Greetings!

[jewels]

Hello everyone! I am excited to be here! I have a 7 year old Dusky Conure, Inca (female). My parrot experience is limited to her over the last 7 years, but I have owned and loved several budgies, a cockatiel, a magpie, and a raven (the latter two I hand fed and raised as a kid) throughout my life. I have 5 children, ages 5-18. We are all animal lovers, much to my husband's chagrin, and have a house full of pets. We have a standard poodle, a devon rex, a bearded dragon, 2 guinea pigs, and three rats in addition to our conure. Life is busy, but a whole lot of fun!

I decided to join this forum because I need some advice from the real experts in bird care (all of you). I posted in the Cage/Housing section, but I'll give a brief rundown here as well. I am shopping for a new cage for Inca, and the more I research the more frustrated I become. I don't have access to anything locally, so I have to look online which makes it impossible to compare products in person to determine which is better. I have also found conflicting "evidence" supporting the toxicity or nontoxicity of many of the main brand name cages. I would love some input from those with experience as to how brands like HQ, A & E, Kings, Avian Adventures, and Prevue compare in quality/features/safety. Thanks for the help!

 

[noblemacaw]

When I purchased my Noble Macaw in 1995 I bought him a kings cage that was powdered coated. It was the white one and after several years of my rigorous cleaning and Mihijo was a paint peeler I invested in a stainless steel cage. Because Mihijo was peeling the paint off of the bars I knew I would have to invest in a expensive Stainless Steel cage. I bought it in 2000 and I am very very happy with this cage. This was a major investment for me but I do not regret it. Mihijo is 16 years old and his cage is still in excellent shape.

The type of cage I bought is called Freedom Cage. I got the Deltona one which is plenty of room for a Noble macaw and I believe should be big enough for your Conure. I really like this cage because for how big it is its rather light and I am able to wheel it out through my patio door onto the patio and spray the heck out of it in the summer. I can really power wash those spots that get neglected with daily cleaning and it is easy to dissemble the feeding buffet system and put it back together.

Here is the link to their web site
The Patented Freedom Cage & Integrated Fredom Buffet

I have the Deltona with the dome top because I don't allow the parrot on top of his cage outside. He has a separate playpen outside his cage. I think the Osala will be just fine for your parrot.

Let me know if you have any questions.

Noblemacaw

PS. I am getting a baby Red Fronted Macaw this spring and Mihijo's cage will be brought upstairs and used to quarantine the baby RFM for the 90 days. Mihijo will live in the larger Stainless Steel cage I got from Kings Cages with is a matte finished 306. This larger cage I got in 2002 when I got my Illiger's macaw and even though you can keep a large Macaw in it and everyone made fun of me how large Diego's cage is compared to how little the Illiger's is that bird used every square inch of it when he played. From the bottom of the grate to the top hanging from a talon he used the whole cage as his playground.

The only complaint I have with the Kings cage is they are HEAVY as ....HECK!! I think it weighs about 175 pounds. I have to have help to move the cage outside to power wash. Its huge and heavy which will be very good for my future Red Fronted Macaw but will be OVERKILL for your parrot.

As expensive as stainless steel is both these cages are over 10 years old and they have no rust or popped solder joints or bent anything.

 

[QuackQuack]

I just had a good experience getting a cage from prevue for my bird. I got it at a bird store and the cage is one the owner has for his own bird. He spends a fair amount of time investigating products and complaints because its his business. The cage comes in three sizes if it interests you. As noblemacaw said Kings is good and stainless steel is the best! Man are they pricey though. If you look at a powder coated cage, to have it in stainless steel is about 3x as much. Again, no body will say it isn't worth it because they are wonderful. The kings cage my childhood grey had was VERY VERY heavy but sturdy and never had and still does not have issue.

Here is the link to the playtop prevue I just got that I think is really wonderful, and can tell you personally the quality of the cage is great - no junk here:
Prevue Hendryx Signature Select Series Wrought Iron Bird Cage in Chalk White at PETCO

My other cage I got off ebay LOL