Premium Quality Cages?

[Jholt11]

Hello,

There's a lot of cages out there and I have searched this forum to try and find info on cages with little luck. What I want to know is who makes a premium quality cage? I read Michael's review of the kings cage and he mentioned that its not as good as a premium quality cage (paraphrase) and he mentioned his powdercoated cage.

So who makes the best cage for the money? I purchased a 36x24 cage for a new Panama Amazon I'm getting. This cage is made by prevue. I was able to get it locally for $255, a low price for a new cage, but I haven't opened it yet and am wondering if I should invest in a better quality (and maybe even larger) cage.

Thanks for any help your able to offer.

Jeff Holt

[Michael]

Let me put it this way... all these cages are metal so they are bound to hold up for quite a while. When we talk about quality, we're really talking about these kinds of things:

-Workmanship, how accurately parts line up, evenness of coating
-How well the assembly points hold together, after all they are usually the weakest link
-The overall cosmetic appearance
-Wobble, how well it holds together
-Convenience of bowls, doors, grate, and accessories

It is difficult to judge the quality of welds, rust proof, and long term durability just from looking at a new cage. Most cages (aside from wire cages) will do the job. The most important thing to look into is the size and bar spacing. I think a lower quality cage but with greater size (within appropriate bar spacing) benefits the parrot more than a fancy cage that is confined.

For instance, on Truman's cage the rails that hold the poop pan are very small and hard to line up with when sliding the pan in. I would consider this a design flaw and unacceptable for the price tag of that cage. However, the roominess of the cage makes up for this human inconvenience. Another stupid flaw like this is the notches on the food bowls. They have two bulges that stick out that line up with notches in the food bowl rings so that you can drop the bowl in, twist, and then it cannot be lifted. Well about 3 out of 8 bowls I bought have these bulges misplaced so you cannot drop the bowl straight into the ring. You have to rotate it to get one bulge in and then the other. Another thing is that the cage panels do not line up to each other exactly. Some are as much as 1/16"-1/8" off. This looks bad if seen up close. When you look at the cage from afar you don't notice. I do worry about the parrot someday taking advantage of these and bending off pieces of metal but it has not yet happened. These are just examples of inconvenient design/workmanship flaws to give you an idea.

My main point is not to worry about this stuff too much cause all cages I've come across have their flaws. Just figure out which ones you can deal with and which ones are completely unacceptable. But most important focus on the parrot's comfort and space.

Personally, I cannot 100% recommend a cage with a 10/10 rating because I have never come across such a cage. So lower your expectations a notch and find the best cage for the budget you are able to afford cause otherwise your search will be endless.

[lotus15]

The only cages I know of that consistently receive 10/10 ratings are Northwest Cages, built by John Rogers. They are 100% American-made, stainless steel cages custom built by hand. You can expect to pay a minimum of $2500 or so for a smaller cage, though, and probably closer to $3000-$4000 for a larger one.

I have a big "cage brand info" chart that I created with extensive research on basically all cage companies that I will post soon.

[Jholt11]

I would appreciate seeing that info you researched. I purchased a prevue 36 x 24 x 36 cage for $255 from a local feed store. I have not yet opened the box and am wondering if I should return it and purchase the Avian Adventures Grande Playtop cage. They use natural wood perches instead of dowels, supposedly have a no nuts and bolts construction and petco.com has them on sale for $500

I'm not looking for stainless steel nor am i looking for at $1,000 cage.

I look forward to seeing your research.

[Michael]

The kinds of perches should not affect your cage purchasing decision at all. You can always replace the perches with natural ones on your own.

[Mona]

I'd also like to recommend Animal Environments cages for the smaller birds (poi's)

Over the years, we have bought three of them. They hold up well and the workmanship is very good. Doug and I switched to stainless steal a few years ago and we really like them.

The ONLY problem with the cage is that the feeding system is kindof funky. The dishes are outside of the cage and have a feeder holder. This can cause a problem with a larger parrot. I have seen the larger parrots destroy these but they work fine for the smaller parrots. My senegal Babylon can escape out of the cage if the dish is out of the feeder holder (although not true for all birds) so I also recommend buying extra dishes if you have a houdini.

Other than that, the cages are great and I can personally attest that they last many, many years. They are not cheap. They run about $1,000 but they look good, clean easy, move easy and the quality of the workmanship is very, very good.

I'd classify them as a premium cage for a smaller parrot. I really like Animal Environments.

For the larger birds, I like the old California cages. Unfortunately, they sold their business and the newer cages are not the same quality. The older cages are very solid and easy to move around. The food doors are perfect. The cages are powdercoated (stainless steel wasn't in vogue back then). When I bought Kiri's cage I found a cockatoo cage that was the top of the line six or seven years ago and was now on sale on Craig's list. The cockatoo had chewed the welds off (It was an umbrella cockatoo and they are disassembling experts) and the owner had welded the cage together with brass. Brass could cause zinc poisoning so we took the cage and had it re-powdercoated. The cage only cost us about $150 used and the powder coating about $350 so we have a real premium quality large cage for about $500 and it is perfect, as far as I am concerned. Great bar spacing. Great quality. Easy to move around, feed and clean. All of my birds like to go inside and check it out.

Just some thoughts on "premium cages".....I'm not a big fan of King's cages. I have a stainless steel one and the legs fall off when we try to move it. There are just a lot of little problems with it. Personally, I'd look for a cage that is solid and not meant to come apart for shipping and storage. The more solid, the longer it will last and the more you will appreciate it.

Thanks!

Mona

[entrancedbymyGCC]

For true "premium" quality I'd look for stainless steel, and at stainless steel prices, I'd expect everything to be really spot on.

I have the same cage Michael does except mine has the playtop. I'm actually a bit happier with it than he seems to be, my main complaint being the food door latches, which are very easy to not close properly.

For instance, on Truman's cage the rails that hold the poop pan are very small and hard to line up with when sliding the pan in. I would consider this a design flaw and unacceptable for the price tag of that cage.

This is true, it is a pain, but I've discovered the sliver lining -- you can pull the tray most of the way out without it falling out, so I rarely actually remove it all the way.

Another stupid flaw like this is the notches on the food bowls. They have two bulges that stick out that line up with notches in the food bowl rings so that you can drop the bowl in, twist, and then it cannot be lifted. Well about 3 out of 8 bowls I bought have these bulges misplaced so you cannot drop the bowl straight into the ring.

While I find I need to fiddle with them to get them lined up, none of the 5 bowls I have fail to line up. You might want to lodge a complaint about this.

Another thing is that the cage panels do not line up to each other exactly. Some are as much as 1/16"-1/8" off.

I don't see this at all on my cage. Are you sure all the panels are turned the right way? Mine's tight as a tick, with all the grooved sides of the long rails facing in. You may have gotten a lemon, or maybe even mis-oriented a panel.

I'm not sure King's Cages are the best thing since sliced bread, but I actually have a couple of complaints about my Avian Adventures cage, too. The latches get very stiff, and half the cups I have for it don't fit the feeder rings at ALL! As in the sitter forced them in and it actually cause the metal to fracture, resulting in thrown away stainless steel cups.

At any rate, once you get past materials and basic workmanship, the rest is size and features.

[Jholt11]

Ok, so I put the Prevue 3154 cage together tonight. I don't have much experience with putting cages togetherI, however I do have an A&E cage for my brownhead so that's what I have to compare.

First let me say that I decided that the prevue was an appropriate size 36 x 24 for a smaller amazon and decided to put this one together and that turned out to be a bad decision.

When I first assembled the A & E cage I thought to myself, WOW what a cheap cage. Having now put together a Prevue cage the A & E looks like a cadillac. The Prevue has to be the cheapest quality cage on the market for this size. The side panels on the cage slide into three holes drilled in the bottom of the floor. Very flimsy. The food bowl holders also slide into holes. Now I have to imagine that any bird would quickly find the fun in flipping them out and onto the floor of the cage. Every thing about the cage is cheap. I only paid $255 for the cage and that's pretty cheap for this size cage, but I really don't see myself keeping the bird in it long. The bird will either destroy the flimsy bars or I will get tired of its cheap quality. Let's see which happens first.

I'm looking forward to seeing Lotus15 chart on cages. If you don't yet have a column for prevue it should be listed at the bottom. Now if you were buying this cage for a cockatiel or smaller bird it might be fine.

Jeff

[Michael]

I guess you can say you get what you pay for... unfortunately some of the more expensive cages aren't too great either. I was surprised when you said you found a cage for $255 for an Amazon because that is roughly the size of my Cape Parrot and I didn't even consider any cages under about $400.

[Jholt11]

This is the cage I purchased. Over $500 online, but I got the same cage from a local feed store for $255. It's also on overstock.com for about $350. So it really doesn't matter what price they sell it for, its still just a cheaply built cage. I am looking forward to going to some bird fairs to see what some cages look like.



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