# Feeding Equipment, Cage & More



## NumberNine (Jul 19, 2005)

I’ve been using cages designed for dogs in order to keep injured/sick birds. My home is not a motel for birds, but a temporary shelter for injured/sick birds. For that purpose, those cages do an excellent job. I keep one bird per cage. I have 5 cages. Go to www.hagen.com/usa click on "Dogs" , click on "Products and Parts" and click on "Cage/Barrier".

They come in different sizes. Cost is low. Maybe ~ $100. Their advantages are as follow:

1) All metal construction. Increases hygiene compared to wood construction.
2) The cage will last longer than you. Easily exceed 50 yrs of usage. Unless you leave it outdoor exposed to rain and snow.
3) Once folded, it’s not more than 6” tall. Opened, it easily reaches 36”-42”.
4) Neutral colour (grey) reduces stress on birds.
5) Removable tray makes it very easy to clean.
6) Relatively lightweight and easy to carry whether open of folded because of built-in handles. 
7) Easy access to inside of cage and can be easily subdivided if necessary.
8) Stackable.

I dragged a cage from the bedroom, where all the cages are located, to the study room to take some pics:

http://community.webshots.com/album/473945400AXsWbA

1) View of the cage from the end where the door is located.
2) Side view. Bird has a mirror and a perch. In the middle at the bottom, the half circle is the handle to carry the cage when folded.
3) Tray is partially pulled out and door is open
4) Close up of the bottom tray. The tray is covered with newspaper and a hard panel of white plastic. Will expand on this latter in this post.
5) View of cage without it’s bottom tray, door is open, bird is outside the cage (behind it).
6) Door is hold by a piece of wood in order to show movement of door. The door rests on top of the cage when fully open and allows easy access.
7) Cage folded without bottom tray.
8) Cage folded with tray. 

When I started rescuing birds in 1996, there was no Internet (like there is today). All I had was a public library, an avian vet who didn’t really care about pigeons and a rehab centre where euthanasia was done unnecessarily. Given those parameters, I had to use my imagination to find creative solutions to my problems.

The following are pics of the feeding bottle I created to feed hundreds of pigeons. It works well with pigeons and doves from hatchlings to adults. The length of the tube is such that it cannot damage the crop, but long enough to deposits the food after the opening of the trachea. The first bottle lasted 6 years and was originally a glue bottle. The present bottle used to be a hand cream bottle. I heated up a nail on the stove and made a hole in the cap. The tube is actually the protective cap on a syringe (what prevents the needle from pricking your finger). It is ideal as the base is larger than the tube and will allow the tube to remain in the cap and not slide through. 

Pics also include view of two products I have been using to help the hygiene of the birds. I strongly believe that hygiene is as important as the drugs. You will see that there is a panel of hard white plastic that is used at the bottom of the cage. It allows most of the droppings to fall in the holes and therefore, prevent the bird from walking in it’s own droppings. Under this panel, there is newspaper. All cages have the newspaper changed daily. And in many cases, changed twice per day.

On the pics, you will also see a “general purpose polyethylene film” (thin plastic sheet). I’m still puzzled why people enjoy scrapping off birds droppings from the floor of their lofts when they could put a thin plastic sheet and make it a 1-minute job to clean the floor of their lofts…

When I started in 1996, I experimented with newspaper. This was by far the worst as it allows the bacteria in the droppings to live longest. Wood was second best as the acidic liquid of the droppings penetrates the wood and a humid environment persists for some time. Plastic is fantastic. With proper ventilation, a wet bird dropping turns into a “little rock” in no time. 

The living quarters of the birds I keep in permanence have two floors. The real floor is covered with that thin plastic sheet. I stapled it at the corners to keep it in place. 2” above the plastic sheet is the panel of hard white plastic. More than 95% of the droppings fall through the small holes of the plastic panel. The “rooms” of the birds are made mostly with metallic screen. A pigeon is sitting high in its room. The dropping goes through the metallic screen (galvanized hardware cloth), falls a few feet and then goes through the plastic panel and ends up on the plastic sheet. The thin plastic sheet can be easily found in large hardware store. It comes in rolls of light, strong and very strong. I use light and pay about $12 for a width of 12’ and a length of 150’. The hard plastic panel also comes from hardware warehouse. Often use to diffuse light in elevators, washrooms and kitchen. Costs about $10 for a 2’ X 4’ panel.

Pics are as follow:

http://community.webshots.com/album/475144457YdUpbw


1) Feeding bottle with cap and tube inserted.
2) View of bottle once assembled.
3) Cap with hole made by heated nail and tube 
4) Close-up of tube, notice wider base. Without it, the tube won’t stay in the cap.
5) View of hard plastic panel. 
6) Close up of panel. Holes are ~ 5/8”
7) Roll of polyethylene film. It is folded twice. Length of roll is about 3’.
8) Close up of polyethylene film with roll.


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## Maggie-NC (Jun 22, 2005)

Hi Numbernine - you are really innovative. It's amazing what we can come up with when we have to. The cages are really nice - I like them more than the ones we use but since ours sometimes stay in the garage for several weeks until they learn to fly, I have to have a cage that mice or snakes can't get into. We've never seen any in the garage but there are areas at the corners of the roll up door where something might squeeze through. I particularly like the flooring but do the pigeons feet ever go through the square openings?

Your feeding apparatus looks fine - very clever.

Thank you for doing this. I had been looking forward to seeing your equipment and was not disappointed.

Best, maggie


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## NumberNine (Jul 19, 2005)

Lady Tarheel said:


> I particularly like the flooring but do the pigeons feet ever go through the square openings?
> 
> Best, maggie


Maggie,

Impossible. The holes are simply too small. Moreover, the edges of the hole have a certain width. Birds seem to enjoy sitting on it.

Sometimes, I use thin and long pieces of plastic to lift the panel about 1/4" above the newspaper. In particular for sick birds with wet and large droppings.


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## TerriB (Nov 16, 2003)

Very innovative, NumberNine! Thanks for sharing your ideas. How often do you need to replace the thin plastic sheet under your permanent resident birds?


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## NumberNine (Jul 19, 2005)

TerriB,

The purpose of the plastic is to increase the hygiene for the birds. And actually save your back since there is no more bending over to scrap all that crap.

I went 6 months without changing it, but I often change it after 2-3 months. You fold all the corners to pick up all the hard, dried droppings. In a large loft, you may want to buy the strong or very strong film as you might end up with 20-100 lbs of droppings.

And during molting, you get a ton of little feathers, not to mention all their dust. People with lofts could benefit by doing two floors like I did for my two birds. Except it will be more tricky as you will need to walk over the floor and the plastic panels cannot support the weight of a human being, they will break. Something similar but made of steel would allow you to walk over and get all that crap down on the plastic. IMO, it's a lot more healthy for the birds. It is also easy maintenance.


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## TerriB (Nov 16, 2003)

Thanks for the details! I would expect that the dust and little feathers would be less likely to become airborne once they fell below the plastic grid.

This is really useful information. Since I'm thinking of setting separate quarters for the hens, I'm especially interested in the accommodations you have for your resident birds. You mentioned that, "...The “rooms” of the birds are made mostly with metallic screen..." I'm having trouble envisioning what you mean. Could you elaborate a bit? Thanks!


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## NumberNine (Jul 19, 2005)

TerriB said:


> Thanks for the details! I would expect that the dust and little feathers would be less likely to become airborne once they fell below the plastic grid.


Exactly!

A pic is worth a thousand words...

The birds also have a nest. The nest consists of 3" tall and 1" thick pieces of wood to define the nesting area. The bottom of the nest is a piece of carpet with dried pine needles on the sides. If you were to remove the carpet, it is the metallic screen. 

P.S. Scroll to the bottom of the pic or set zoom at 75% in Adobe.


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## NumberNine (Jul 19, 2005)

One more thing I forgot, you could install a custom built air purifier in the loft. Would go a long way towards removing even more dust. After all, it's their health and your money!

I didn't do it cause I ddin't think about it when I built the living quarters of the birds. And now I find there isn't enough space to accomodate an air purifier.


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## TerriB (Nov 16, 2003)

Thanks for the great ideas!


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## NumberNine (Jul 19, 2005)

One more thing I forgot to mention: The bedroom where I keep injured/sick birds is equipped with a poweful custom-built air purifier. The dust from the bird's feathers can be hazardous to your health. Not to mention the vapour from their fresh droppings. Speaking of air purifiers, make sure to NEVER use the negative ion. Not only for the birds, it has a negative impact on the health of human beings too. 

Also, keep your birds away from the kitchen. And if you don't, then make sure to never to use teflon coated pan when cooking.


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## Skyeking (Jan 17, 2003)

Here is a wonderful sight for those of you who keep pigeons inside your homes, and give them free flight.

Birdproofing:

http://www.internationaldovesociety.com/birdproofing.htm


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## Lin Hansen (Jan 9, 2004)

Treesa,

Great post....looks like another "sticky" to me...

Linda


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## re lee (Jan 4, 2003)

Exhust fans do wonders. in changeing out the air. And are cheap. You could even put one in the ceiling and duct it out side if need be. Air exchange helps keep fresh air provided . An idea to look at. If you want.


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## Victor (Dec 18, 2004)

Linda, 

I agree with you 100% that this informative thread should be made an official "sticky". Numbernine, you out did yourself again!


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## TerriB (Nov 16, 2003)

NumberNine said:


> ...The bedroom where I keep injured/sick birds is equipped with a poweful custom-built air purifier...make sure to NEVER use the negative ion...


Good suggestion about the air purifier. That would really help when any birds are in the house. Is a HEPA filter okay around birds?

Have you ever cut the plastic grid to size or is it too brittle?


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## NumberNine (Jul 19, 2005)

The kind of filter in use is not the issue. You certainly want the most effecient filter. After all, the job of a filter is to retain particles. 

It is the negative ion option that some air purifiers offer that is nefast to one's health. And I'm not talking about birds here, I'm talking about human beings. And if it's bad for humans, it certainly cannot be that great for birds too.

In order to custom-fit the panel, you take an object that has a certain length, a certain weight and preferably, made of metal. I occasionally use a pair of long-nose pliers or a 12" long screwdriver and simply and gently hit the area you wish to cut. Naturally, you start from the side of the panel working your way in. Simply repeating the motion of gently hitting the area of the plastic that you wish to remove. I don't know if I made myself clear, please ask again if I confused you.


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## TerriB (Nov 16, 2003)

So chip it away, bit by bit, like how they make arrow heads? You and I seem to work from the same mind set - what is easy, quick, and will work.  Thanks!


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## dekebrent (Jun 17, 2005)

Number Nine and responders -- As a relative newbie to the world of pigeon care, I found this thread very helpful, especially the information about home care. My pigeon is content to hang out in the dining room, which is in the back of the house and away from most things. I think her only complaint thus far is when she's asleep while I'm still watching TV in the living room. A grunt or loud fluffing of the wings lets me know that I have the TV too loud, or that she would prefer for me to turn off the light shines ever so slightly into her room.


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## NumberNine (Jul 19, 2005)

TerriB said:


> So chip it away, bit by bit, like how they make arrow heads?


Sort of, I guess? The idea is you go down in a straight line. Starting from the side of the panel. You hit the location right after where you want your panel to end. You break a few pieces. Then hit again and keep breaking more of those pieces. If you do it gently but firmly, you should have no problem. You could also use a pair of long-nose pliers and gently twist one piece at a time, but sometimes adjacent pieces will break, damaging you work. Plus it takes a lot longer. I really don't recommend using pliers to twist one piece at a time.

Another thing I wanted to mention: The birds I have cannot fly. ( I used this same plastic to make stairs for them - they walk everywhere, they cannot fly - and I also used a very narrow piece of wood to support the stairs). Since my two birds cannot fly, they like to take shortcut and instead of walking on all the stairs, they do like kids and jump. The problem is that if they jump from 10" high and land right in the middle of the panel, over time, they will manage to start breaking the panel a little bit.

So what I did is I put small pieces of wood, about 2" X 2" and 1 1/2" in height. The distance between the plastic sheet and the panel is 2". So when the birds jump down on my panel, the wood helps absorb the energy and prevent minor damages to the panel. Otherwise I would have to change the panel once every 2 years and I'm not interested. They can easily last 10+ years. 

I also rinse the panels with hot water. There is always some liquid droppings. 

I guess your birds are capable of flying, so they shouldn't be jumping from a height of 10" down on the panel.


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## TerriB (Nov 16, 2003)

Oh, now I get it! Thanks for describing your process of resizing the grids - this made it easy to understand. Great idea about making stairs from the grid. You have come up with some very innovative ideas! We're may need to make stairs for Walter as he gets older. I'm not sure I understand what your stairs look like - could you share a few more details?

When we had Walter inside, we had an upside-down bucket for his house (doorway cut into the side). He would (of course) perch (and poop) on top and leap down to the floor of the pen. He eventually came up lame and, after frantically reading here and determining it was NOT bumblefoot, we decided he'd just sprained something. The pen wasn't large enough for him to spread his wings to cushion the drop and 800 grams is a serious jolt to little pigeon "ankles". We wanted to leave him his house but discourage any more leaping, so we lay the bucket on its side. With the cut out door down (for stability & easier clean up), the curved "top" was too slippery for him to perch. Instead, we gave him a block of wood to sit on while he watched out the window.


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## NumberNine (Jul 19, 2005)

I'll take some pics when I'm back home tonight.


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## NumberNine (Jul 19, 2005)

Here are some (awful) pics attempting the represent cutting the plastic panel. The black line indicates where you cut. The original pic was inclined. It is for this reason that the cut from the right side doesn't appear exactly straight, when in fact it is.

The last pic shows you the hard plastic on a narrow piece of wood. The plastic will eventually break due to the weight of the bird . With a piece of wood under to support the plastic, it won't break and provides more stability for the birds. Just use two screws and two large washers to attach the plastic to the wood. The pic was taken while the stair was on a pine table. Sorry if that's confusing and sorry for the horrible graphics/pics.

When I use stairs, I also use platforms. It can be difficult for the birds to walk at 45 degree angle for a distance of 2+ feet. So I break it down. The bird walks maybe a foot, then has a 4" X 5" platform and then another stair, etc. . 

http://community.webshots.com/album/480794841ZIiAKV (warning: lousy pics!)


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## TerriB (Nov 16, 2003)

Got it! Thanks for taking and posting the photos. Good suggestion about staggering the stairs with platforms. Given Walter's weight, he could really build up some momentum!


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