I am looking for a cage for a blue and gold macaw I will be getting in July. I would like to hear from people that have both cages they LOVE and cages that annoy them. The cage is such a big investment other than the bird. I don't want to buy one and end up with a lemon. It has taken me years to figure out by experience what works for my smaller birds, I'm hoping to not have to go through too many cages to find a good one for a macaw. I understand I will likely be buying at least one more throughout the lifetime of my bird, but want this first one to last as long as possible without totally breaking the bank (stainless is probably out of my budget). Thanks! Also what is your opinion on corner cages?
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Macaw Cages
- Thread starter Kelli
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Macawnutz
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I LOVE my walk ins! 62x62 Centurion Cage & Aviaries | Cages
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I have my macs (scarlet, 1250 grams (growing baby) & BTM, 974 grams) in 40x30 King's cages and love them. I'd like bigger but space is limited in this house. They've proven to be durable, easy or clean, and I love the bird proof latches.
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What's your vision for how much time the brid will be spending in the cage? Are we talking all day long while you're at work/school/whatever? Then this King's Cages - Avian and Pet Bird Cages, Supplies, Food, Toys, Perches, Aviaries, Pluck No More is the minimum I would go with. Centurion in Sarah's post also makes one, both companies are a quality product. I have the King's version and couldn't be happier. The biggest cage you can get is the way to go if you intend to have them in it for the majority of the day.
If your intention is to have them out of their cage for the majority of the day and ony use the cage as a sleep cage or just for a couple hours a day, then the more traditional 48x36 cages can be used. I also have an Avian Adventures Hacienda cage for my Amazon and the quality is lacking as far as I am concerned. It has a very thin coat of paint in comparison to the King's and I expect that it wouldn't hold up very well to rough use. The cross bars are also a drilled thru design, which means they move and make a bunch of racket and it also means water can get into the frame tubes when you're cleaning. My cage has been in use now for about 3 or 4 months and the door handle mechanisms are already jamming. Like I said, overall I'm not pleased with the quality.
If your intention is to have them out of their cage for the majority of the day and ony use the cage as a sleep cage or just for a couple hours a day, then the more traditional 48x36 cages can be used. I also have an Avian Adventures Hacienda cage for my Amazon and the quality is lacking as far as I am concerned. It has a very thin coat of paint in comparison to the King's and I expect that it wouldn't hold up very well to rough use. The cross bars are also a drilled thru design, which means they move and make a bunch of racket and it also means water can get into the frame tubes when you're cleaning. My cage has been in use now for about 3 or 4 months and the door handle mechanisms are already jamming. Like I said, overall I'm not pleased with the quality.
Thanks guys! - Does the centurion walk in have a floor component for indoor use? and Bartleby - that kings cage was one I had been considering as well. The bird will be in the cage while I am at work from 7-4 Monday through Friday. Keep the suggestions coming! I would rather spend a little more for a quality product.
Any thoughts on the corner style like this - Amazon.com : A&E CAGE CO Extra Large Corner Cage, Platinum : Birdcages : Pet Supplies
economically this is the cage I keep going back to (found it cheaper on another sight but posting this link because it provides the most information) Prevue Pet Products Empire Macaw Cage #3157 | DrsFosterSmith.com Thoughts?
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I don't feel corner cages offer much useable space for the bird.
Years ago I had a large Prevue cage and was not happy (to the point of not using it) with it at all. The finish on it was so thin that in some places I could see bare metal. If you look closely at the details you will see a thin piece of metal that connects each vertical bar. That piece is flimsy and makes the bars flimsy plus it's impossible to clean, because of its small space in between. The model I had was a Victorian top and I held it together with cable ties because I felt the top pieces were to loose fitting on their own to be safe.
I feel if you purchase the Prevue, you will be looking to purchase again within a year or two.
Kings Cages, while more costly, offers of very thick hard powder coat and would be a good investment.
I only use cages for my Macaws for sleep but a FAVORITE of mine is the AVIAN ADVENTURES HACIENDA. I have one that my GW sleeps comfortably in. You don't need tools to put it together, it has a decent quality coating of Powder Coat and is well designed.
The Double Macaw cages, whether it's the 80x40 or the 32x64 are very nice. I have an older HQ Double Macaw, 32x64, which was made very well. I did experience a new smaller (30x40) model HQ two years ago and I found the quality and thickness of the HQ Powder Coating to be lacking as compared to my older one though.
The large walk in Aviaries are fantastic! I had 2 of the large 5x7 foot ones and they were NICE IN EVERY WAY!
Years ago I had a large Prevue cage and was not happy (to the point of not using it) with it at all. The finish on it was so thin that in some places I could see bare metal. If you look closely at the details you will see a thin piece of metal that connects each vertical bar. That piece is flimsy and makes the bars flimsy plus it's impossible to clean, because of its small space in between. The model I had was a Victorian top and I held it together with cable ties because I felt the top pieces were to loose fitting on their own to be safe.
I feel if you purchase the Prevue, you will be looking to purchase again within a year or two.
Kings Cages, while more costly, offers of very thick hard powder coat and would be a good investment.
I only use cages for my Macaws for sleep but a FAVORITE of mine is the AVIAN ADVENTURES HACIENDA. I have one that my GW sleeps comfortably in. You don't need tools to put it together, it has a decent quality coating of Powder Coat and is well designed.
The Double Macaw cages, whether it's the 80x40 or the 32x64 are very nice. I have an older HQ Double Macaw, 32x64, which was made very well. I did experience a new smaller (30x40) model HQ two years ago and I found the quality and thickness of the HQ Powder Coating to be lacking as compared to my older one though.
The large walk in Aviaries are fantastic! I had 2 of the large 5x7 foot ones and they were NICE IN EVERY WAY!
Macawnutz
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No, no floor. We put laminate flooring down before setting up the cage and use newspaper over the top.
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Most definitely! You don't want to cheap out. I learned this lesson the expensive way.
You'll notice similar designs (HQ, A&E, KINGS), they're all pretty much made at the same facility. What sets them apart is the quality and thickness of the powder coating. As an example; A&E specs may be that each panel gets 2 dips into the powder coat pool while HQ gets 4 and Kings gets 10. These numbers are just speculation, just to give you an idea of why you will see price variation between what may appear to be the same design cage. I believe Kings does go into detail on their site telling you the thickness of their Powder Coat.
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How tall are you? The cage height is 6-1/2 ft tall. There well come a time when your precious little birdie is going to learn that if they go to the top and back of that cage that Mommy and Daddy can't reach them. You will want to reach in to get to them but your head will be blocked by the section over the door so you have to duck down and sort of contort yourself in there. When it is time to get out your head will be banged because you forgot to lower it enough to clear. If the door was a taller opening it might be a consideration but not like it is.
The corner cages are not a good choice as they cut down the usable space for your baby and changing out the paper is not as easy as having 4 square corners.
Timmy&Crash
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I don't think the Preview cage from Dr F&S is strong enough with only 9 gage bars.
I like Kins cages and Avian Adventures. My ex-bf has an umbrella cockatoo and I found a stainless steel octagon cage on CL and got it for $600. It's over 2k new and it was in perfect condition. The guy was asking for 1k, I offered 500 and he came back with 600 and I had to get it. Stainless steel is very expensive but will last a lifetime. However, putting together an octagon shaped cage is maddening! LOL. A lot harder than other cages.
I have this cage. I had my African grey in it though. The wires are pretty thin and the side panels move back and forth a little. If a macaw is active and a big chewer, I don't think this cage would last that long. But it is a nice big cage, I got it when it was on sale so I got a good deal.
I recommend the biggest cage possible or if you are able to go cage free, please consider that.
I had Mera in a 40x30 Victorian top cage for a couple years. It was too small for my scarlet macaw.
When she turned 2, I put her in a 80"long x 40" wide giant double macaw cages. Also called flat topped double macaw cage to some companies. And it was great. But it was a pain to clean. She kept pooping where the divider would go and I'd have to lean into the cage to scrub poop....
She is now cage free. For now anyway. Its been several weeks and she has a 10x10 bedroom to fly in. Three playstands to land on. However if I had to put her back in a cage I'd go with a Centurion Walk-in Aviary.
Cages with grates and trays are hard to clean! I assume a walk in aviary would be sooo easy to clean! Because Mera being cage free is super dooper easy to clean. No trays. No grates. Nothing blocking me or making me bend over awkwardly to clean.
Three of my 5 large parrots are cage free and cleaning is a breeze. I still want to have Pinky and Moby caged free. Its a thought for the future.
I had Mera in a 40x30 Victorian top cage for a couple years. It was too small for my scarlet macaw.
When she turned 2, I put her in a 80"long x 40" wide giant double macaw cages. Also called flat topped double macaw cage to some companies. And it was great. But it was a pain to clean. She kept pooping where the divider would go and I'd have to lean into the cage to scrub poop....
She is now cage free. For now anyway. Its been several weeks and she has a 10x10 bedroom to fly in. Three playstands to land on. However if I had to put her back in a cage I'd go with a Centurion Walk-in Aviary.
Cages with grates and trays are hard to clean! I assume a walk in aviary would be sooo easy to clean! Because Mera being cage free is super dooper easy to clean. No trays. No grates. Nothing blocking me or making me bend over awkwardly to clean.
Three of my 5 large parrots are cage free and cleaning is a breeze. I still want to have Pinky and Moby caged free. Its a thought for the future.
Thanks so much everyone for weighing in - I had concerns about the usable space of the corner, and didn't realize that the price difference for the same cages often times had to do with powder coating. So much to think about! Thanks again
ArowanaLover
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We almost bought a chameleon (actually we did and it died during shipping and the seller would not refund and it cost a lot of money) and we had built a large cage for it (3 ft wide by 2.5 feet long by about 5 feet tall big enough, i would say this is big enough for most parrots, certainly big enough for my cockatiel) so we had this big cage just lying around, i went and got it, looked at it and realized it was the perfect bird cage. Even the wiring was bird safe. My advice is to build the cage that best suits your macaws needs and your needs.
macawpower58
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I have an old Kings 48 x 36 cage for my Greenwing. It is barely big enough, and someday I'll upgrade to a double, or a walkin aviary.
Buy the biggest you can. These big guys need all the space you can give them.
Buy the biggest you can. These big guys need all the space you can give them.
I am totally for building something - We built a very nice outdoor aviary for my conures to enjoy when the weather is nice, but I had concerns about building something strong enough to withstand a macaw.....
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The Prevue cage would't work for me! Small door and how would you hang toys or get to the bird? The top of the cage would but way to hard to get to! I saw a cage similar at a bird event. I'm thinking who would design a cage like that? In this case two small doors and both ridiculous! I have Animal Environments cages right now for all my birds including a recent one made for my Canary! I love the cages but do understand the are expensive! Maybe try and buy a use stainless steel cage in good condition would be my suggestion. Good luck to you.
