaper and you don't have to wait for Fed Ex to bring them! Be sure to Google for toxic vs safe materials to use.

Kimma, if I ever get around to pictures, there will be a post called something like "here's all those Rocky pictures you people keep asking for". :lol: Also, just thought of this - provide a bath!
-MissK
Melika
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Re: Fitting out a cage

Post by Melika »

What a nice large cage! Fitting it out is really going to end up depending on your bird's preferences. Having a few larger perches like you have will be good exercise for your bird's feet- as long as the wood is rough so he can't slip and fall off. :lol: I like to have all sizes for optimum foot health.

Hane likes having a more full cage, anywhere from half-full to brimming over with toys/perches while his brother needed room to swing around and preferred a more sparse cage.

You'll want all different types of toys so you can figure out what kinds of materials you will need more of. Hane loves untying knots and 'parrot pinatas' for destruction. He likes having thinner pieces of wood to crunch on. Hane does not like swings. His perches can be set pretty far apart as he will 'hop' between them.

His brother though, only liked long leather strips for swinging around wildly. All his perches needed to connect somehow, via toy, cage bars, or being close together because he would only move to the next perch if he could reach it with his beak. Tsume LOVED swings!

Mostly, you'll want to make sure to avoid placing things in such a way that the lower thing would get soiled by waste. It will take some practice until you get to know your bird's habits. We basically filled their cages at first, with all kinds of toys and perches and slowly weeded out the ones that weren't really played with (and we traded toys/perches lol since our birds had differing tastes haha) and re-organised the cages to fit each bird. The best way to figure out your ideal cage setup is get the bird in there and watch him! :D

Ah! number one rule of thumb for perch placement for me: Make sure Hane's tail won't be caught on cage bars while perched (to prevent feather damage).
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I've been called 'birdbrained' before, but somehow I don't think this is what they meant. say:hah-nay
ellieelectrons
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Re: Fitting out a cage

Post by ellieelectrons »

My cage is a similar size to yours and we cut a tree branch for them and place it vertically so that it's like a "tree" for them inside their cage. They can then sit on it, pull the bark and leaves off it, etc.

Ellie.
Kimma
Posts: 87
Joined: Tue Oct 15, 2013 9:46 pm
Location: Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia

Re: Fitting out a cage

Post by Kimma »

Coincidentally, just after I read these responses, we had a storm and some branches feel in the yard that seemed just perfect to make new perches.

So here is my updated version.

Image

Image

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There is...
  • a rope perch at the top
    a thinner branch near the food bowls
    a 'ladder' of perches on the right side, of varying sizes and some of which are lovely shreddable paperbark.
    a perch attached to the door so that when the door is open, it sticks out into the room
    a bunch of new toys, some of which are homemade.
I wasn't sure how to position the perch ladder. From your description MissK, it sounded like you only have them vertical or horizontal, not diagonal. Is that right? I figure if they are directly above each other, the poop will miss them. But they are easy enough to move around if needed.

Where the food dishes are means that whole left wall is useless for anything, but I saw on another forum, feeding boxes that someone made. Clear lexan boxes attached to the outside of the cage, that kept the food clean and in one place. It would also free up that wall for a foraging station or similar.

I don't know if he'll have enough room to flap and for his tail, but I guess I will find out when he moves in. I feel like it's a good start at least.

I can see why people don't really photograph their cages though. It's so hard to show stuff properly.
MissK
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Re: Fitting out a cage

Post by MissK »

Hi Kimma,

Typing fast, so the dog doesn't get my bacon,........

I think your ladder looks OK, can;t see it very well. Imagine a people ladder leaned against the house so the people can go up to the roof. It should be like that, but on a less steep angle. I'd put it on the back, though, since your sides have the horizontal better for climbing bars. Not that Rocky has any trouble with the vertical ones!
Like this, 5 inches apart up and 5 inches apart over:
4 ...........................*
3 ....................*
2 ..............*
1.........*
Just look at the asterisks as if at the perches where they bolt on. Forum wouldn't let me put spaces so I had to use dots. Ingnore the dots. Sorry.

I like your perch on the door - that's going to come in handy.

Gotta run!
-MissK
Skyes_crew
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Re: Fitting out a cage

Post by Skyes_crew »

Hey...where's my bacon????

Kimma, it looks great. All you really need to worry about is whether he/she can poop in the food water and is the environment enriching enough. I personally let my fids play outside their cages so much, that I don't worry about the inside so much anymore. You don't have the play top, but it doesn't mean you can't construct something on the exterior. Be creative :D
I am owned by my birds...and I wouldn't have it any other way :D

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Kimma
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Joined: Tue Oct 15, 2013 9:46 pm
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Re: Fitting out a cage

Post by Kimma »

MissK wrote: I think your ladder looks OK, can;t see it very well. Imagine a people ladder leaned against the house so the people can go up to the roof. It should be like that, but on a less steep angle. I'd put it on the back, though, since your sides have the horizontal better for climbing bars. Not that Rocky has any trouble with the vertical ones!
Like this, 5 inches apart up and 5 inches apart over:
4 ...........................*
3 ....................*
2 ..............*
1.........*
Just look at the asterisks as if at the perches where they bolt on. Forum wouldn't let me put spaces so I had to use dots. Ingnore the dots. Sorry.
Awesome. I'll move them to the back and do them diagonally.
Skyes_crew wrote:You don't have the play top, but it doesn't mean you can't construct something on the exterior. Be creative :D
The cage roof does open up, with a perch wedged in to hold it open. I don't know what I can put there since it would need to be temporary. Except, I can hang things from the ceiling if I want to. There is a beam just above the cage. I don't know if it was here here or on parrotforums.com, but I've seen some awesome DIY hanging playgyms.

I can't wait to get my fid so I can start finding out what he likes, so I can tailor better.

P.S. you can't see in the photos because I had the blinds closed (and it was night) but the cage is in a bay window that looks out onto our rainforest front yard, so hopefully that will help him feel at home too. I'm assuming they like a view.
InTheAir
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Re: Fitting out a cage

Post by InTheAir »

It looks like a great cage. I am always changing stuff around in the bird cages, I have these great ideas, try them out and find most of them are completely impractical once I put the bird in :lol:
I'm not too sure about placing cages by window's. I have read some mixed reports on that, some people say it can make them feel very exposed. I have one end of Nilas cage next to the window to our patio and he generally only spends time by the window if we are outside it when he's caged. He likes to sit on playstands by the window but flies to the far end of the room when a scarey bird goes by outside.... I don't have a conclusion on the whole window issue, it's something to think about though.
Melika
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Re: Fitting out a cage

Post by Melika »

InTheAir wrote:It looks like a great cage. I am always changing stuff around in the bird cages, I have these great ideas, try them out and find most of them are completely impractical once I put the bird in :lol:
I'm not too sure about placing cages by window's. I have read some mixed reports on that, some people say it can make them feel very exposed. I have one end of Nilas cage next to the window to our patio and he generally only spends time by the window if we are outside it when he's caged. He likes to sit on playstands by the window but flies to the far end of the room when a scarey bird goes by outside.... I don't have a conclusion on the whole window issue, it's something to think about though.

My cages are in front of windows, but the curtain is always half closed or the cage is only half in front of a window so they can go somewhere 'safe' if they see something outside they don't like. As long as they have somewhere they can hide out of view, they'll be fine. We have hawks and thinks, so I didn't want the birds freaking out- or a hawk sitting outside staring at them. o.o;
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I've been called 'birdbrained' before, but somehow I don't think this is what they meant. say:hah-nay
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