Setting up a cage for pair of Bourke's

[The_Mayor]

I'm getting ready for moving in day but still have a few details to get sorted.

Understanding that the Bourke's really like to fly, I got a double flight cage. It's not terribly tall, but with the divider out it's pretty wide. Unfortunately, with the divider out there is a pretty wide gap between the cages, definitely more than a half-inch. I had two thoughts about how to fill that in.

The first was run thick cotton rope along the channel, securing it with zip ties (is it just me, or does anyone else think pet birds are really just a marketing device of Big Zip-Tie? Seriously, I've used more in a week setting up my cage than I had in my entire life. You may say it's a conspiracy theory, but. . . ). The other idea I had was to fill in the gaps with, wait for it, . . . gap covers.



I figure that'd work for the bottom and back gap and maybe for the top with the divider in or out. I don't think it'd be useful to block the front with the divider in, but I can probably just solve that on an as-needed basis with zipties.

Thoughts? Other, better ideas?

My other question is that I understand that Bourke's sometimes like to get their inner-RoadRunner freak on and bop about on the bottom of the cage. Does that mean they'd be happier with the paper on top of the grate? I understand that'd mean I'd have to be even more diligent about cleaning out their cage, but I know I should do my best to make their environment as satisfying as I can for them.

Oh, and one more question - this night frights thing. Should I get them a night light or just make sure there's a little ambient light in their room?

 

[expressmailtome]

Bump.

 

[dollfish]

Could you share a photo of the gap? I'm finding it a little difficult to visualise. It may help others to help you in more ways too.

 

[The_Mayor]

Could you share a photo of the gap? I'm finding it a little difficult to visualise. It may help others to help you in more ways too.

Oh, right. Doh!

So, the cage is an A&E Double Flight Cage and the gap between the cages is a known issue, but the only solution I've seen is to zip tie to cages tightly together. Which would work really well if you're always going to leave them open, but at least at the beginning I expect there will be times that I want to easily go back and forth between having them open and closed.

Looking from the front, the gap looks like this (sorry about the distracting image, the cage is in front of a mirror at the moment:



From the top:



And using rope to fill the gaps at the front (if I went this way I'd use zip ties to create channels to hold the rope in place):



Is that helpful?

 

[dollfish]

Is it the divider that's in the way? I'm not very keen on the rope because of entanglement issues and I don't know much about bourke's but wouldn't your bird be able to chew and break the zip ties?

Can you make a wooden frame and fit it on? Just an upside down U shaped one maybe.

 

[The_Mayor]

I don't think the divider is in itself the problem - it's just that the way the cages are built there's no way to snug them up tight next to each other.

I haven't heard about birds chewing through zip ties, although it sounds like there isn't much that will stop a really determined parrot. But, yes, I think it's at least possible that if a bird was fussing with the rope they might be able to pull it out of place enough to create a gap. I guess it would depend on how tightly it was packed in and how much the birds tugged on it.

Which is sort of the unknowns I have about the silicone gap covers. It sounds like, in the abstract, it isn't toxic to birds, but if a bird chewed on it enough to actually swallow a piece that would almost certainly be bad. While it doesn't sound like Bourke's are the big gnawers of the bird world, any individual bird might be a bit of an over-achiever in that regard.

As for making something out of wood, yeah, not really in my skill set. Although, if I could find some dowels in a bird-safe wood that might work.

Thanks!

 

[dollfish]

Zip ties sound like just the thing that my one would obsess over The frame should not be so diffifult, just cut or have it cut to size and use 4 screws on each end. Just a size of 2x5 cms would do really. Keep in mind. ԅ( ˘ω˘ ԅ)