cages

Choosing Your Bird's Cage is the most important item!
So choose VERY carefully!
Trust me, I went through just the idea of an extremely affordable, small, and simple "Parakeet Home" from the Wal-Mart, but that just wouldn't cut it, sure it came very affordable and it came with 2 perches, 2 food bowls, and a swing BUT for one thing, the perches were very small plastic perches, so his feet couldn't get much exercise because...The cage was too small to fit any other perches! And he was only a few months old, but too small for the swing, which took up most of the cage anyway, and think about it, REALLY think about it, when your buying a cage for your bird, your bird is NOT going to be the only thing in there! And Parakeets love toys and they love to play, so they will need more than a swing to keep them happy.
Try to find a cage with a tray at the bottom for easy cleaning so you don't have to put your hands in the cage to clean it, just pul it out and change the papers or litter.
Below are some examples of the typical "Parakeet Home" and the right size cage.

Now here is a photo of my Binkle on top of his old "Parakeet Home" And only the perches and bowls are in there! Notice how SMALL it is, he can't fly in there!
Every bird's cage should be at least twice your bird's wingspan in width and three times its length in height.

Now I don't even need to discribe this photo, this cage is CROWDED! It's the same cage as the picture above.
I am so sorry I even had him living in here everyday for the first part of him being home! He loves to play so he needs his toys.
And even though I started letting him out to fly and exercise, you have to wait at least 2 weeks before letting them out when you first bring them home, so imagine how cramped they will get!

Now this size cage is alot better for a playful parakeet.
It has a generous amount of room to fly and play in, and it has the right *bar spacing and it has that extra room for adding an extra perch(s) for extra foot exercise and blood circulation.

Bar spacing is VERY important when choosing a cage,
Too big and your bird could squeeze himself through the bars and escape or even get his head caught in the bars! So you must take caution in choosing, For a Parakeet 3/8 inch spacing is just right!

Perch size is also a big issue. Almost every cage comes with matching perches, so make sure they are about 1/2 inch.
You don't want it to be too big where your bird can't even stay on it without slipping or too small where your bird's nails are touching. So take this into consideration also when choosing the cage. Addotional perches are optional but highly recommended.
I recommend a cement perch, now at first you may think it will hurt their feet but it actually massages them and is great for filing the nails and foot blood circulation!

Choose your bird's cage location carefully, you can't move them everywhere, so here's some tips to help you choose:

*Birds love to spend time with you even just watching your daily activities, so a room where you spend most of your time in is essential.

*DO NOT place a bird's cage in or near the kitchen, especially if you cook using teflon pans, just the smell of it alone can kill them!

*A child's room isn't a very good idea because the child will not be in there all day, there's school and outside time so this is not a good location.

*A living room or family room is of your best bets.

*Try to place them near a window but not directly in front of the window, open the shades a little in the morning, a little sunlight and fresh air daily will do them some good but too sun much might kill them.

The choice is sometimes mind-boggling but one last tip, where-ever you decide to put them make sure they will not be in the way of traffic flow in your home, make sure the cage won't be getting bumped into or in the way.