Reduce Bar Spacing?

My Conure has a nice cage now with 5/8 bar spacing. I would like to get him in an even larger cage.
I do have a VERY large cage that is unoccupied but the spacing is 1" which is too wide for him.

Is their any feasible way to reduce the bar spacing? I know I can use chicken wire but that wouldn't look very nice.
Any other way?

You could get aluminium or stainless expanded metal(it's a diamond mesh). It wouldn't have to be a heavy gauge if you put it on the outside of the cage. There are also a lot of different perforated sheet metals.

Hopefully expanded stainless has come down in the last 30 years. The last I bought had to be custom made in Chicago and then shipped to Texas. A 4x10 sheet was over 6 grand! You should have seen the crate it came in, it was oak and I made furniture out of it!

When I need a small quantity I call the metal suppliers around here and see if they have any drops(left overs from stuff they had to cut for other customers). This can usually be bought at a discount. Also Ebay is a place to look.

I personally would stay away from the chicken wire because of the galvanization.

There are many different types of mesh (you buy an entire the roll of just per lenght of what ever measure of unit you use)-- just becarefull: some of the pretty ones are coated with plastics -> not great for birds that gnaw, and a lot will have a zinc-content that is not really good for parrots. (Sometimes just getting it really oxidized with an acid / undiluted vingar will do/ helps, but go for the expensive, good quality ones if you can get it).

For years I believed when it came to cages, bigger was always better, after cleaning and maintaining a large flock of cages for years my opinions have changed slightly. If your GCC is already in a nice sized cage with the appropriate bar spacing I think I would stick with that. If you attach any kind of mesh to the larger cage I think it would become a trap for seeds, veggies and poop.

More than a year ago I had to replace two of my quaker parrot cages at the same time, both old cages were large enough for bigger birds. I had to consider price, available floor space and of course, quaker comfort, I shopped for a while before I found two cages with play tops, both smaller than the originals, I wasn't happy about moving my spoiled quakers to cages with less space but the quakers were immediately delighted with the new digs. Sometimes it's good to think outside the cage and listen to the opinions of your parrots.

One reason for the thought on getting larger was that after adding all the toys and perches, and he is now 11 months old and a bit bigger, he SEEMS a little cramped.

His current playtop cage is 24x22x35 (useable). One idea I had, and may go with it, is to just buy the same exact cage and combine them thereby doubling his width. Would just have to remove left side of one and right side of other.

That sounds like a great idea! I bet your little guy will love having two rooms.

Caitnah said:

One reason for the thought on getting larger was that after adding all the toys and perches, and he is now 11 months old and a bit bigger, he SEEMS a little cramped.

His current playtop cage is 24x22x35 (useable). One idea I had, and may go with it, is to just buy the same exact cage and combine them thereby doubling his width. Would just have to remove left side of one and right side of other.

Click to expand...

I have actually done this with two Yaheetech 24x22 cages. It worked perfectly and I am still able to turn them back into two cages when needed

hansbizz said:

I have actually done this with two Yaheetech 24x22 cages. It worked perfectly and I am still able to turn them back into two cages when needed

Click to expand...

I have four Yaheetech 24x22 cages that I'm not using and have wondered if I could just rearrange the bolts and panels and combine two into one. I'm happy to see it's very possible.