metal screen

Question
Hi,
I don't know if you know anything about this, but I would appreciate any information. I have some chicken wire left over from a project, it's galvanized to resist rust. it's recomended for small animal pens and I was wondering if I could use it for my birds. I have 3 cockatiels and 2 of them have clipped wings, but they still try to fly. when I take them out, sometimes all 3 of them take off and the 2 that are clipped end up getting hurt. They land where they're not supposed to. Anyway, i would like to make some type of enclsure for all 3 of them to play in. I'm not clear exactly on what I want yet, but I know it's going to be a sort of playground. I was wondering if you know how safe this type of metal is for birds and maybe you have some advice on what I need to do with these birds!
Thanks,
Karla  

Answer
Hi, Karla.  Thanks for posting your question.  For lots of information on galvanized wire, use the search engine "Google" and type in the words "galvanized wire" in order to perform a search on the internet.  The Birds N Ways website has an article on this type wire.  

Years ago, and I still use it today, I made a 6'x3'x4' flight cage for 30 tiels made of chicken wire.  I have it hung from the ceiling in a bird room, with perches high in the flight so the tiels can use the bottom portion to fly back and forth and/or play.  They love it!  I've never had a problem with this wire, i.e., no birds have become ill/are ill as a result of using chicken wire (my avian vet has performed random toxic screenings).  However, I thoroughly cleaned/scrubbed/disinfected the wire before building the flight to remove any "debris" that might have been present.  One drawback to chicken wire for tiels is that they can stick their entire heads through the wire, however, it isn't a problem for them to get their heads back out!  However, I would be concerned that some bird might panic once it's head gets stuck and might injure itself or even die trying to back inself out.  My tiels are used to the cage and I've never had a problem, but I can see where it could be a problem.

If your tiels are outside their cage(s), you must supervise them while they are out.  They can get hurt on lots of things (fly into a wall and die instantly, fly into a sink full of water and drown or fly into the commode and drown, get outside when someone opens a door or window, get eaten by the dog or killed by the cat, etc., etc.).  It is great you want to confime them to an area to play so they won't hurt themselves.  This will give you peace of mind and also allow you to go about your business in the house while the tiels are playing!

If you have any more questions, please come back.

Chrys