Open porch cage

Spring will be coming soon and I'm wondering the pros and cons. of installing a outside cage that I could rotate the larger birds through in good weather during the day so they can get some fresh air, outside time.

what I mean by open porch is neither of my porches are screened in.
I live in an area where if I turn one way on Main St I head to downtown Columbus,oh and the other is rural so I also have all the pests that come along with living in the country. I do have quite a large number of birds of pray, deer, and all the other little critters that could wonder through the yard at any time. hell I have caught a hawk watching to see if I had the little dog out and land right on my porch next to the sliding doors. not worried about the pray birds but the fleas and tics that come off of the deer and the other furry critters. which I do have a fight every season keeping the dog free of them.

is there anything I can do to keep these pests away from the birds.
was thinking about getting one of those screened in rooms and putting the cage inside it.

what ya think?

"Sailboat, where are you buddy?" This ones for you!

Hope you will share pics when it is complete, Dave?

plumsmum2005 said:

"Sailboat, where are you buddy?" This ones for you!

Hope you will share pics when it is complete, Dave?

Click to expand...

At your request!

Lets start with the bugs! Although several hundred miles apart, we are both dealing with the same dang bugs! The combination of animals that are working though both of our yards are like public transporting for them from miles around. So, when you approach this project, keep that in mind.

Next, you have specific animals that unlike deer will dig their way into near anything that does not have a harden base, whether that is 3/4" (75 mm) exterior plywood or concrete.

And last, Red Tail Hawks! The Southeaster corner of our home is mid-late Summer high speed turning training for near every Red Tail family in a two County area.

Add, your normal assortment of wild cats, dogs, coyotos etc..., and your Parrots are little more than a cold cut lunch.

So, start with a solid base. My favorite is a poured concrete at a minimum of 3.5" (90 mm) thick. Make it a minimum of 12" (305 mm) wider than your target Screen Porch.

As you are aware there are 'Pop-Up' screen porches that with a little practice can be set-up in about one hour or less depending on practice and where all the parts are kept. A Sun Cover is important even in the Great White North.

Custom units are available in kit form or build-in place by a third party.

Understand that Screen Porches are not designed to keep animals out!!! They are designed to keep bugs out!!! From deer to racoon to red tail screen would only slow them down a little. So, you will need a Standard or better a Larger Cage to place inside this screened porch.

Yes, you can go the up armored outside flight enclosures, but that is a very different discussion and cost point.

WARNINGS!!!

Never leave a Screen Porch with your Parrot(s) in it unattended! What can easily find its way in is the same story for your Parrots finding their way out.

Keep the porch and cage 'clean' of foods and/or poo as they will attract the night creatures.

This is a fairly general discussion of placing your Parrots outside. It does not cover everything.

Skeeters now carry West Nile virus, fatal to birds.

Owl hit the window pretty hard once after a parrot, and little Hawks smack it often going after birds at the feeders. Wouldn't get your parrot but might scare them into flying into something themselves.

Depending on mesh size...snakes. Possums and etc will chew through screens to get to birds...I read something last year about a Florida aviary who lost birds because of something brought in my outside critters and their passengers.

But a safe cage your birds will love it! And the unfiltered sunlight will be great for them, too.

I know I'm late to this party but I would not leave my bird outside unattended for more than a few minutes unless the screened enclosure was as sailboat described. That being said when I'm camping I often take Nike out in her travel cage and sit it on a snack table right next to where I'm sipping a cold beer. If it's buggy we set up an EZ-Up with screened sides and I keep her in her cage in there, leaving her only long enough to go into the camper, get rid of the previous beer and get another

One thing I noticed with Nike is that she doesn't understand the difference between sun and shade and a bird can bake in the sun in short order so she's always in some kind of shade, either natural or man made.

I had a Quaker Parrot, he loved our back porch!! We would set him out in morning for couple hours and evening a couple hours! A new dog in our neighborhood came, scared the bird, knocked over cage, bird flew away!!

I now have a Cockatoo! I will never leave her unattended! My past bird spent 4-5 yrs with no problems outside on back covered deck. And it just took 1 time to let him be gone forever! Just wanted to share because I didn't know the dangers and wish I would have!!