All birds need a travel cage. So if you do not have one for each and every one of your birds… go get one right now! 

The many purposes for a travel cage: - To transport your bird to the vet in an emergency or check up. - Take your bird along with you on a road trip. - Ship your bird via the airlines. - Take him or her on an outing for the day. - Let him sit outside and get desensitized to the great outdoors. - Separate in case of an emergency where birds are not getting along in one cage. - To act as a “night time cage”. - For use to quarantine a new bird. - A space to keep your bird while his regular cage is being properly cleaned.  … and those are just to name a few! Really, I could go on. But I hope I’ve already talked you into it and better yet, that you didn’t need any talking into.  

Photo from www.ozdoggy.com

The above travel cage is the perfect size for fitting under the seat in front of you on an airline. I've also used the travel cages that look more like gym bags for this kind of travel as well for my toucan. These are meant for short flights.  

Photo from www.birdalog.com

I have a few different types of travel cages. I have large ones that are more like crates for dogs than meant to be for birds but they work once you install your own perch! I use these large cages for shipping via the airlines. These types of cages are enclosed with plenty of air vents and lots of space.  

 Photo by Dave Location: Orlando, Florida Sitting Inside: Galahs "Bondi" and "Bandit" 

The other types of travel cages I have are the ones that are open all over (as pictured above). I use these cages for transporting my birds to local places such as the park for outdoor flying. These are considered my “outdoor flight” cages because they are perfect for letting the birds acclimate to the weather outside, feel the wind speed and see all around as they get used to their surroundings before flight. It also allows them to see one another. 

Photo from http://il.iofferphoto.com

I use smaller enclosed travel cages for the purposes of being a night time cage and for quarantine reasons for newer birds that are kept in a separate air space than the rest of the familiar flock. I also use an enclosed cage to take my birds to the vet as people seem to love poking their fingers in at birds when they see them and this limits how much they can do that or even see what’s inside as the open cages. Enclosed travel cages are also nice for longer day trips or road trips where your bird is going to be eating a great deal in the cage and can’t make as big of a mess by throwing things straight out of the cage.  

 Photo by Jamieleigh Location: Sandpoint, Idaho Inside: "Ninja" was checking it out at the time... 

When I first met Dave he had Linus who is an 11 year old umbrella cockatoo. Linus ate through everything (like most parrots do) and so Dave had a travel cage specifically made for him that he couldn’t tear apart. It was all stainless steel metal with three solid walls and a grate at the front door. This cage was indestructible and it kept people from messing with the bird as well which were all good things – it was also not easy to do any damage during shipping via airlines so everything seemed to work out well with the new cage until we noticed how protective Linus was of it. Once he was in, you could plan to be there all day to get him out! It was so dark in there that it became more of a nest than a travel cage. So be careful about doing something like that. We haven’t used that cage since!

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.