A Guest Blog from Ari Katz on His New Birdcage
As many of you know, I have long enjoyed the company of red factor canaries - these beautiful little birds fill my home with their wonderful singing. I keep them in a large wooden cage I designed after an antique one that came from France, originally used to house doves and quails. An identical cage houses a pair of Combassou finches. My friend, Ari Katz, a young and passionate avian enthusiast, saw the cage and was inspired to design a similar one for his small flock. I was so delighted, I asked him to share his story and his photos. Enjoy.
After first meeting Martha’s red factor canaries, I decided that my farm would not be complete without them. My canary yearning was intensified after Martha's granddaughter, Jude, showed me the beautiful cage that they reside in at Martha’s Bedford, New York farm. From what I gathered, Martha designed the cage and continued to make improvements and modifications throughout the years. After Jude finished the canary cage tour, I took some pictures and sent them to my good friend, Tom Roebuck. Tom, aside from holding an impressive job with the Marine Corps, is an incredibly talented woodworker and carpenter. Tom is also my chicken breeding partner; together, we breed White Wyandotte large fowl under the name K&R Wyandottes (Katz and Roebuck).
I asked Tom if he thought he could replicate something like what Martha had designed and built. He told me to send him the dimensions and some of Martha’s original designs. I did both and after a few days, he sent me a "prototype."
Thank you, Martha, for giving me a good original design and for encouraging me to get canaries. I thoroughly enjoy having them in my apartment with me at college. As I jokingly say, they are good roommates and excellent “study buddies.”
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- This is one of the only pictures I sent to Tom of Martha’s cage. I told Tom that I wanted my cage to be about 6.5’ tall by 4’ long by 2’ wide – similar to that of Martha’s cage.
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- This is a picture Tom sent me about three or four days after I asked him if he could build me a canary cage. He told me this would be the front of my cage and asked if I approved of the “prototype,” which of course I did. My cage is made out of 1-by-2 pine wood. I wanted my cage to be light enough that I could easily take it apart and transport it from my family’s farm to my apartment or to different parts of our farmhouse.
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- This picture was taken about two weeks after Tom sent me the prototype. While Martha’s cage is almost the same height as mine, hers sits on a table which gives it added height. I wanted mine to be mostly cage with a small table to make cleaning the catch pan easier.
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- I knew that I wanted my cage to be very similar in color to Martha’s. I chose “Dark Secret” by Behr Paint Company. Thinking ahead, I got the outdoor safe paint so I can safely wash the cage down with soap and water frequently. It is important to take good care of the cage both for your birds’ health and to protect the cage from permanent damage.
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- I drove down to Tom’s house to help him paint the cage. We used two coats on both sides of the four parts of the cage and cage doors.
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- Here are the two doors and four sides of the cage once fully painted and dried. I was very happy with the color I chose.
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- I wanted to use the same wire that Martha used in hers, but in stainless steel rather than in brass. I called the company that manufactured Martha’s hexagonal wire to see if they made a stainless steel version. Unfortunately, they did not. After doing some research, I found TWP, Inc. located in California. Luckily, they had just the wire I needed in stainless steel. My wire is ¼” big. I erred on the side of caution when choosing the wire’s size as I did not want my birds to escape.
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- Here is the cage sitting on its table. The table is 10.5” off the ground. Directly below the cage sits a base that is 5’ by 37.5” that gives 6” all the way around the cage. This base holds the birds’ bedding and the catch pan to make cleanings easier.
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- Here is the beginning of the roof. Tom used 1-by-6 beaded tongue and groove pine. He attached it using stainless steel bolts and wing nuts with decorative washers that give it a nice appearance.
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- I decided to leave the roof a natural wood color as I thought it would add some contrast. I am pleased with my decision to leave it natural, although I might stain it later to match the wooden floors in the farmhouse.
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- Because Tom is a knowledgeable poultry fancier, he knows the importance of hygiene for keeping birds healthy. Tom and I talked about installing a “feeding station” that would allow the birds to eat their daily fruits, vegetables, and occasional worms without hanging from the wire or sitting on the bottom of the cage. He cut a custom piece of wood and used a hole saw to create three holes that are just the right size for the stainless-steel dishes I use to hold the birds’ daily treats. The birds’ seed is hung on plastic feeders that are washed in the dishwasher once a week.
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- Here are the two cage doors. Martha’s original design had two main doors in the middle (like what is pictured above) and two smaller doors on both the bottom and the top left and right sides. Because canaries are docile birds, I only wanted to use the two main doors in Martha’s original design.
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- Here is the base, and by design, it is a pull-out drawer that holds the bedding. Unlike Martha’s catch pan, mine does not have a metal liner, so it is important that I only use dry bedding like cob bedding or newspaper. This base sits on top of the table and is filled about an inch thick with cob bedding that is replaced three times a week.
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- And here it is all finished.
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- Tom drove the cage from his house to my family’s farm, where it will stay until I go back to my apartment in a few weeks once school resumes. What makes Tom such a skilled woodworker is that he is a perfectionist and will do something many times over until it turns out just right. Fortunately for him, he usually gets it right the first time.
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- Because Tom and I are such avid avian and poultry enthusiasts, the most exciting, and highly anticipated, part for both of us was being able to move my nine Yellow Fife canaries and pair of Diamond Doves to their new home. At first, they were a bit shocked that they had so much room, but after an hour or so they settled in and were communicating with one another.
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- Here is one of the most prolific singing male canaries, “Butter,” as my god-sister affectionately named him, next to my pair of Diamond Doves. Diamond Doves do incredibly well with other small cage birds and pairs become quite bonded to one another. I highly recommend them to anyone looking for a pair of small doves or cage birds.
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- Here are my birds the next morning on one of their natural perches looking out of their large window. I like using branches and twigs that are cut from around the farm as they look more natural than man-made wooden perches and can easily be replaced once they have become messy. Male canaries have a beautiful, melodious song and enjoy singing all day long. Similarly to Martha, I play classical music for them on my Amazon Alexa located in our living room. Their favorite composer is Chopin.
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- Here is one last picture of the birds in their new home. They enjoy having so much room to fly around and perch. Both Martha and I are incredibly pleased with how the cage turned out. Who knows, we may start a canary cage design company!
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