Below are some general guidelines to help determine what minimum cage size you should have for your bird. As a general rule, the larger the bird cage the better. It can NEVER be too large. Some might suggest that a bird might feel more in control of a smaller, more confined area, and might stress out if they are used to a small cage and are moved into a large cage. This might be true temporarily in some rare cases, but in the long run it is better to condition your bird to accept a larger cage. A bird being in a cage too small for it’s size may be the very thing causing stress and undesirable behavior. The bird may become overly aggressive, and protective of it’s environment.

The best thing to do if your bird initially does not accept it’s larger environment is to slowly wean it to accept it. Put the bird in the new birdcage for a couple hours a day, with the door open if possible, until it is no longer afraid of it’s new surroundings. One way to know your bird is starting to accept it’s new cage is it will start eating food more regularly as well as allow you to approach it without aggression in return. Once your bird is used to this larger enclosure in the long run it will be happier and less protective of it’s surroundings, and therefore less likely to exhibit bad bird behaviors.

Of course, there is more to consider than “bigger is always better”. There is a practical side to everything. You may have only so much space where you can put your bird cage or you may have budget limitations. Depending on the materials and type of cage you choose, there are many ways to best utilize your space for your dollar - especially with our inexpensive bird cage line - and at the same time have a safe, healthy habitat for your bird.

Your wholesale bird cage can come in many materials such as stainless steel, powder coated, aluminum framed, wood framed, and acrylic to name a few. There are many different aspects to consider when selecting what material to choose for your bird cage. Below is an overview of each material.

Stainless Steel Crimp Lock Wire
Stainless steel crimp lock wire is not seen very commonly among the various cage brands, almost exclusively to the Hybrid® aluminum framed cage line and Majestic® wood framed furniture style cage line. However, it is a superior material in our opinion to all the other materials available. The first reason, the wire used with they Hybrid® and Majestic® bird cage lines are made with high grade stainless steel that can not rust, chip, or have broken welds. There are no coatings that could have the potential of toxins in them as well as no welds that can potentially break. The reason this is not widely used in the cage industry is because it tends to be more expensive than powder coated metal – usually about 2x as much. Powder coating can be very practical if done properly (see below), however the only way to be 100% certain that your wire is not going to chip and rust is to make it out of high grade stainless steel. There is a BIG difference between high grade and low grade stainless steel. Low grade stainless steel has iron content in it, and WILL rust. If it is going to rust, there is no point in spending the extra money, you are better off getting powder coated plane steel. Also, the ONLY way to be 100% certain you will not have broken welds is to use a crimp lock weave that does not have welds at all. Welds leave a vulnerable spot that can be soft and tend to break and can some times leave burrs that can be sharp. They also leave burn marks that must be coated (usually powder coating) in order to have an aesthetic appeal. So, if you have a welded stainless cage, it won’t rust but if not polished properly will have unsightly burn marks at the welds.

Powder Coated Wire
Powder coated wire, if done properly, can be very practical for you money. If not done right, it can be a disaster. If anyone is to tell you that there is a 100% chance their powder coated wire on their cage will not chip or rust they are not telling you the truth. The only way to be 100% certain your birdcage will not chip or rust is to buy high grade stainless, which can cost 2-4 times as much. Buying stainless is not practical, or even necessary for everyone. There is nothing wrong with buying a quality powder coated wholesale bird cage for budget or aesthetic reasons. Over 90% of outdoor steel applications (such as metal railings etc.) use powder coating because of the cost effective tradeoff. That being said, there are good ways to do powder coating and bad ways. The good way is to make sure you use a powder coater who understands how the adhesion works with the steel, and has the powder coating itself at the right composition. Certain compositions of steel will accept a powder coating much better than others, and some powder coating may have a high zinc content that can be dangerous to your pet and not have the proper UV additives. ANY powder coating will fade if it is exposed to direct sunlight long enough (although it should take many years), however if your powder coating does not have the proper UV protecting additive it will fade and turn color very quickly. All of the cages we sell, such as the Suncatcher ® product line have been powder coated to the highest standard to be safe for your pet.

Anodized Aluminum Frame
The Hybrid® and Majestic® cage lines are among the only in the industry to use aluminum frames for their bird cages. Anodized aluminum again is a bit more expensive than powder coating, but eliminates the possibility of rusting or chipping. The process of anodizing actually changes the chemical composition of the outer layer of the aluminum, meaning that the color is permanent and will not chip or rust. Aluminum also gives you a great strength to weight ratio making the very large bird cages easier to manage. The anodized aluminum interior of the Majestic® cage line allows us to guarantee the cages against chewing from the inside, even though the outside is made out of wood.

Acrylic
Acrylic is also used for many of the Hybrid® and Majestic® cages. Acrylic is light weight, easy to clean, and allows you to actually see your bird rather than making it look like it is in a jail cell. Glass can be a better option if you are really worried about scratching, but we have found that is not usually a problem and if it were to happen the panel can be easily replaced without replacing the entire cage. Also, inexpensive cleaners and polish can be purchased to give it a touch up a few times a year to make it look like new. Acrylic is about 10 times stronger than glass and much lighter. If glass were to break it is more dangerous, however glass is available as an option for any Hybrid® or Majestic® enclosure if you desire.

The bar thickness/gauge is going to depend on a lot of circumstances. If broken welds are a problem, you are going to want to go with as thick of a bar as possible. The thicker the bar usually the stronger the weld. However, if you have a small bird like a finch or canary you are probably more concerned with having small openings than you are the bar thickness. It is going to be more expensive and more difficult to have small openings if you have thicker gauge bars.

You will find below our recommendations for each type of bird. You will want to choose this carefully because if you choose a wire opening too small the cage may be harder to clean because there are a lot more areas for waste and food to get trapped, and your bird has the potential to get it’s feet stuck in the wire. If you the spacing is too big your bird may escape, get it’s head stuck, or something undesired from the outside may get into your bird cage such as a predator animal.

There are a few things to remember when selecting a bird cage to make it easy to clean. The smaller the spacing, the more there is to clean. Also, pull out floors and pull out trays make it much easier to clean. Pull out tray liners also allow you to instantly dispose of waste for very little cost per day. The laminate backs and acrylic fronts on the Hybrid® and Majestic® cage lines make cleaning very easy because all you have to do is wipe it down on the two largest surfaces of the cage, rather than leaving more spaces in wire for the waste to get trapped.

Dome top, or square top bird cages allow you the maximum amount of space inside your bird cage for the height of your ceiling. If your bird is in the cage most of the time, or you have plenty of ceiling height, or if you have a separate play stand, this might be the type of cage for you. However, if space is limited and you don’t have room for a play stand, than you may want to go with a play top bird cage. Just be sure that you will have time to take your bird out because interaction outside of the cage is vital for most birds to develop positive behavior.

Other things to consider and look for in a bird cage:

Feeders - Many cheap bird cages come with built in feeders, witch all have their pros and cons. The patented Friendly Feeder® is a great option for any discount bird cage because it allows you to feed your bird witout having to enter the cage. This is a great option for bird owners who are worried about letting people take care of their bird when they are out of town because they might bite a stranger. The Friendly Feeder® also allows you to have multiple dishes in the cage without worrying about cross contamination, or the bird being able to waste in it’s water. The rotating feeder is also a great option for your cheap bird cage, however lacks some of the features of the Friendly Feeder®. There is now a large friendly feeder which is great for larger birds such as Macaws, Cockatoos, Eclectus, and will fit in almost any discount birdcage, and now a new mini friendly feeder for smaller birds such as finches, parakeets, love birds, parrotlets quakers, cockatiels etc. Here is an example of a Friendly Feeder® in a parrot cage. See the Friendly Feeder® section for more about this great feeder system.

Access Doors - Access doors are a great way to get into any inexpensive bird cage with minimum vulnerability for the bird escaping. Just be sure that the latching mechanism is secure so the bird can not figure out how to open the door. The Friendly Feeder® hinged door is a great solution because it can be locked with a padlock.

Bird Cage Cover - Covers can be a great way to reduce stress for a bird and are available for most wholesale birdcages on this web site.

Liners - Disposable pull out tray liners are the single easiest way to reduce the time and effort involved with cleaning your cage. For a few cents per liner you can remove the waste on a daily basis. Liners are available for most cages on this web site.

Casters - Casters can make it very easy to move your enclosure around, just make sure they have the ability to be locked and that they come with the cage. Some of them may be sold separately.