Birds

Hanging cages, voladoras and play stands:

the way a bird moves decides the shape of its cage. Small seed-eaters get about by flying from perch to perch, so a long voladora suits them better than a tall cage. Birds that climb with beak and feet use height as well and like some horizontal bars to grip. For both, width counts for more than height, and a rectangular cage beats a round one, which leaves no corner to settle into. A small hanging cage works for a bird that spends its days out on a play stand, a perch frame on legs with a tray beneath. Match the bar gap to the smallest bird the cage will hold, because a head pushed through bars set too wide can get stuck. Perches, feeders, drinkers and toys sit under bird supplies.

A voladora welded here or a cage boxed abroad:

they age differently. Local workshops weld voladoras from mesh and finish them in paint, which makes them sturdy and easy to fix: any welder can patch a joint or add a door. Imported boxed cages are powder-coated, flat-packed and built around a moulded plastic base with seed guards, and that base fits one model and no other, so a cracked one is the hardest part to replace. When either kind finally rusts, a metal workshop that does pintura electrostática can strip and re-coat the frame, as it would patio furniture, which beats brushing paint over the problem. New, a small hanging cage costs around ₡10,000 and a large voladora ₡35,000 to ₡40,000. Second-hand, the price follows the bottom of the cage rather than its age: a voladora with sound welds, a whole tray and its feeders keeps a good share of its value, while a rusted grille or a cracked base brings it down sharply, because that is work the next owner has to pay for.

A cage on the porch in the afternoon downpour:

plenty of cages live on the covered veranda, where afternoon storms drive rain in from the side. Give the cage a solid back or a cover on the windward side and hang it in the deepest corner, away from the neighbourhood cats. Rain that reaches the tray mixes with droppings and sits on the bottom grille, and that wet corner is where nearly every outdoor cage starts to rust. Around Sarapiquí and down the Caribbean slope, where the rain barely lets up, empty the tray more often than you would in the Central Valley. Clean the cage with the doors to the garden shut, because a door left open on the corredor is a common way for a bird to end up in animals lost and found.

Welds, the bottom grille and chipped paint on a used cage:

turn the cage over and look at the welds and the grille first, since rust starts there and climbs the bars. Run a hand along the inside for snapped wire ends. Flaking paint is more than cosmetic: a bird that chews the bars swallows the chips, so a cage in that state needs re-coating before it goes back into use. Push each door from the inside and see whether it stays shut, and add a small clip to any that does not. Wooden perches that come with it are cheap to replace and hard to clean, so plan on new ones.

Photos, measurements and the bottom tray of a cage for sale:

give the outside length, depth and height, and say whether it was welded locally or came boxed, since that tells a buyer how it comes apart and what can be repaired. Photograph the tray, the bottom grille and the welds as well as the front, and show any rust or chipped paint up front. List what goes with it: feeders, drinkers, perches, a stand or a cover. Say whether it lived indoors or on the corredor, and whether it has been re-coated. Someone driving from Palmares for a voladora will want to know which joints are original and which a welder has already patched.