Great idea for an awesome birdcage!

[Too Many Cats]

I saw this old TV cabinet sitting out by someones trash with a 'free' sign on it. I immediately saw a new birdcage....my husband on the otherhand saw only more trash, lol!

I went back and got it anyway and brought it home. This is what I started with. See the potential????




It only took a couple of hours to paint it ....but the plexiglass front took a couple of days. It's two pieces. It connects in the middle and the top half lifts up and the bottom lays down. Although it looks neat....it's not the best design for cleaning and the birds can escape when opened....




Word of warning with this pic! As you can see I put pellets that they use in pet store cages in there and the fumes made them sick. I contacted the store and the company about it and they were not concerned. So, never put cage pellets in with birds no matter safe they claim it is!!!!

As a result, Summer my little white beauty died. She was 12 years old.



Spring survived (probably because she's a mean little bird) and I've never put anything but paper in since. She's alone now as I feel and younger bird would probably pick on this old girl to death. She's 14 now. I just got her a little singing/tweeting stuffed bird motion activated and it was freaking her out too much! It's now a cat toy, lol!

[Karen]

So sad about the fumes from those pellets. What brand were they? I am sure folks will want to know. How much ventilation is there?

[sana]

What a lovely bird cage! Great Job! But, sorry to hear about poor sweet Summer. That was sickening of the pellets' company to do such a thing! Hopefully Spring will find another sweet friend

[Freedom]

What a good eye, to see the potential!

I am so sorry about Summer.

So, how do you keep Spring safe while you clean the cage?! You left us dangling on that one, lol.

[kaycountrygal]

What a good idea! As someone mentioned, how much ventilation is there? If not enough, you could drill some holes in several places. I'm assuming it's made of wood or something like wood. It looks very pretty.
I'm very sorry about your Summer bird. I didnt know those little birds could live 12 yrs. I'm impressed that your Spring is 14. ... Kay in NC

[BitsyNaceyDog]

Wow! It looks wonderful!

I, too, wondered about the ventilation. Birds need good fresh air, free from drafts. You likely have the draft free part down, but I worry Spring isn't getting enough fresh air being so enclosed.

[sana]

Isn't that a big hole at the back, that must be the place where the air's coming for the bird.



Isn't that the place the air is coming and going?

[BitsyNaceyDog]

Sana- I'm pretty sure that's a mirror.

I was just thinking about this cage and realized that I forgot to mention the plastic plants in there could pose a risk to Spring, too. Between the plastic, which she could eat, and the wire that runs through the 'branch' part, I personally find them to be too much of a danger and would take them out.

What about adding some toys. Birds need toys. Bells are always a favorite of my birds. Now that she's living alone it's especially important to have toys to keep her from getting board.

[Too Many Cats]

You cant see them in the pictures, but there are about 20 quarter size holes drilled out all along the bottom of the plexiglasss and up both sides of the top piece, and holes drilled out of the wood on in top. The ventilation was fine until I used those pellets which would cause harm even in a wire cage. The only safe product for birds is paper. I cant express how much I regret going into Petsmart that day and seeing their cages and wanting pellets in mine too. And I still carry a lot of anger towards them and the company for saying they were safe. The company is no longer in buisness and petsmart carries no more wood based pellets, my petco does. The aslo say completey safe for birds and pine free but if you check what they are made out of you will see 35% pine shavings. I have to take any opportunity to warn people about this now so no other birds will die from this.

But since then I have re-done the whole cage. Took off the top plexiglass piece and replaced it with wire. Took out everything inside the cage and replaced it all with perches. I will always be proud of the cage because I thought it was awesome! But putting those pellets in it ruined everything about it. I Learned the hard way never to use them and will continue to warn against them until companys realize not everything is good for birds too.

[Too Many Cats]

This was their cage before which was really just a place to perch at night and eat. For 12 years their cage door was always open and they were aloud to free fly around my office whenever they liked. Same with the doves. It was just a bird room and no cats were ever aloud in there so they were always safe from them.




But that was at the 'old' house. When we moved to this house 2 years ago which is new, hubby put his foot down and said no, they had to be caged and my office now has to be both bird and cat room which is why I had used to plexiglass, to make sure there was no way the cats could get them.

So after what happened I replaced the plexi with the wire front of an old cage which has a small door that slides up in the middle. It's secure and cat proof but anything the cats can get a paw through is just too tempting....and Spring is such a little tease with as you can see




This is the cage today. I had to add all the plants on the outside to just make it a little harder for the cats to get right up on that wire. There are no plants inside anymore, but they never messed with them anyway so it was okay. The only thing the birds have ever played with are those beads. I have a box of bird toys that either scared them or they ignore.

That's Alex in the window, and now that the plants are up everyone has pretty much given up and just look instead. And it drive Spring nuts that she cant peck at their paws anymore, lol!



And Spring who just had her 14th birthday. Her mirror is always messy because she like to 'tongue' it a lot.

[sana]

Sana- I'm pretty sure that's a mirror.

Oh! yea, sorry, didn't see that clearly

[BitsyNaceyDog]

Looks great! I'm all for anything that allows for more airflow. I love the picture of Spring looking at Alex.

My cats would be all over my birds too if given the chance. Well, most of them anyway. I have one cat, Sophia, who doesn't get along with the other cats, but does great with the birds. We have a big "bird room" and Sophia lives in there with the birds. My husband also has his office in there so he spends all day with them.

[luckies4me]

If there is plenty of ventilation the pine pellets (I know which ones you are referring to as I use them for my parrot) are perfectly safe. The only way they will cause problems is if there is not proper air circulation. Did you seek vet care for the sick keets? Being up there in age there are many other illness the bird could have had that might have wound up contributing to the pets death. Have they recently been examined by an avian vet? If not I would highly recommend doing so. Yearly fecals should always be done, as well as routine blood work. It's awful hard with parakeets tho as anything stressful can kill them. Just moving them into a new cage can stress them out enough that they could die. I would be more worried about the paint used on the cabinet before you turned it into a cage. We know little birdies love to nibble on things. Just a thought.