DIY Macaw cages.

[hannahbird]

What do you think of this? And would it actually work as a good bird cage?
http://www.ehow.com/way_6149185_diy-macaw-cage.html

http://www.ehow.com/how_6023070_build-o ... -cage.html

[Michael]

For the larger macaws, the most practical thing is just skip the cage all together and give em an entire room. Set up a nice big Java tree in a bare room and it will be roughly proportionate to the kinds of cages we house our smaller parrots in.

[captwest]

I guess you haven't seen what a macaw can do to sheetrock,window casings or door jams. I doubt a normal room would contain a determined macaw for more than a hour or two. It's not a pretty sight.

[Michael]

What would you put on the walls to make a suitable bird room out of it?

[kaylayuh]

I'd say your best bet would be an actual extra large bird cage. I've seen some beautiful double macaw cages that have a removeable divider. I would personally remove the divider and use it as one extra large cage.

That said, I've seen Cockatoos bite clear through padlocks and their cage bars. I'm assuming a Macaw would, or at least could, do the same. I'd take into account the possibility of how many times you'll have to replace their cages over the years into whether or not you want that bird.

I wouldn't use a dog kennel because I wouldn't trust the metal it's made out of. I also don't think a dog kennel was made to withstand a beak biting and gnawing on it.

[captwest]

What would you put on the walls to make a suitable bird room out of it?

I guess a wire mesh , but then your back to a cage, A room might do find but if that macaw saw you outside the window or thought you might be just on the other side of the wall and he really wanted to get to you. then the average room won't contain him. This is the voice of experience talking. I had one eat right through the wall and studs, just luck he didn't notice the power lines. I think that was the last time i closed that door when he was out. I 'm leaning toward a walk in type enclosure, made with SS chain/link and pipe.

[Vikki]

The room would have to be reinforced with cement and rebar, LOL . As CaptWest mentioned, macaws are notorious for destruction of anything that might contain them. I've seen aluminum cages dismantled bar by bar, never mind trying to put one in a plastic dog crate. (Can you say can opener?) Setting up an open room is nice for leaving the bird out while you are there, if you can afford to give up an entire room of your house to your bird, but generally its necessary to cage them in a suitably sized cage when you are not there for supervision. We have large stands throughout our house and they all are out when we are home to watch them, but even then they get into trouble and can chew through cords and walls. We actually had one of our macaws chew the hook out of the ceiling.....that was holding the boing that he was hanging on. THAT was funny.

In the best case scenario, open flights are key, but they have to be heftily built, thoroughly checked for weaknesses and large enough to allow flight. We hope to convert an entire barn to an open flight once we move to our new property.

[Zanizaila]

Is there no way to get sections for outdoor aviaries? Here in Sweden when we want to get a big cage (even a cockatiel needs at least 48" in width according to our animal welfare laws, and parrot cages that size have bars too far spaced for small birds), we simply build our cages ourselves, or buy aviary sections to make a small indoor aviary out of them.
(Yes it takes up a lot of space, but that's what it takes to have BIG birds. )

The cage my macaw lives in has no floor so I can walk around in it, but there is an extra piece of "floor" just under the cage so it is not directly on the real floor, then there is a layer of wooden chips on top of that.

Since it is in sections, I can make it both bigger and smaller if I want to.

I mean, aviculture is not very widespread in Sweden, so there must be something like that in the US or UK or wherever you live, too?

[Pritnear]

I see that it's been a while since anyone posted on this thread, but I have two B&G's and they have their own room. Never any problem with tearing anything up except their massive amount of toys--which is why they have them They see me outside and call to me--I call back and all is well. I just used thick stainless steel eye screws to connect their climbing net, toys, and perches. I took the old semi-circle cage tops off of the cage they came in, turned them upside down and screwed them to the ceiling. Then connected those curly ropes to them so they can climb up nice and high. I hide different stuff for them to find during the day. They love it! They have windows on 2 sides that face the garden and a full glass slider to our dining room. The whole room is 7' X 12'. My amazon has a cage in there with them. I put acrylic at the bottom of the cage so the macaws can't climb on top of her cage. I can't speak for every bird owner, but as long as I clean every night and they get their 6 hours a day with me and my family, things are just wayyy cool for everyone.

[Pajarita]

Yes, not having to live in a cage does wonders for their disposition.