Well, today we finished building the new cage which Quin and Eucy will one day share.

 

Here are the photos:

 

Before we attached the skirt around the bottom

 

And after we attached the skirt

 

This is the view in the huge front door (removable wall)

 

And last but not least, we attached the doors, and it's finished!

 

We reckon it turned out pretty well, not bad for the first cage we've built anyway :grbud:

 

Some cage info:

The dimentions of the cage are 50cm W x 80cm L x 70 cm H (which is the biggest cage that would fit in the space we have in the study ).

The cage floor, back wall, and skirt are made of a kind of craft(?) board (1.6mm thick) that we bought from Bunnings.

The frame is made of square 1.8cm thick pine.

The cage is nailed together with 30mm long 1.6mm bullet-head nails (flat-heads might have been better)

The 1.2mm square wire avairy mesh is 0.71mm thick, and is nailed to the cage with small (approx 20mm long, 1mm thick) bent over nails.

The door and removable wall are attached with latches at the top, and dooflickies :ausb: at the bottom.

 

Here is a picture of one of the latches. (You can see that the wood has split a little in both of these pieces of wood. It happened to these two pieces, and to one other piece. This picture shows the worst of it. I think that flat-head nails rather than bullet-heads might have helped prevent this.)

 

...and one of the dooflickies

 

Ausmoz

 

edit: fixed links to images

Edited February 3, 200619 yr by Ausmoz

WOW, that is awesome they will get lost in there for sure. FUN FUN FUN for them!! Great job!

awesome

I wish I could be even half as crafty as that. One of these days I'll try to make a cage and the post a picture to give everyone a laugh. It really does look great! The only thing I worry about is the types of metal used in the mesh part. I assume you already thought about that though.

 

Looks awesome!

thats brilliant!

Hi that's a great looking cage you've got there. It's a great size for sure.

 

With the mesh, give it a scrub and wash with water and vinegar (It may be a bit hard though now that you've got the board nailed to it), that should get rid of the zinc coating on those mesh.

 

Also the craftboard that you used to make you cage, I'm not sure if you realised it, but it's made of very very fine wood particle compacted together. It contains some chemicals that do emit a small amount of fume. I think there's something going on right now to ban that kind of board, not sure what the status is with that though. I would recommend people not to use any product that is made with MDFs. I have seen many bird nesting boxes with them, I do realised that it has been use widely, but still...

Eek...better safe than sorry. Might be best to replace that if it's known to be harmful.

 

As far as the mesh, if it is coated with zinc, I'd replace it as well.

http://www.birdsnways.com/wisdom/ww14eii.htm

wow that looks awesome, well done

WHOHOOOO GREAT JOB!

looking good and the birds will love it..

Eek...better safe than sorry. Might be best to replace that if it's known to be harmful.

 

As far as the mesh, if it is coated with zinc, I'd replace it as well.

http://www.birdsnways.com/wisdom/ww14eii.htm

 

I have found out when I First got my new aviary delivered that all new aviary needs to get a good scrub with water and vinegar so that the zinc are taken off first before letting birds in there. I don't think it is completely coated with zinc, but it does have zinc on it or something or rather... know that I'm not expert, only was told by the expert to do so with any mesh use for aviary, even ones that are sold by the bird shops.

 

And also something I remembered about the MDF is that, if the budgies or any birds start gnawing on it, it could be carcinogenic because of the fine particles.

 

Cheers.

 

Now I'm not sure what I should do. Replacing both the carftboard and the wire doesn't leave much of a cage!

 

As far at the craftboard is concerned, I personally feel that it's safe enough. The Material Safety Data Sheet for MDF says that it is classified as not hazardous in it's intact state. The MSDS states that it emits formaldehyde gas under some circumstances (eg when heated) but that if it is in a well ventilated area (which it would be), the concentration is very very low (and also, we wouldn't heat it in the first place). Formaldehyde-containing glues are also used in other materials including chipboard and plywood, so I'm not sure what the alternative would be.

 

The MSDS also mentions that the substance is toxic in powder form, but I think that refers specifically to fine powders generated by machining. I'm pretty sure that the nest boxes that Mum has always used in her avairy are made of the same material and she has never had a problem with her birds, even though the birds have slightly chewed at the corners of these boxes over the years.

 

As for the galvanised wire, I didn't think there was any other alternative. Again, I've seen it used so much by other people (also including my Mum) for avairys that I didn't even consider that it might be unsafe When we went to Bunnings to choose the wire, it was all galvanised. Would it be okay if I scrubbed it with vinegar?

 

I don't know what to do. We put a lot of effort into making this cage, so of course I want it all to be okay.

On the one hand, I don't want to use a cage that is unsafe for the birds, but on the other hand, I'm not sure how real the risks are or what the alternatives are. As I said, I've seen these materials in such common usage. I'm really confused.

 

Is the cage at all salvagable?

Wow...what a dilemma

A few years back when i bought my aviary for the back yard, it said to either scrub the aviary wire in a vinegar solution or to let it just weather for 4 months, I just sorta let mine weather (for about 3 years :(Laughing out loud): ) because i had no birds to put into it.. And the wire i used for my smaller cage is the same mesh as on my main aviary and i scrubbed it with vinegar, i've seen no ill effects from doing this.

Hey Ausmoz, don't despair... with the MDFs, I'm sure what you've read is right. I think now that it's done, you shouldn't fret about it too much. It is really only recently that people are finding out about MDFs and stuff... and really, like you said, it's been used before without too much trouble. I guess what my main concern is if your birds would start chewing at it and stuff.. just keep an eye out on that may be?? I was more worried about the fine particles and also if your budgies may swallow it if it started chewing on it.

 

As with the mesh, just give it a good scrub with water and vinegar solution using thouse metal scrubs thing. It should take most of the zinc off. Good luck with it... and by the way, it does look like a good cage.

Edited January 16, 200619 yr by Cheeta

It's like teflon/nonstick cookware. Many people still use it and ignore the fact that it has killed many birds just from being in the same household. Until it happens to their own birds, people just don't want to believe that these things are harmful. When it comes to birds, I hear "but I've done this for years and it works fine" on an almost daily basis. It's the worst reason to do anything. It's turning away from facts purely for our own convenience.

 

Another inexpensive method of preventing oxidation involves coating steel or galvanized wire with plastic or vinyl. While these coatings do protect wire from oxidation, they can be easily removed by busy birds. Plastic and vinyl coatings often degrade quickly and flake off the underlying wire. As lead is a common ingredient of plastic and vinyl, pieces of coating ingested by birds can expose the bird to toxic metals. In addition, ingested coating can act as a gastrointestinal irritant, regardless of its metal content. When a vinyl or plastic coating is used over galvanized wire, there is the added risk of zinc ingestion if the wire is chewed on and eaten.

 

Galvanizing is the process of coating steel wire with zinc by dipping it into molten zinc. This method is the least expensive way of preventing corrosion of steel wire. Galvanized wire can be distinguished from plated wire in that it is a dull gray, rather than a shiny silver. There are two primary types of galvanized wire commercially available. Wire galvanized prior to welding is commonly produced in the Unites States. Wire galvanized after welding is a process more typical of production in United Kingdom, Europe and Asia. Regardless of when the zinc is applied, the welds in most galvanized wire are electrostatic and contain no additional metals. Lead is a common manufacturing contaminant of some galvanizing processes and will obviously increase the risk of problems if consumed. Using higher grades of wire will minimize the risk of lead exposure.

 

Galvanized cages are the least expensive bird enclosures available, and are often manufactured in large sizes suitable for flight. They are also light and easy to move. Unfortunately the behavior characteristics of many birds include picking at, chewing, and ingesting anything available. For these birds a galvanized cage can pose a huge risk of zinc intoxication. The number of birds adversely affected by these cages is likely under-reported because thorough diagnostics are often not run. The toxic potential of zinc ingestion has been proven but much remains unknown about the impact of chronic, non lethal exposure.1,2,3 In fact, the biologic mechanisms of lethal exposures remain poorly defined.

 

Properly finishing galvanized wire eliminates blebs and imperfections, making the cage less inviting to chew. Excess material at welds creates easily removable pieces of elemental zinc. If ingested, these pieces can contribute to disease. Wire that is galvanized after welding usually has a smoother surface, and therefore becomes the preferred wire for aviculture. New galvanized wire is often coated with a petroleum based protective oil. If not washed off prior to use, and if ingested, this oil can pose additional health risks. Sheffield Manufacturing, producers of Tinsley Wire, requires that rolls of wire be sold with a warning label advising of the risk of zinc ingestion, of the need to prepare the wire for usage by removing any residues of oil, and of the need to use a soft brush to remove any tags of material.

 

Many aviculturists mistakenly think that treating galvanized wire with a vinegar wash will remove any risk of zinc ingestion. While vinegar will dissolve small, oxidized deposits and hasten their removal with a soft brush, vinegar will not remove the zinc coating from the wire.

http://www.forthebirdsdvm.com/cagemade.htm

hmmmm okay... i stand corrected. Thanks for that article eterri. It is very interesting.

yes but is that article correct. What is the case studies from birds housed in cages that have been preped this way. :dbb1:

 

I cleaned my wire with water and vinagur, than dried and coated it in a non toxic paint to seal it. As eterri say - can't be too sure. :ausb:

I too find it very dangerous when people believe everything they read on the internet....you don't need any qualifications to write something on the internet just my thoughts...

I agree Bec (edit: and Daz, sorry). I've actually just finished writing a post asking if anyone has any more information. Sorry it's long. I've been thinking about this a lot. Here's the link:

 

http://forums.budgiebreeders.asn.au/index.php?showtopic=7837

Edited January 17, 200619 yr by Ausmoz

I can't see it.

I can't see it either.

me neither images have gone

Oops, sorry guys, the links were broken when I re-arranged my photobucket into folders. I've fixed them

Edited February 5, 200619 yr by Ausmoz