Parrot Cages -- Free of Zinc Is Needed

A. Hi Sheri. 1/4" seems either too small of too big  🙂

If you're speaking of hardware cloth on 1/4" centers, that's awfully small even before it's powder coated. Maybe for hummingbirds?

If you're saying you want to build the bird cage out of 1/4" diameter wire, are you building it for Pterodactyl? 1/4" diameter is so heavy that screens of that weight are usually fabricated by welding the lengths of rods together, rather than by weaving them.

I think it would help if you could give a little more info about your project. Thanks!

Regards,

Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey

Pterodactyl wasn't a bird ;)   Maybe for a condor? Adam Weston - Northridge, California Of course pterodactyls were birds. Did you miss the closing scene of Jurassic Park?  🙂 Ted Mooney, P.E. Striving to live Aloha finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey Need quick confidential answers? $25 Need project assistance? $100/hr.

A. Just a tip- be careful not to use galvanized wire for birds b/c I have just learned that the zinc in the galvanized wire is toxic to birds if they manage to get the zinc off in their mouths. I'm also looking for wire to replace the galvanized wire on my birds cage and I have found some stainless steel welded wire.

Good Luck,

A. Chicken fence is mega too big. Rabbit fence is closer, but probably too big as I understand finches. You can buy hardware cloth which is wire "fence" in a square pattern. Typical is 1/4, 3/8 and 1/2 inch squares. It is not beautiful. You can get stainless and brass from mail order houses, but it is very significantly higher priced, like 5-10 times.

A. Here is a source for custom cages, any dimensions you require. They also have all the supplies and various size wire available for those of you who are doing it yourself. They have panels with doors in them they will also powder coat in several different colors for additional cost. I am not affiliated with them at all, I just am aware of their products and service. I keep English budgies, Pennants Parakeets (Crimson Rosellas), Diamond doves, finches and canaries.

Go to KW Cages at www.kwcages.com, then go to the "Wingz Aviary Products" catalog.

Ed. update 2026: There is no longer a "Wingz Aviary Products" area on that site; they may have spun it off as there is now a
www.wingzstore.com
at the same physical address. Either way, both sites list Do-It-Yourself materials.

A. Go to the following link for PVC coated wire mesh of many sizes and gauges for aviaries:
www.ceshepherd.com

A. There is a place to get coated wire and cage supplies at
www.klubertanz.com ⇩

Do not use Galvanized wire for any animal it is very toxic.

Ed. update 2026: This no longer appears to be a functioning website.

A. An alternative for birdcage wire is stainless steel TIG welding rods, not cheap but not too bad, if you have the equipment to weld S.S. There are also different gas welding rods available at welding shops for gas welding muffler pipe that are not stainless, but they would need to be painted or taken to an outfit that could powder coat the whole cage, a reasonable alternative for a custom cage.

A. Hi, Susan. Hopefully someone can answer your other questions, but we appended your inquiry to a thread where several suppliers have been mentioned. Good luck.

Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey

A. I just ordered wire panels and doors from Wingz Avian Products for my 8' X 16' Indoor flight. Everything was powder coated black. I also bought a roll of PVC coated wire to re-wire my outdoor lori aviary.

A. Susan
Yes you should keep your flight cage off the ground. Ground feeding birds frequently get infected with worms if allowed to actually ground feed. This is one of the reasons that wild birds don't have as long life spans as captive kept birds.

A. I have found a source for 1/2 inch "chicken wire" Try Kent Design and Manufacturing and scroll down in their "metal grill" section and find #1220T. ⇩

Ed. update 2026: That site still exists but it is not secure (which is a bit suspect). It has been rearranged such that Elizabeth's navigation instructions are outdated.

A. Just to put in my 2 cents as a cage builder, and bring it back to metal finishing...

The links suggested above are mostly for galvanized, powder coated, or PVC over galvanized wire. Galvanized wire can cause chronic toxicity and shorten the life of your bird through nerve and liver damage - especially if he likes to climb with his beak. And anything coated or plated will eventually uncoat especially with the more active birds.

So, if you make the cage yourself out of mild steel wire mesh and then have it powdercoated it should last for several years (depending on the bird and the quality of the prep job of the powder coater). However, in the future it will begin to chip off, at which point the cage should be refinished. Ingesting the right size chip can kill your bird.

If you make it yourself, a good choice is to use a 304L or 316L stainless steel welded wire mesh (or solid brass, not plated). Research the appropriate bar spacing for your bird (e.g. google "finch cage bar spacing"). Then, either the wire company or you can make the mesh into panels which can be connected together with j-clips.

Before connecting it together though, your welded panels should be cleaned and "passivated" because a bird cage is a highly corrosive environment, even for stainless. Use an electropolishing servicefor this, or passivate it yourself with citric acid. I have used Citrisurf's products (www.citrisurf.com) and the guys there are very helpful.

If you're like me, and you don't prefer the high security prison look, make your own custom panels out of tig wire (again 304L or 316L stainless). Be careful to avoid pinch points. Or bring your ideas to a custom cage builder and have them do it for you.

Hope this helps,

A. I'm no expert here, other than once working with a customer that was making stainless steel bird cages.

The point of galvanized steel is corrosion resistance. If you're going to strip off or coat over the zinc, you may as well just get plain old steel to begin with and paint or powder coat that. And there's always stainless, though it's likely a pricier option.

A. Hi Joanna. Zinc is more poisonous to nickel plating processes than it is to parrots  🙂
Even a small amount as a contaminant renders the nickel plating process unworkable. So the answer is, no, there is no zinc in nickel plating.

However, here are still possible sources of confusion and/or problems.
1. If, underneath the plating, the toys are actually made of zinc. A lot of common things are zinc diecastings.
2. Sometimes things are bright acid zinc plated and then lacquered which looks quite a bit like nickel plating, while being less expensive, so you need to insure that your toys are actually nickel plated; it's probably not good enough to go "by eye".

Luck and regards,

Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey

A. Hi, Caroline.

I and most of the readers are from the metal finishing industry and can't knowledgeably comment on the toxicity of zinc to parrots. We'd need an avian veterinarian for that kind of input, but many readers have indeed reported that they believe zinc is toxic to birds.

Yes, zinc will react with oxygen in the air to form zinc oxides on the surface of zinc plated, zinc galvanized, and solid zinc components. And, if exposure conditions are favorable, carbon dioxide in the air will react with the zinc, forming zinc carbonates instead of or in addition to the zinc oxides. From a corrosion-resistance standpoint, these carbonate reaction products are preferable because they are more adherent, less porous, sort of glassy, and can greatly slow the corrosion rate. But from the point of view of the parrot, it probably makes little difference whether he licks at and pecks at zinc metal, zinc oxide, or zinc carbonate because it's the zinc, not the oxygen or carbon dioxide that is of concern.

I believe that you are correct that stainless steel is the ideal material of construction; nickel plated steel is probably second choice. Zinc should probably not come within a parrot's reach, either in the form of a coating on an object or as a solid zinc diecast object. Considering your statement about parrots eventually gnawing through bolts, I don't think any coating on a zinc object will protect the zinc from their reach.

Regards,

Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey

A. Hi, Caroline.

Countless small items are made of diecast zinc, because it is inexpensive to cast it into complicated shapes, thus saving a lot of labor over machining it from steel or aluminum. For example: carburetors, door handles on cars, the brackets that hold the towel bars in your bathroom, the bases of small kitchen appliances like food processors, lamp bases, the knobs on your kitchen cabinet doors, etc. I am suggesting that even if you plate or coat zinc diecastings, they are probably not appropriate for parrots because they can gnaw until they get to the zinc.

Similarly, you can try to protect galvanized metal with an automotive clearcoat, a plastic coating, or whatever -- but the parrot apparently will be able to get to it.

Yes, vinegar and a ⇦ on eBay or Amazon [affil link] , or prolonged outdoor exposure (probably better) can reduce loose white rust. The vinegar dissolves the zinc oxide (white rust) so it wipes away, but leaving a zinc surface again. The prolonged outdoor exposure allows carbon dioxide to react with the zinc surface and form zinc carbonates instead of zinc oxide -- and they are tougher and glassier. But galvanized zinc is not a food-safe surface even for people, no matter how you pretreat it; since parrots are far more susceptible to zinc poisoning than people, I would think that galvanized steel is simply not safe for them to chew on regardless. Good luck.

Regards,

Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey

Thanks Ted. You've been very helpful!

A. Muriatic acid ⇦ on eBay or Amazon [affil link] ; buy at hardware store. If you put a drop on it and if it foams it's zinc. Afterwards rinse in cold water. Use goggles ⇦ on eBay or Amazon [affil link] and rubber gloves with long sleeves ⇦ on eBay or Amazon [affil link] . It's an acid so to be safe. You can Google it.

A. I've seen stainless cages turn slightly black in areas with prolonged exposure to animal waste. I would not consider it "severe" though. It wipes off easily with a towel and cleaner and in the worst cases I've seen its just slightly etched afterwards. To me it sounds like you have been given a plated cage. You mentioned severe rusting and striping .., stainless can discolor and even rust but it takes quite a bit to make it do so.

My recommendation to you is get a new cage ASAP. I've read numerous times that plated cages can lead to heavy metals poisoning of animals. You said cage is "striping" is a layer peeling off? I've seen plating flaking away and the animal (sugar glider in this case) eating the metal flakes, which are quite sharp, and slicing up the inside of their mouth, throat, and anywhere else in the digestive tract it makes it to.

A. One way to check the cage that you have is to test it with a magnet. Most cages are made of 300 series stainless. If the magnet sticks or you feel any magnetic attraction at all, then it is made of carbon steel or of some other type of stainless. Stainless can corrode, even 300 series, however it should just wipe off and should never have anything flaking off of it.

A. Hello Mina,

In response to your letter about your Stainless Steel cage. Sorry to hear about your problem with the Stainless Steel cage rusting. The shame of it all is that there are thousands of consumers in the US that are being misled because they are not informed that there are definitely big differences in the quality of stainless steel today.

The leading supplier of Stainless Steel is in Germany. Use 304 Medical grade stainless steel. All of the stainless steel coming from China and the middle east is mixed with other elements such as chrome which is a lot less expensive and gives a very shiny look. This misleads consumers to think that it is true stainless, when it is not.

If you leave these cages outside they will rust and corrode immediately. Many pet stores know this and don't care what they sell to the consumer. They only sell it to make fast big profits.

I recommend you go back to the store and return your cages because it will only get worse. Some stainless steel cages have been outside for over 1 year at the Theater of the Sea in Marathon Florida and are still in great condition; also at the Parrot Jungle Island in Miami. No rust, or corrosion and this is over 1 year in the salty, humid Florida climate.

BUYER BEWARE, YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR, ESPECIALLY COMING OUT OF CHINA OR PAKISTAN.

A. I've been looking and have found a couple web sites with wire for cages: Da-Mar's Equipment Company,
KW Cages, and
WA Davidson.

I'm sure there are more. Hope it helps!

A. I found some stainless steel wire on the web great for building bird cages and the price seemed OK to me here is where the 1/2 x 2 inch was: www.twpinc.com/twp/jsp/product.jsp?type=14 this was on TWP Inc wire mesh website.
Hope this helps.

? Have you tried wire netting. The netting they use for gardening to keep animals out.

Good luck,

A. Welcome! GWP Industries is one leading Chinese manufacturer and supplier of wire mesh for world market.