Zen And The Art Of Cage Construction

Since no one wanted our wounded crow, Scarlette and I decided that it would not be a good idea to keep him in the gerbil tank, it just wasn't big enough. Sure, it was cute when I would reach my hand into the tank to give him new cat food and water he would run over and pull on the hairs on my fingers and run back to hide under the branch making a cackle that we would learn was a "crow laugh".
He even got used to me reaching in and grasping him in my hands to hold him while Scarlette would change the bedding. We even put a wine gift crate in for him to arrange the leaves and wood chips into a little personal nest.

Crow Cages 'R Us

Of course, there are no such places. We decided to keep him in a cage outdoors. Since he was born in the wild, it wouldn't be fair that he should live in a tiny cage inside a small 4 room house? 
I tried to buy a cage type enclosure at some of the pet stores, but there was none that would work in an outdoor situation. Either the type of metal was not weather resistant or the screening was too weak. By this time, he had learned he could almost lift the cover of the tank. I had to put a brick on it to hold it down.
I tried to find plans for a cage, but there were none to be found. So, it was time to "take the bull by the tail and face the situation" (thank you, W C Fields).

I took a trip to the local building supply house (this is before Lowe's or Home Depot in this area) and examined their "chicken wire" type fencing material. I selected a heavy galvanized steel mesh with about ¼-inch openings. It came in a 4-foot width, so I bought a 24-foot length. I got three 9-foot 2-by-4's and five 8-foot 1-by-2's and a sheet each of ½-inch and ¼-inch plywood. Two pairs of hinges, two sets of hasps, two keyed-alike master locks and three four-foot ¾-inch dowels finished off what I pictured as a cage for a crow.

I put all this stuff in the yard, took my tools and just let the cage "come together" as I thought it should look. The crow talked to me constantly while I worked on this. It lasted for nine years without too much maintenance.

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