Updated macaw enclosure photos-long and windy

I had someone on another forum ask to see our whole enclosure, so I shot some new photos of what it looks like now. We've adapted with our macaw as we learned what worked and what didn't, so it's set up a bit different than before. Pvc stands inside that were meant to be temporary became permanent due to how much Sailor uses them and likes them. I really didn't want them in there, but she overruled me by refusing to eat anywhere else. The tops are pvc cap bowls with actual bowl inserts for food and water sitting in them. They went in because she refused to go lower to eat anything, and we were worried sick she'd starve herself rather than go lower. Turns out that's pretty much true so I guess they're staying forever. I tried to keep food out of them and put her food in sidewall mounted bowls, and she wasn't cooperative with that plan. So back they went. She wins. We went ahead and mounted manzanita branches to the pvc posts for her to climb around on, and that works rather well. One is mounted low in case she ends up on the ground, so she has something to grab and climb back up on. We also tried to make her some crude wooden chew toys, and they are sad, sad, sad looking. I gotta learn to make better toys! But I guess at the rate she chews through them it might not really matter. That girl annihilates wood at shocking speed






Jungle Jane, swinging from one foot

Apparently food coloring doesn't color wood all that well huh? What do you guys use?

She's finally eating some random fruits veggies really well-like the whole bowl thank goodness. What little you see there are acceptable at this time...subject to change per mademoiselle's whim at the moment:

I'd like there to be some more greens in there but she's refusing anything but a little uncooked broccoli, very few sprouts, and pea pods. Oh carrots and red peppers as well. She'll nibble those but refuses green? What? They taste the same! Who knows...I don't get it. The green get tossed on the floor intact. Still no cooked foods at all and I try new things all the time with her. Even a little pizza crust, I thought they loved those??? She ripped up a few pieces and then tossed it on the ground. Cooked noodles, cooked soft cereals, no no no. Who is this bird, she can't really be a macaw. Bananas even, what bird doesn't like bananas? Mine doesn't, that's who.
Crazy bird I sneak extras into her birdy bread, which must be cooked dry or it gets tossed too. If it's more dry she'll pick through it and nibble this or that. Better than nothing I figure.

Beautiful enclosure! I love it. And my birds detest green peppers, too! They love orange, red, and yellow, but if you give them green they stick their little beaks up in the air and give me a indignant sniffle, as if I've offended their pride or something. Do you find it difficult to clean? Or is it pretty easy?

That is BEAUTIFUL, and so is Sailor!

Wow, Tara! That's amazing, I love that it's custom designed just for Sailor! Beautiful!

Be thankful Sailor will eat raw vegetables, my birds are very suspicious of anything that isn't cooked. The approved raw produce is gradually getting a little bit longer.

Sailor's gorgeous, thanks for sharing photos of her room.

Holy enclosure! You did one heck of a phenomenal job there for your big, beautiful, red girl! Yup, my jaw is wide open, no kidding.

Thank you for those photos - truly inspiring!!

And yes, Sailor is STUNNING and looks so very happy, too!!!

Oh, and looky, coloring your own toys can be a piece of cake:
http://www.parrotforums.com/do-yourself/40852-how-make-your-own-wood-dyes-tutorial.html

Dinosrawr said:

Beautiful enclosure! I love it. And my birds detest green peppers, too! They love orange, red, and yellow, but if you give them green they stick their little beaks up in the air and give me a indignant sniffle, as if I've offended their pride or something. Do you find it difficult to clean? Or is it pretty easy?

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Broom and dustpan cleanup, now that Sailor has decided to scream bloody murder if I run the shop vac I bought for it, goof. I even take her out when I do it, but no matter. She let's me know on no uncertain terms that is unacceptable lol. And I mop it with a sponge mop with vinegar/water on it, it takes no time at all. I like cleaning that out better than my conure's regular cage, honestly. It's like sweeping out a small closet. So quick.

Oh thanks Wendy! I'll check that out. Food coloring was sad business, so ineffective. I need to order some decent toy making parts somewhere. Walmart's baby section and a pile of scrap wood does not a good toy make!

*I used water/food coloring. Didn't take well at all. Now I know why. Thanks to Shirre for that!

Minimaker said:

*I used water/food coloring. Didn't take well at all. Now I know why. Thanks to Shirre for that!

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Did you use rubbing alcohol to dilute the food coloring? Just whatever you do, try not to get the 'gel' food coloring. I bought that last time, and boy, what a royal PITA that was. The colors took GREAT...but in chunks. :54:

Let me try and find the link for the colors I usually buy (they are often out of stock, and if they are, I use regular food coloring)
Mighty Bird Toys :: VitaCritter

THAT IS ABSOLUTELY FANTASTIC!!

I love what you've done.

I second the 'FANTASTIC'!

Would love to see a writeup on it's construction!

Flboy said:

I second the 'FANTASTIC'!

Would love to see a writeup on it's construction!

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Ok but this was a long process and will be a long read, fyi

We built a big wooden box on wheels out of 2x6 pine boards-roughly 80x80 inches.



I picked up a wall mural on ebay and applied it to the back wall, we plexiglassed over it (slowly predrill holes in plexi or it cracks). The floor and part of the lower walls were vinyl, the rest was tiled. The side panel glass tile was applied with mortar before we knew it was better to put it up with shower caulking but it stayed up fine. We applied the white tile to the roof boards and some fell down because it was hanging upside down. I looked online to see what we did wrong and found out it was better to apply them with caulking if you're mounting tile directly to wood. So we did that and it held so fast and hard that it really surprised me. You have to set it fast or else you can't move it around minutes later. We covered the side boards with wood look floor tile. The fencing was Euro style powder coated fencing panels:http://www.menards.com/main/p-2441029-c-5766.htm
we cut to fit where we needed them. They would never work for a smaller bird because the holes are too big, medium to large birds only. We secured one panel to the wood side and then put tile right over the edge of it to cover the exposed wood. The top panel we secured from the top of the enclosure and then tiled the underside board. So basically everything is pretty much chew proof. I suppose she could chew the lower wall but there is no incentive for her to be down there. If we put her on the floor she climbs right to the top again where all the fun stuff is. We talked about it and if she ever starts we can plexiglass all the way to the floor over the vinyl.

We bought white vinyl screen doors we covered in plexiglass and he mounted a block of wood below the base board and installed a slide door bolt on the outside of the door that slides shut into the wood block below. The enclosure is too tall (which was a mistake, don't do that if anyone is thinking of making one of these) to mount one on the top, but she can't get out anyway. The one lower lock does the job fine. We left a plexiglass lip sticking out on
the side of one screen door so that when you shut one it keeps them both shut together with the bolt locked.

I think that's pretty much it. It took awhile because it's so large. If I had it to do over again I would be fine with the width but the height was wrong. She escapes to the top and won't come down sometimes. It would be much easier to interact with her if it were more on our level. Cutting nearly 20 inches off the top would have saved us a lot of trouble with her. She assumes a dominant attitude way above our heads and knows we can't do anything about it. But if we had I'm not sure what we would have used for doors.

The wheels are great because we could easily move it during construction if we needed to get behind (and it did come up numerous times). It also makes for easy moving/cleaning around the base. It's so heavy that moving it otherwise would be impossible. I made sure to keep all the deconstruction access points open and easy to get to in case it needs to be moved. Each side can come off for transport without tearing it totally apart and it then being unfixable. The bottom part of the side boards screws are behind tile that is mounted with double sided sticky velcro. We can pull those off to get to the screws if we ever need to move it or get it out of the house. My son will inherit the bird when we die, so if he needs the enclosure he can take it out of here without ruining it.

Ditto to all the other members comments on that beautiful enclosure. My Military Macaw loves bananas, I had the problem with my CAG , until I left the peel on. I wash the whole banana, cut each end off, one for the Macaw, the other for the Grey and the middle for me.
They both enjoy scooping the fruit out, peeling it and sometimes eating the peel. Also I found a hand held steamer a valuable tool for cleaning my birds' cages.

For Build II, consider going to a place that builds and installs pool enclosures. They should be able to make any size door you want!