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... I have wanted a new cage for a while and am saving up.
My question is:
is SS that much better for cleaning and other things?.. the cost is triple of an ordinary powdercoated.
Also, to Electus owners: my cage is 24x36 .... I am hoping to go smaller 21x30 with exterior feeders that give the bird almost the same room except for 3" in depth ..
Playtop or Dometop ... I am thinking Dometop, he hardly uses the playtop he has now....

what do you think?

Whenever I replace my birds' cages, I am planning on going stainless steel. I prefer the King's Cages, but the last time I looked, the stainless ones were not three times the cost. My birds are in VERY large cages. The #406 (29" x 46" x 72"), which is the size my birds have now, were $875 powder coat or $1700 stainless the last time I checked. The advantage of stainless steel is that the powder coat paint won't chip off; therefore, the life is longer on the cages. I went with the Napoleon top so the birds would have more room inside. They play on gyms not on top of their cages.

Why do you want to go smaller? 21x30 sounds kind of small to me. I am a firm believer that you should buy the largest cage you can afford.

That 21" side sounds too small to me for a bird as large as an ekkie. Ease of cleaning isn't the SS sale point for me that durability would be, both lifespan and not allowing the bird access to zinc, rust, or chips. Are ekkies bar chewers? If not, you might want to postpone buying SS until this gas price hike is history again. Shipping a heavy SS cage is going to cost a bundle right now. Be wary of cheaper SS cages. Some SS is inferior to what you want and WILL rust.

The playtop vs dometop debate usually comes down to how long the bird is usually locked in the cage during daylight hours. If more than 3-4 hrs, I would opt for a dometop so there is more play room inside, room for a boing.

thanks for the responses...
we live in Canada so the prices are very different here.
I may have to rethink this again, I actually don't like the bright shiny look of the SS, I thought it would be easier to clean though.

We are a retired couple and Benny has a lot of timeout .. we also have an enclosed (birdproof) Sundeck where we hung a Climbing Grid, a Swing and an Atom, he uses it all, but at the moment he is a nuisance for flying, his flightfeathers have finally grown in
So you can see that he has interaction all day long and I was hoping a smaller cage would do since we are a bit cramped for space in the dining room ...
Eclectus are not big chewers, in fact it is very hard to find the right toys so they do chew for a healthy beak.
Ben is a very actice bird but he is a baby and from what I hear, most Ekkies slow down considerably, our first one did, all he wanted was to be close and watch...

I inherited my only SS cage and have never shopped for one myself, but my understanding from chats is that they also come in a "brushed finish" with a duller look that might appeal to you. Considering Benny's situation, you might be absolutely right in your cage-size thoughts. I did the same analysis when my newest bird came home last year. She's only locked into her cage to sleep and when I'm grocery shopping or out for a meal with friends. I'm seldom away longer than 2-3 hours, so I chose a slightly smaller cage for her than for all my other birds, who arrived before I retired.

Bluesbird Exotics wrote:I inherited my only SS cage and have never shopped for one myself, but my understanding from chats is that they also come in a "brushed finish" with a duller look that might appeal to you.

... so you have one ... can you tell me any advantages over the powdercoated when it comes to cleaning, please ...
I would not buy it for looks ... the cage I have is about 13 years old and the powdercoating is wearing off in places where he polishes his beak or lands.

Gosh, that's a harder question than it might seem at first blush. I don't want to give the impression that I never clean my cages, or that I keep them spotless. But, I'm uncertain whether my many powder-coated cages are appreciably harder to keep clean than the SS Part of my confusion is surely b/c the bird who has the SS cage is rarely in it. He loves sitting on his adjacent playstand and on several perches attached to the outside of his ever-open cage. He goes in for seed, pellets, water, and an occasional nap, but he sits on only one perch and poops on the paper below.

Because I've always been very busy, finding solutions to labor intensive tasks has always been a high priority. I lay newspaper on the floor under all favorite perching spots and install perches in places that minimize clean-up. Some people don't like having newspapers on the floor -- I don't like scrubbing up poop way down there! My knees and back think that's HARD duty!

My messiest birds are fed their gooey meals on playstands to minimize the amount of debris that lands in or on their cages. I do a thorough clean-up, using OxyFresh, within a few hours of that meal, trying to remove everything but the paint --food, poop, chewed branches, shredded paper! I wipe spots only, not the entire cage, so dust will build up on horizontal bars on which other debris doesn't fall daily. Dust quit bothering me about 6 months after my first bird came home

As I begin my daily clean-up on each cage, I spray a little Oxyfresh on each spot that looks dried. By the time I work my way around the cage with my paper towel, most debris wipes right off, both on SS and powder-coated cages. My SS cage is old and is either the "brushed finish" type or it needs a better cleaning than I give it It's not super shiny, but it looks and feels clean, and I spend little time keeping it that way. Same is true for my powder-coated cages except that most have nicks that look like possibly dried poop, so I scrub those same spots hard each day and use the thumbnail to see if there's something reluctant to come off. Sigh.

Long way of saying little that's likely to help you, but I didn't want to appear unwilling. If there's some particular way in which Benny's cage is a bother, maybe we could help you brainstorm a solution less costly than a SS cage.

Bluesbird Exotics wrote:Gosh, that's a harder question than it might seem at first blush.

I must say, I am impressed and very grateful for your answer, I think I can learn from it

My back is also a concern so I appreciate my helper husband.. but... he does such a poor job and when I'm not looking, he scrubs too hard ...

This is a canadian website I usually buy from and I have asked about this cage
http://www.parrotdiseperch.com/parrot/s ... ?prod=1095

it is the bigger size

thanks again, you have been a great help, I might also just forget about it for now if it all gets too expensive ...

Are you close enough to Ontario to pick it up and avoid those awful shipping costs? A little vacation trip . . . It's a beautiful cage. I turned pea green dreaming of having it myself

Bluesbird Exotics wrote:Are you close enough to Ontario to pick it up and avoid those awful shipping costs? A little vacation trip . . . It's a beautiful cage. I turned pea green dreaming of having it myself

.. alas, it is 4000 km away

but, this store is located in Calgary, 4 hours away and I do not know which distance she is charging ...
I have asked her a lot of questions and offered a downpayment.. I should hear on wednesday...

The cage looks gorgeous! I would love stainless cages for all my birds. I think the real advantage of stainless is the life of the cage rather than the ease of cleaning. My Greys are not hard on their cages; however, I have noticed a few paint chips. With a powder coat cage, it's just bound to happen. I wish I'd had the forsight to buy stainless, but I was a newbie. An eclectus probably won't be as hard on a cage as most medium to large parrots so whatever you decide should be fine.

well... sanity prevailed... I found a quality cage on sale in "platinum" (fake SS if you ask me)
I added it all up with shipping and tax and the SS just does not warrant that expense when you have an easygoing bird like an Ekki.
I think Benny and I will be happy