Cage building recommendations

[JoseReyes]

Hey everyone,

My fiancé just received a 19yo female Vosmaeri Eclectus for free from a breeder of ours. The breeder has had trouble finding her a good home as she wasn’t well taken care of in her previous home. The eclectus however has always been extremely infatuated with my fiancé. She usually always bites people who try to hold her but will kiss my fiancé on the face making the cutest kissing noises that sound like I high pitched “muahh” and will lay on her shoulder and rest as well as cuddle under her shirt from time to time. The breeder gave her a metal bird cage roughly 36 x 30. I work with wood and am wanting to build her a bigger cage with specific functions out of a hardwood mixed frame of maple, mahogany and Purple Heart, but I don’t wanna do it if a wood cage wouldn’t work with this size bird. I would also like to make her nest box out of an 18-20’’ diameter hardwood log. What are your thoughts and recommendations for such a project? I would also like to make a filtered waterfall water bowl but was told by another bird owner that it might not be a great idea. Thanks for you help and any info would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Mizzely]

@JLcribber is our resident builder/handyman and may have insight Any bird of any size can whittle down woods though, so just be prepared to replace as time goes on

As for the water thing, did they specify why not?

And are you planning to breed her? If not, then a nest box (plus some of the behaviors she is doing with your fiance) may cause her to lay eggs or at the least exacerbate the hormonal/protective issues you are already experiencing.

 

[JoseReyes]

No, they never gave me a reason as to why not. I thought a small waterfall water bowl would be nice but he kinda made me worry about trying it. I do not believe we plan on breeding her. It would be nice given how expensive they are but the breeder we are getting her from has tried and she doesn’t do well with mates.

Btw im planning on using galvanized 1” by 1” wiring probably around 16 gauge. The zinc galvanized coating won’t hurt the bird will it?

 

[JoseReyes]

And does that mean don’t worry about a nest box? I just kinda figured you always had a nest box for resting.

 

[BeanieofJustice]

Congrats on your new edition! It sounds really awesome what you're wanting to build for her! Best of luck!
Zinc is dangerous from what I understand, so a different wire would probably be for the best. The guy who was tagged above can help you with what to use.

And nope, nest boxes can trigger hormonal behavior, and egg-laying can be dangerous for non wild birds. The female eclectus I knew would become very cage aggressive and would pluck and lay eggs when she had anything close to a nest box in her cage.

 

[txdyna65]

Congrats on your Eclectus
As far as the wire you are wanting to use, no its not safe. You are better off getting stainless steel welded wire. The stuff isnt cheap but is safe for birds.
Its cheaper to get a good quality cage but if you are really wanting to build one yourself then the welded wire is the way to go. If your bird is a big wood chewer
you will be rebuilding parts of the cage all the time, just something else to consider.

 

[txdyna65]

Im not sure where you are located, but I got my wire here Welded Stainless Steel Wire Mesh from TWP Inc.
I built an outdoor aviary with it and it still looks great after 3 years.

 

[JLcribber]

A wooden cage isn't going to last very long with a parrot. Most exotic woods like mahogany are not really bird safe.

I would also like to make her nest box out of an 18-20’’ diameter hardwood log.

This will cause you nothing but trouble and heartache down the road. You already have infatuation problems. This will just amplify those problems to a new level. Not to mention egg laying.

Please give this a read. It will help you understand what's going on.
Site Name - Articles - Behavioral - Sex And The Psittacine

 

[JLcribber]

No, they never gave me a reason as to why not. I thought a small waterfall water bowl would be nice but he kinda made me worry about trying it. I do not believe we plan on breeding her. It would be nice given how expensive they are but the breeder we are getting her from has tried and she doesn’t do well with mates.

Btw im planning on using galvanized 1” by 1” wiring probably around 16 gauge. The zinc galvanized coating won’t hurt the bird will it?

Toxic. Not recommended for any kind of cage that a bird will climb on or beak. Only properly used in very large aviaries (60ft or bigger) where it only acts as a barrier and not really landed on or beaked/chewed.

 

[webchirp]

Also if cost is an issue, contact local rescues...they always get used cages in...

 

[EkkieLu]

My Lucy laid 3 eggs about a month ago. She has always been temperamental and aggressive towards Sergei, so I doubted the eggs were furtile. I put a box in her cage, moved food dishes in close, and kept my fingers crossed. She turned into a mean spirited aggressive biting machine! I could no longer touch her and just putting my hand in her cage had me pulling out bloody fingers. No exageration! After 3 weeks i finally toweled her so I could check the eggs. They were not developing at all. she was screaming and flapping her wings like I was stealing her babies. It was awful and I felt like the worst bird mom ever. So, Not wanting to traumatize her, I moved her over to a friend's house along with her cage and box of eggs. After 4 days i brought her home. She was so happy to see me and Sergei that she was extremely sweet to us both and ran around her play center like it was the best thing she'd ever seen! I never did put her best box and eggs back and she's never even looked for them. I know this was drastic to say the least, but we have our old Lucy back and couldn't be happier!