Build your Own or Buy?

[Glamourcat]

My husband and I have been going back and forth between wanting to buy a new cage for Paulie or just building an indoor aviary for her. Paulie is obsessed with escaping her cage when we're not home and has started stripping the powder coating off the bars of her current cage's grate. I want to upgrade to a stainless steal cage so I never have to worry about her stripping another cage again. I contacted Northwest Cages to see roughly what the cost would be for what I'd like (we'd need the grate and drawer to lock in place thanks to our little grey Houdini) and was quoted around $3,500. Ouch doesn't even begin to cover it.
After hearing that the hubby said it has to be cheaper to build an aviary. Problem is neither of us are very handy (he likes to think he is, but he's not). Paulie is a MASSIVE wood chewer. I have no idea what we'd frame an aviary out in that would be safe from her pervasive beak. I've been digging through the threads here trying to find some good tutorials using non-wood materials but have only found one using PVC. The thing that concerns me there is that it had the stainless mesh secured with zip ties and I already know she picks at those until they snap.
There are ready made aviaries that are cheaper then a stainless cage but I'm leery of buying anything that might not stand up to that busy beak or from buying from someplace unreliable.
Anyone have any advice or recommendations on how to upgrade her digs without breaking our bank?​

 

[Bokkapooh]

Have you though about Corners Unlimited?

 

[Bartleby]

Check out these guys Cages, Custom Cages, Eurocage and Aviaries - Corners Limited of West Michigan They do custom aviaries for reasonable prices. Basically a custom job that would be on par with the ready made aviaries out there.

 

[MyAussieFriends]

That price for the stqi less steel may seem high, but at least you'll know it will last forever.

 

[Glamourcat]

Never even heard of Corners Unlimited before! Checking out that link now.

 

[JosienBB]

My husband and I have been going back and forth between wanting to buy a new cage for Paulie or just building an indoor aviary for her. Paulie is obsessed with escaping her cage when we're not home and has started stripping the powder coating off the bars of her current cage's grate. I want to upgrade to a stainless steal cage so I never have to worry about her stripping another cage again. I contacted Northwest Cages to see roughly what the cost would be for what I'd like (we'd need the grate and drawer to lock in place thanks to our little grey Houdini) and was quoted around $3,500. Ouch doesn't even begin to cover it.
After hearing that the hubby said it has to be cheaper to build an aviary. Problem is neither of us are very handy (he likes to think he is, but he's not). Paulie is a MASSIVE wood chewer. I have no idea what we'd frame an aviary out in that would be safe from her pervasive beak. I've been digging through the threads here trying to find some good tutorials using non-wood materials but have only found one using PVC. The thing that concerns me there is that it had the stainless mesh secured with zip ties and I already know she picks at those until they snap.
There are ready made aviaries that are cheaper then a stainless cage but I'm leery of buying anything that might not stand up to that busy beak or from buying from someplace unreliable.
Anyone have any advice or recommendations on how to upgrade her digs without breaking our bank?​

You were quoted $3500??? How big were you wanting it? I asked for a quote for a 40x30" cage a few months back and was quoted $6,500, without the added features I wanted Think I'm still going for it, but it'll take me a couple of years to save up. $3500 is much more palatable for my student/disability budget, though. Maybe I'll ask for another quote, just in case the price of stainless steel has gone down since the last time I spoke with John.

 

[Laurul Feather Cat]

If you can put four six foot long two-by-four studs together with either nails or using angle brackets to form a wall, you can make an aviary. I put in a free standing wall, fifteen feet long, three-quarters of the way down my family room and made the resultant area into my indoor aviary. It is fifteen feet by fifteen feet square and my ceiling is six and one-half feet high. The family room has sliding glass doors at one end and my wall forms the other end of the room. I have one and a half, five foot high, three foot wide windows on the yard side of the room and the other wall has no windows. I put up the lumber wall and then covered the inner side with hardware fencing that has one by one-half inch openings. I got the panels from a nearby cage maker, who makes cages for small mammals. I told him how tall and wide I wanted the panels and he formed them for me and all I had to do was secure them to the wood. I used three inch wide metal washers and secured the washers against the metal wire panels with wood screws. I have no problem with the birds chewing the wood of the wall. The smallness of the wire openings keeps the birds from chewing the wood of the wall because they can't get their beak through the half-inch areas to chomp it. On the wood outside the aviary, I installed plastic garden lattice with one inch square (positioned as diamonds) openings the cats have problems getting their feet through. I wanted to have free air flow through the wall because it is a natural way of cooling the house. The laminar air flow thorough the house has always been from the backyard full of trees into the family room and out the front door of the home. In the winter I put up four thin plywood barriers up over the lattice to keep the heat of the propane furnace in the aviary and to save on propane. Works great.

I love my aviary and the hardest thing about the entire project was just putting in the folding door; like one you would put on a closet. Works great and the birds will not come near it when it is opening or closing.