How big should a cage be for 4-5 budgies?

As big as possible!!!

hehe, I'm going to do my best, but I'd like to have a kind of... rough set of dimensions so I can see if a cage can even fit in my room.

Personally, I'd want something at least 30 inches wide, 18 inches deep and 20 inches tall or more for that many budgies. I've seen a lot of posts here from people who say "here's my cage, how many budgies can I put in it?" and that bugs me. The purpose of getting a larger cage is so that the budgies can have as much room as possible. If you're going to cram several in one cage they might as well be in cheap tiny ones.

 

I'm not saying you'll do that. Obviously you're making sure you get the right size. I just wanted to point this out so you can keep it in mind when adding budgies. Once you get perches and toys and food cups in the cage, you're left with less space. And don't forget that you might end up having to house certain budgies separately which means even more space taken up by extra cages in the room. I've run into that problem myself recently.

thanks for the tip

i already have a budgie and he's in a smaller cage so I'll have that as a spare cage. I want to buy a new cage and I hope to get another budgie for now but in case I add more I want to get another cage that is big enough for at least 4-5

i want to make sure I have tons of extra room.

My mother thinks it's ridiculous because i showed her my dream cage and she freaked out at me haha.

oh and im also curious about any brand of cage that is better than others? what about bar spacing? materials that the cage should be made of etc.

i know these questions are very basic but I just want to make the right decision. I won't be buying the cage for a little while and I want to do my research first.

Edited July 19, 200520 yr by standbyme

Good for you wanting a huge cage! I'm not sure about any brands being better than any other, but here are some things to look for:

 

**Large entry doors. You want to easily be able to get your hands, your arm, whatever contortions you may need to get your bird out sometimes. Make sure you can reach all around the cage from the door. If you can't, you can bet your budgie will soon figure that out, should you ever need to catch him to medicate him.

**Both vertical and horizontal bars. They can climb around on horizontal bars only, but it is easier to use vertical and having both types gives a different climbing workout.

**Entry doors that open outward, either to the side or the bottom. Avoid guillotine style doors. Budgies quickly figure out how to open these when you are not around, and if they do not get out immediately, will have the door come down on them. That has the potential to hurt them, as well as allowing them unsupervised access to your house. Who knows what they would get into - I think it's impossible to birdproof an entire house.

**Bar spacing should be 1/2" or less - any larger and little budgie heads can become stuck. It sometimes is hard to find cages large enough with narrow bar spacing. For some reason manufacturers tend to make the really good cages with wider spacing for larger parrots, but there are some out there. I'd never get any that were wider than 5/8".

**Stainless steel or powder coated cages are best. If they are just painted, do your research with the manufacturer to make sure the paint is bird safe. Paint will chip off, and could expose the wire to rust. Avoid rust on a cage like the plague.

**Outside access to food and water dishes. Not to say you can't add those dishes that hang on the side of the cage, but sometimes hormonal budgies will bite and outside access is nice to have then. Also it is less stressful when your budgie is new and doesn't know you are not after him when your hand goes in the cage to change food and water.

**Seed and water dishes that are uncovered. Some budgies will eat from covered dishes, but most won't. If the cage you want comes with covered food dishes, make sure you can take the covers off and still have serviceable dishes.

**A grate on the bottom, to keep them out of their feces and any fresh food that may get flung to the bottom while they are eating.

**A tray that easily slides out to change the newspaper.

 

eterri gave you a good dimension for several birds. Right now mine are in two 24" x 18" x 36" cages. They seem okay with that size but they are out for a good amount of time. I really want a larger cage. My dream cage for my ten birds is 64" long, with a partition in the middle that will make two seperate cages, should it be necessary to seperate them. Even at that, I'd have them out of the cage still whenever I was home.

 

I'm sure other people will add to my list of things to look for in a cage, but those are the immediate ones that came to mind. Hope it helps some.

thanks Rainbow! That's a great deal of information

Very much appreciated.

 

When out today looking for a cage. Just to get a feel for the price ranges and stuff. I saw 3 that I liked. The two below as well as another called "Imperial". My only concern is the outside feeder cups... obviously there are gaps that enable the owner to put the feeder cups in.... are there different types of feeders I can put? Or do I have to stick with the ones given to me? I really don't like outside feeder cups... is there a way to block those holes? If not I guess I'll have to figure out a way to put the feeders I want, the ones that come with the cages are really not what I want at all . Which cage is better of the two? Are there any cages that anyone recommends that are similar to these? I would also like a stand that has wheels for maximum convinience.... anyways. thats all i have to say. I'll be going back to the pet shop for another visit so I can decide.

I'm pretty sure I prefer the casino cage over the habitat but... then there's also the imperial which I can't seem to find information on.

oh and whats the deal with vision cages? Are they good or no good?

There seems to be really mixed opinions about that.

 

 

http://www.hagen.com/canada/english/birds/...0101&SUBCAT=805

HABITAT

 

http://www.hagen.com/canada/english/birds/...0101&SUBCAT=805

CASINO

Edited July 25, 200520 yr by standbyme

Neither of them would be enough space for 4-5 budgies in my opinion. The second one (20x20) would probably be comfortable enough for three but if you're going to have that many budgies I'd try for at least 30 inches in width and as close to 20 in depth as possible.

 

Have you tried Ebay? Usually you can get much larger cages for better prices there. Shipping might be a pain but you might find a good deal anyway!

Neither of them would be enough space for 4-5 budgies in my opinion. The second one (20x20) would probably be comfortable enough for three but if you're going to have that many budgies I'd try for at least 30 inches in width and as close to 20 in depth as possible.

 

Have you tried Ebay? Usually you can get much larger cages for better prices there. Shipping might be a pain but you might find a good deal anyway!

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ive looked on ebay.

all the cages are either decorative or wayyyy too big.

Also I can't afford anything on ebay cause of shipping costs and half the stuff is overpriced in my opinion. I don't have that much money to spend. I'm only 17 and my job isn't that great paying so I'm splurging right now on this cage. I can't seem to find anything that is 30 inches in width, that isn't crazily priced or has the right bar spacing. I'll keep trying I suppose.

That's understandable.

 

You only have one budgie right now, right? How about adding only one more until you're in a position (have more money and space) to get a larger cage? Or you could invest in a second cage and keep two per cage? The minimum I reccomend for one budgie is 18x18 and that first cage was only 17.5x15 (if I remember correctly). The second cage, being 20x20, would be absolutely great for two budgies. And then if you want two more budgies you could get a second cage like that?

 

Those are just some suggestions. The rule of thumb is to get as large a cage as possible (with the proper bar spacing) for even one budgie so if you don't have multiple budgies yet, why create a problem when you don't have to? You can give this budgie a pal and a huge home!

Well I already have a cage, so I'm going to use that cage as well. For now I only want one more budgie, but I did want to make sure there was appropriate room for adding maybe another budgie in the future

By The Way thanks for your comments and help

much appreciated.

its quite hard to find a good cage.

Do you know anything about the vision cage? I keep seeing it at the pet store, to me it doesnt look so good but im curious about what others think. I don't ever intend to buy it though, not big enough

Edited July 25, 200520 yr by standbyme