PawHut 65″ Bird Cage Feeder

>>> DOES THE JOB
> After reading the bad reviews, I was a little apprehensive about ordering Pawhut bird cages. However, the two cages I purchased arrived complete, with all parts undamaged. Considering the price, the fit and finish are excellent. The price is a bargain.> Well packed — I.e., the packaging is well designed.> Easy to assemble, if you have any experience with assemble-it-yourself furniture. Note that:- It is important to follow the instructions, particularly the order of assembly.- It is especially important to initially assemble very loosely (without tightening the screws tightly). When fully assembled, then tighten the screws.- Except for the door latch, the cage, per se is assembled with 20 identical screws, the “A” (i.e., shortest screws). The latch attaches with 4 small phillips screws. The stand is assembled with longer “B” and “C” screws. The required allen wrench is included, and the long end is even a phillips screw driver. You will need needle-nose pliers or an approx 3/8″ box wrench to assemble the stand.- When you are done, check again that all the screws are tight — as tight as you can make them with just the included allen wrench. Unfortunately, lock washers are not included, and would be a good addition — especially for the stand, especially if you ever roll the cage and stand around.> DESIGN — The design is an improvement over my two (different designs) Prevue cages that that these new cages are replacing.> HEIGHT — The cages (per se, not including the stands) are shorter than the (rusted out) Prevue cages they are replacing. But including the stands, are taller. The height is more convenient — the waste tray in the bottom of the cage can be cleaned from a standing position. My parrots are also more comfortable with the additional height — they spend more time in the middle and lower portions that they did in their old Prevue cages.> TRANSPORTABILITY — It takes two people to move a cage, and the cages are moderately heavy. With the stand, the height makes the cages top heavy and awkward to roll around. In short, it isn’t easy to move the cages around, with or without the stands. I suggest securing the cage to the stand with heavy-duty cable ties.> MAIN DOOR LATCH — The door latch is the best I’ve seen, on several birdcages I’ve owned. However, I placed a small button magnet on the triangular “stop” on the lower left edge of each door, which is strong enough to keep the doors securely closed, without interfering the latch operation. So, I rarely use the latch. But using just the magnets to hold the doors shut, a door pull (knob, ring, etc.) is convenient.> MAIN DOOR — Nice big door.> COLOR — The color is sorta speckled black on silver — which hides bird crap, etc. well.> TOP — The top panel of the cage is removable. If you leave it unbolted in place, it simply lifts out. Since the top panel is removable, you can easily place large objects in the cage — such as a the top of a small tree with many branches.- Optionally the top panel could be replaced with plywood, with a hatch to a “playground” on top. In any case, all non-raptor birds fear attack from above, so if you keep the original top panel, I suggest covering it with a towel etc. to give your bird a sense of security.> FEEDING/WATER DOORS — There are four feeding/watering doors, with included feeding/watering cups. Generally speaking, only the upper doors/cups are usable, because the lower feeding cups are quickly fouled by feces and food thrown-out of the upper feeding cups.- The feeding/water doors do not lock closed, and are potential escape routes for birds smaller than Amazon parrots, so I strongly suggest wiring the lower doors closed with wire ties (spring hooks would also work well). The upper doors can be held in place with 1 1/4″ x 5/8″ binder clips — clothes pins would work if your bird doesn’t destroy them. I’ve ordered metal clothes pins, which should work well, if they are narrow enough.- FEEDING/WATER CUPS — The included feeding/water cups are a poor design. They are thin, smooth, and do not have a lip, and so do not provide a perch for small birds.- The doors do not actually hold the included feeding/water cups in place, so (even if the doors are secured with binder clips or clothespins) annoyed parrots (even my little Senegal) can dump the food/water trays without raising the doors. One solution is to use Prevue BPV1218 (or similar) cups, which have perches, and the door actually closes on a “tab” which holds the cup securely (undumpable) in place (if the cage door is secured with the binder clips or clothespins). Alternatively, my solution was to wire a 1/8″ x 4″ bar in the inside of of the door to hold the included feeding/water cup in place (used with a binder clip or clothespin to hold the door in place).> PERCHES — The small softwood supplied perches may be okay for finches. They are too small for anything larger than a parakeet, and too soft for ANY parrot, other than as chew toys.- I use natural hardwood perches of various diameters, which I make from non-poisonous hardwood branches. Perhaps the best way to be sure that hardwood branches are non-poisonous is to use fruit tree branches. A variety of diameters (within the grip range of your bird) is healthier for bird feet.- I also used the old natural (not dowels) hardwood perches from my old cages. Since the old Prevue cages were about 2 inches deeper, the old dowels only fit at 20–30 degree angles in the new cages, which had the unexpected benefit of producing odd angles, more like a natural tree. I supplemented the old perches with new perches of various lengths to enhance the random angles. My parrots seem to be much happier with the random branches (in various diameters and angles). Climbing up and down is more of a challenge, and the different angles of the perches provide different views for the birds.> PLATFORMS — The cage does not come with any platforms, but they are desirable.- I suggest Prevue corner platforms for baths. The platforms have edges, so parrots cannot simply drag baths to the edge to dump them.- I use terracotta flowerpot saucers (10″ diameter x 2″ deep) for baths. The edges are thick enough and rough enough to provide secure grips for bird feet. Filled with water, the terracotta flowerpot dishes are too heavy for even Amazons to lift and dump.- Prevue also sells rectangular hanging platforms, which I’ve found rather useless inside the cages. They have no edges and are not strong enough to hold baths for medium and large birds. The grid is too large for leaving food (chunks of apple, etc.). But the hanging platforms can be hung outside the cage as a working shelf for filling food and water dishes, etc.- I purchased a 12″ x 18″ baking (or “cooling”) rack (from Amzn) which perfectly fits on the left side of the cage — but it needs to be held in place by cable ties (or, better, can hang from small S-hooks or spring hooks). The baking rack has small tight grids (about 3/8″ x 3/8″) which are perfect for leaving fruit and veggies for your birds. The racks are best placed just below the included feeding cups — so the racks provide convenient and secure places for larger birds to stand when feeding from the dishes. I also place 12″-wide cardboard boxes (wedged in place with a perch) behind the food area, which are my parrots favorite “chew toys”, and (with a round hole cut in the side) can be warm nests or sanctuaries in cool or windy months. Unfortunately, you can’t place such a rack on the right side of the cage, because that would prevent the door from opening (probably an 18″ x 10″ rack would work, but I haven’t found any baking racks that size) — but the right (rear) side of the cage is a good place for a Prevue corner platform with a terracotta flowerpot saucer bath.

Worth the buy
This cage was definitely worth the buy, it’s very large and my cockatiel loves it. Only issue is when you use the gap between the 2 cages is large, so I had to put a board between it. The package did come damaged with 3 broken perches but that’s more of an issue with the delivery.

Recieved this bird cage love the size, put it together and I got 3 panels with the front door (instead of 2) and only 1 back panel (instead of 2) and hardware for 2 front door panels so the one on the back does not stay closed