Looking for Cage Recommendations/Help

[LPP+'sMama]

Hello everyone,

So I am looking to get a new cage, not that the ones I have are broken/problematic, I just have developed quite a few dislikes over the past year with the two I am currently using for my 3 parrotlets.
For my breeding pair (who currently have 4 babies) I am using something similar to this:

And for my one that's by itself I am using something similar to this:

Which is really just an economical starter cage.

My problem with the first cage is the seed guard - it's bulky and barely helps
- the food and water dishes are so low that they get pooped on/water gets dirty extremely quickly
- I don't like that it's taller than it is wider and my birds barely use the bottom of the cage so I want to transition to more of a flight cage style

Now I am looking to buy at least 2 cages (I might end up keeping one of my babies and need 3 but we'll see) so I don't want to spend more than $400 on each. That being said I kind of like the build/idea of this cage:

BUT, It's still lacking a lot of things
1. Horizontal bars - my birds all enjoy climbing as much as flying and vertical bars have them sliding and for attaching natural wood perches and some toys
2. I need a door for the nestbox to attach to, so, I need 4 doors at least (one for bird, water, food, nestbox)
2.5. Not a fan of the slide up doors - my birds are Fiesty and like to slam them when faced with the slightest inconvenience. it's horrid.
3. a play top/open up top would be an amazing bonus

If anyone has ANY recommendations at all of cages that fit at least some of my criteria or even if they don't and you really like the cage please please please just send along any and all cage recommendations!

So, because of this criteria and my inability to find cages that fit it I have started to consider building my own cages? My dad and I have experience building canary and pigeon cages/co-ops but I'm worried my p'lets will gnaw through wooden frames - anyone have any advice or experience with building parrot cages? any tips or suggestions?

I'm not sure if anyone will read this far, but if you did, thank you so much for giving me the time and energy and I hope you have a great day!

 

[zERo]

I use these cages for most of my birds:
HQ 32x21 Flat Top Aviary Bird Flight Cage w Stand Green https://a.co/d/4MXzTup

Some of them are this brand except 2 out of 4 have horizontal bars on the sides so I’m not sure why this one doesn’t have it.
It has two doors at the top I guess for nest boxes and then 4 food doors, two high up and two down low.

 

[wrench13]

Building a parrot cage is fairly easy. Building a parrot cage that is SAFE and long lasting is quite a different kettle of fish. Almost any kind of cage bar that is commercially available and not costing 3x what a store bought cage would is going to be unsafe for parrots - chicken wire, galvanized wire netting etc are zinc coated and zinc is a heavy metal that is toxic to parrots. And wood frames - well you already noted your parrotlets will chew right thru those.

As far as them pooping in water and food bowles, I had a beebee parrot ( about the same size as your parrotlets) who did that. I raised the bowles so high that he could just get his head between the roof and the bowl - no room to swing a butt over them. After a year or so of this I gradually lowered them to a more reasonable height and he did not start doing it again.

 

[LPP+'sMama]

So since I'll need 2-3 cages for all of my parrotlets I've been looking at this cage;

What do yall think? my bonded pair would be in one without the divider which would be L 38" x H 21" x W 18" and I'm going to see if Poof and the baby I'm thinking of keeping get along well enough to share also but if any of them squabble they can have a personal L 19" x H 21" x W 18" cage to themselves with the dividers.
Theyre breeding cages so I'm thinking that it'll work well with what I need atm and it's also a good price.