I've gone through WAY too many travel carriers with my birds. This one above was eaten by one of my many traveling parrots. When shipping your bird UNDERNEATH the airplane, they do not allow toys to be put inside the cage. Therefore, THIS happens!

I finally began modifying my own travel cages just to accomodate my flock and work properly. The cage above is pretty standard and it's easy to put a perch inside them. The little hole on the second part of the cage near the center? That was all I had to do to be able to install a perch inside. 

It ends up looking something like this one once you put food bowl holders on the front:

You'll also find if you do quite a bit of shipping and traveling with your parrots that many stickers will come to decorate your travel cages.

This cage has seen many travel days:

You may notice zip ties on some of these cages and those are required by the airline so that the cage can't somehow come apart and the animal cannot get loose. They also go in the front and along the sides and back. Wherever the cage can disconnect, a zip tie goes!

Because having a zillion travel cages just wasn't working for me logistically, I decided to modify my own cage and create it so that it could hold my 3 smaller birds (this cage is NOT intended for large birds like macaws) nor is it intended for long periods of time.

The purpose of creating this cage from the others was so that I could carry ONE travel cage with 3 birds in it instead of trying to carry 3. It works amazing, especially for trips to the vet's office and things of that sort.

The compartments are separated by plexi glass and one perch runs through it all. So from the front and inside, it looks like this:

 

In this photo I had just wiped the glass and brought it outside into the humidity so it's a bit foggy but you get the idea! This cage hasn't seen any wear or tear as far as the birds ruining it from the inside. They seem to be occupied enough with one another and all the traveling going on that they don't bother chewing on the cage itself. It has worked wonders for me and I know it will outlast any of the non-modified cages I have bought in the past.

Article by Jamieleigh Womach. She has been working with parrots and toucans since the age of 17. She isn’t homeless but is home less than she prefers to be. She travels the world with her husband, daughter, and a flockful of parrots whom she shares the stage with.