My dilemma with this wrought iron cage

So I volunteer at a small zoo, and last week they got in all these bird cages as a donation. They didn't need them all, so they let me take one for free as I have been looking for a bigger cage for my African Grey. It is a wrought iron cage, pretty rusted and very big and heavy. I was going to have someone professionally sandblast and powder coat the cage, but they want to charge me 500 dollars, which I just cannot afford. So now I have this cage just sitting around and I have no idea how to clean it up so my bird can use it. To say in the least, I have zero knowledge about doing things like this, I have no idea how to even remove the rust that's on it. I know people say not to use paint, but I can't see how I could not paint it? I just don't know, I'm clueless. I couldn't even put a plastic laundry hamper from wal mart together lol so how I even begin to work on this cage beats me.

I found this paint online though, has anyone tried it? All Products :: Pet Paints :: ECOS Bird Cage Paint -

How much would it cost just to have it sandblasted?
I have no experience with that paint, but I have heard of it.
If the paint is bird safe, then it won't kill your bird, but I question it's durability. It doesn't take much effort for a hard sharp bird beak to chip paint, so it may only look nice for a very short time.

I believe they said like 250 for it to be sandblasted, but they had mentioned that pick up and drop off was another charge as well, so it's just still too much for me to pay at the moment. I figured though buying something to remove the rust and a gallon of paint would be around 100, which is far more doable.

I was worried about durability as well, but I figured if their still marketing as bird paint, it has to have some durability?

Home depot has some spray stuff for rust. It's not that much. I do not know if it's bird safe. Or if it's ok to cover with bird safe paint. You can get a wire brush and sandpaper and remove the rust yourself.

gracebowen said:

Home depot has some spray stuff for rust. It's not that much. I do not know if it's bird safe. Or if it's ok to cover with bird safe paint. You can get a wire brush and sandpaper and remove the rust yourself.

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That spray stuff still requires that the surface rust be removed prior to application.

You can get a new cage for somewhere around $250, or not much more than that!

Why risk heavy metal poisoning?! It isn't worth it...

The 100 bucks or so that you save on fixing this up, vs. the THOUSANDS you spend on vet care if he ingests any of that rust, along with the stress of will he pull through, or will he die from it... should make this an easy decision.

The cage he's in now might not be ideal, but at least it won't make him sick!!!

That's how I see it anyway... AM I MISSING SOMETHING?!

Birdman666 said:

You can get a new cage for somewhere around $250, or not much more than that!

Why risk heavy metal poisoning?! It isn't worth it...

The 100 bucks or so that you save on fixing this up, vs. the THOUSANDS you spend on vet care if he ingests any of that rust, along with the stress of will he pull through, or will he die from it... should make this an easy decision.

The cage he's in now might not be ideal, but at least it won't make him sick!!!

That's how I see it anyway... AM I MISSING SOMETHING?!

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I agree. I think that just saving up some money to get it done would be way better than painting it with bird safe paint... My personal opinion.

NO NO NO! A rusty cage has only one place- the scrapyard. It's not worth it to have them re-coated properly and no paint is truly non-toxic for use on a cage.

You should check out drsfostersand smith.com. They have some pretty nice powder coated cages at reasonable prices. I'm not sure about cages BUT they offer FREE shipping on most orders over $50.00
I order all of my supplies through them. Food is always fresh and the prices are very good. Example= Nutri-Berries 8oz at Petsmart/ $8.99
Nutri-Berries 8oz F&S. / $5.99
Check them out online!
Dewfield

A different perspective: I was gifted an truly antique bird cage. It's a work of ART; it really is. So well built, heavy, durable. Did we EVER build cages like that in the early years? We must have. This thing was too beautiful to send to the junkyard. It was either put it outside and keep plants in it, or just find a place to re-powdercoat it correctly. It wasn't cheap but I did it. They did an amazing job on it. They were so conscientious and gave me the safety sheet on the powder coating they used (it had extremely low readings, probably better than are used on cages made outside the USA). To say I was pleased with the result is an understatement. It's beautiful! I've yet to put a bird in it but I'm proud to have it in my home. It was such a good experience, re-powdercoating it, that I wouldn't hesitate to do it again, and when my Grey's and Cockatoo's cages need to be replaced, I'm choosing to re-powdercoat again. Some cages are just worth it.

Another concern, though, that's kind of scary that the zoo accepts old cages as donations for their birds. Unless cleaned meticulously and sterilized, I would think that would be too much of a risk. I know I wouldn't even bring my antique cage in my house until it'd had been cleaned, sandblasted, and baked in an oven during the powder coating process. Being a bird-germ-a-phob, I probably would be more scared of its used status than its rust status. Good luck with your choice.