We get a lot of species specific questions regarding proper cage sizes. I see (and hear) “get the biggest cage you can afford, a lot. Which really doesn’t answer the question? Consider a wealthy apartment owner in a small studio apartment (or condo). They can “afford” the price but not the space for the cage. So let me provide some insight into how we recommend the proper size & type of bird cage at WindyCityParrot.com.

1)       Bar spacing – the cage can be big or small but the bars pacing has to be right. Quakers are fine with cages  from ½” – ¾”

2)       Cage size – generally speaking we like to see Quakers in a cage no smaller than 22”X17” like the AE 703. Bigger CAN be better but not always*

3)       Room size – if the cage is going to prevent the free flow of human traffic in the room, it’s too big. Keep it proportional to the room

4)       Play top or Dome top** – if you have a smaller residence and the bird can have you in sight when it’s in or on the play top of the cage, a play top*** cage is a good bet. Dome tops offer more room inside the cage and tend to be better for long tail birds like macaws. Where we see the difference is if you have a larger home and go to different rooms and you’d like to take the bird with you to another room you have to have a place to place the bird when you get there. If you put your bird on the back of the chair and the bird chews the chair and poops on it, it’s not the bird’s fault. We suggest an easy-to-move play stand on casters. With a play stand, whether the bird is in the same room or not, the bird has a place to go which makes having a play top bird cage is not as important.

      5)   If your bird is going to spend many hours a day in its cage, then yes you’ll wanes something big enough for him or her to move around in and stretch their wings fully.

*A few years ago I delivered a cage to home in Chicago suburb with 6 Macaws ranging a Hyacinth, 2 Greenwings 2 Blue and Golds and the newest addition a Military Macaw. What struck me was the cage room had 5 cages, (I was delivering the 6^th) not one was bigger than 30” across and a couple were about 24” wide. Now before some of you get out-of-sorts…the story continues. I had arrived late due to the long drive and heavy traffic, a little after 9:00 PM.

After bringing in the new cage (in it’s boxes) the woman who was companion to these birds first introduced me to all the birds and then said “it’s bed time,” clapped he hands twice and I’ll tell you something, I never saw anything like it but 5 of the birds (the Military was new and hadn’t gotten the routine down yet) climbed into their small cages and patiently waited for their doors to be closed.

She went onto explain she worked at home as a consultant, rose at 6:00AM every day and let the birds out. They stayed out until 8:00 every night (They had stayed up late waiting for me) and then wend back into their small cages. The moral of the story is, if your bird is going to do nothing more than sleep in the cage, it does not have to be a very large cage (relatively speaking)

**Just because a cage has a non opening dome top doesn’t mean that the bird won’t play on top of the dome. Also some dome top cages open allowing you to insert a perch across from open door to open door thus becoming a “play top” bird cage

***. Play tops generally offer a slide out tray under the play top to collect refuse.