Things You'll Need
- 1 Roll of galvanized wire cloth (¼ inch by ¼ inch spacing, 24 inches tall)
- 3 Plastic flowerpot saucers (16-inch circumference)
- 1 Plastic flowerpot saucer (15-inch circumference)
- Drill
- Wire cutters
- Wire
- Box cutter
- Table
Instructions
Prep Work
Find a roll of galvanized wire cloth with ¼-inch by ¼-inch mesh spacing. They are usually sold in rolls measuring 24 inches tall, which is perfect for the height of the cage you are looking to build. Galvanized wire is durable and rust resistant and will therefore not pose any health hazard to your parakeet. Avoid the vinyl-coated or painted varieties since your bird will most likely gnaw off these coatings and get sick.
Look for three plastic flowerpot saucers that measure 16 inches in circumference and one that measures 15 inches. Although it is tempting to use clay, plastic cleans up easier. Clean them thoroughly to remove any dust and debris.
Place the 15-inch saucer upside down inside one of the 16-inch saucers and trace around it with the box cutter. The result is a 16-inch saucer with a big hole in it. This will be the top of your cage.
Plug in your drill and make a row of holes in the upper lip of the first 16-inch saucer. The holes should be about ¼ inch apart. Go all the way around the saucer with your drill until you have little holes all the way around. This will become the bottom of your cage. Repeat this process with the 16-inch saucer that has the gaping hole and will become the top of the cage.
Place the saucer with the drilled holes designated to become the cage bottom onto the table. Fit the galvanized wire cloth around it. Pick up your wire cutters and cut the wire cloth at the point where it begins to overlap, allowing about an inch of overlie.
Clip off a good number of 2-inch lengths of wire. The number you need depends on the number of holes you drilled into the saucers plus about 10 extra to create a seam in the back of the cage.
Construction
Put the designated bottom 16-inch saucer onto the table and loosely drape the cut portion of the wire cloth around. You are now ready to secure the mesh to the bottom of the parakeet cage.
Thread a 2-inch length of wire through the first hole you drilled into the saucer. Bend it back through the mesh of the galvanized wire cloth. Twist the ends of the 2-inch length of wire together much like you would a twist tie to close a bag of bread. This secures the wire cloth to the saucer. Go around the entire saucer and thread wires through each hole, bending them back through the mesh and thereby securing the mesh to the bottom of the cage. Finish this step by clipping off any excess wire of the 2-inch lengths that might be sticking out.
Place the 15-inch saucer inside the cage. You need to do this from the top. It will fit snugly into the 16-inch saucer that is now the bottom of the cage. When you do cage cleanup, you can simply lift the smaller saucer out of the cage through the top, discard spilled food and droppings, and completely clean it before putting it back in.
Take the cage top 16-inch saucer with the big hole you cut earlier and repeat Step 2 of this section, securing the mesh of the wire cloth to the top of the cage.
Secure the overlap of the wire cloth to the underlying layer with the additional 2-inch lengths of wire. This creates a seam that now secures the enclosure. Make this the back of the cage, the side that is turned toward the wall.
Place the third 16-inch saucer into the saucer with the big hole. This provides the lid for the cage. Remove the saucer to gain access to the inside of the cage; close it up to keep the parakeet secure in its homemade cage.
Outfit the cage with a small animal water bottle you can clip on from the outside, a tip-proof food dish and a dried tree branch with various different sized perching options.