Best 8 Canary Cages: A Bird That Sings Best In Isolation

Portrayed in many movies and even cartoons, a canary is a symbol of selflessness and compassion. As spirit animals, they show up in times when you need a reminder of what’s most important in life – friends, and family.

It’s no wonder that many people choose to make them a part of the family then. It’s a remarkable bird and if you already have one or are considering purchasing or adopting one, you’ll want to make the most out of the most important thing in their tame life – a canary cage.

The Summary

Are Canaries Happy In A Cage?

Canaries are a species of bird that prefers their cage over the freedom that free-flight offers. Once you bond with them, you’ll quickly notice that they will gladly retrieve back to their cage and they’ll do it quite often. Part of the reason is that they have a high metabolism so they have to eat more frequently than some other birds.

How Many Breeds Of Canaries Are There?

Even though the most popular breed of a canary is the border fancy canary, dozens of other types differ in feather color and how they look. The most popular ones are:

Can Multiple Canaries Live In A Cage?

Although canaries are a bird that prefers to live alone, you can get them a partner if some safety steps for good measure are applied.

1. When introducing the two birds, first quarantine them in separate cages. This has more to do with disease spread than anything else.
2. Since you already have a separate cage, keep them in there as they can get highly territorial over small spaces and their living quarters.
3. After some time has passed, place the cages next to each other and determine the gender of the canaries. A female and male and a female and female will easily be paired together while we’d usually recommend keeping males separately.
4. Breeding season starts in late march so in case you don’t want to end up with canary babies, make sure you separate them during this time.

Can Canaries And Other Birds Live Together?

As long as they’re left alone and have enough room inside the cage to get some privacy, there’s no reason why other birds can’t be housed together with them. Other birds are the problem so we’d only limit this to small bird species, specifically, budgies, lovebirds, and cockatiels that enjoy the company of other birds.
Although canaries don’t need a big cage, there are plenty of things to be on the lookout for and many don’t take into account the things you simply can’t do when choosing a cage for a canary even though they allow for more freedom when it comes to picking one out.

Decision Factors When Buying A Cage

Since you know now what to avoid, you should next know what to look for in a cage that a canary will be happy and healthy in. They require a different type of care but most of the things listed are to be applied as important for other birds as well.

Weird Shapes

Although it might be that the canary can live in a rounded cage, because they’re highly intelligent (as most birds are) we would still avoid getting a fully rounded cage as the shape can confuse the bird with its lack of corners and lead to psychological disorders

Too Many Details

Having a detailed cage is nice as it can act as a decorative piece as well but too many details can harm your bird mainly because these areas will be hard to clean. Canaries are frail birds and bacteria infestations that are not handled properly can harm their physical health

Placement Locations To Avoid

As birds are sensitive to the cold, heat, sudden movement, and unfamiliar things, many household supplies, and cage placement can become a deciding factor in how healthy and happy your canary is. Keep the cage away from windows, doors, air vents, anywhere where there might be a draft, and away from kitchens and anywhere where intense smells might pass through.

Unsafe Construction Materials

Some materials simply can’t make it in the pet bird world since they’re toxic as it is. This includes brass, copper, lead, and zinc. Most of these produce wonderful-looking cages that are sure to harm the bird. Rust and corrosion are also a problem in all cages, not just the ones listed.

What Is The Best Size Cage For A Canary?

Since the average canary is 3-4 inches long (head to the end of the tail) and they have a 7.5” – 9” wingspan, the cage should be 18-in wide, long, and tall at least. This is the cage size for one canary while two canaries will require a 24-in long, wide, and tall cage. You can go bigger if you’d like and can afford to go with a bigger cage space-wise.

The Safest Wire Spacing And Why It Matters

Due to their small bodies, canaries need a spall wire spacing no bigger than 0.4”. A bigger wire spacing may cause the bird to either escape its cage or to get its wings, legs, or head stuck between the bars.

What Should I Put In My Canaries Cage?

At least 2 perches, food and water bowls, and a swing and bell toy should be enough to keep the canary happy. The perches should have a different width so that they can exercise their legs and keep them on either end of the cage since they tend to fly aggressively from one perch to the other. That’s also the reason why a wide cage is important for them.

Should I Buy A Flight Cage/Aviary For My Canary?

Unless you’re planning to keep a flock of canaries in the cage, there’s just no need for an aviary or flight cage for that matter. If you want to compromise, you can most certainly get a small flight cage that’ll typically be able to house 2 canaries at once.

Best 8 Canary Cages

We made this list according to canary habits: their love for their own home and all things important to keep them happy and more importantly safe. This includes the right cage size, wire spacing, construction materials, and more.

Prevue Hendryx Pink Bird Cage

If you want to add a bit more color to a birdcage, you can certainly do so with this one that features a lilac base and a lilac top. The rest is colored white. It features a carrying handle on top that can double as a handle that will allow you to hang it.

It’s easy to carry around with a weight of 9.75 lbs. This also helps with the hanging bit. You can take it off its plastic base for extensive cleaning and quick clean-ups, you can rely on the slide-out cleaning tray.

The perches it features all have the same diameter and are made out of wood. You can place the 2 transparent feeding cups it features on the feeding doors on the side of the central front door.

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Vision L01 Bird Cage

The plastic base is wider than the wire areas of the cage. Paired with the fact that food and water bowls are positioned lower, it’ll keep the surrounding cage areas a lot cleaner by preventing seed and water spillage.

It has 2 bolt-on perches that don’t extend to the other end. Their dynamic shape also makes it so that they feature different widths on different areas so canaries can exercise their feet. It has a small front door that might limit access to the inside.

The bars are placed horizontally which allows birds to easily climb the cage bars even though canaries are not prone to doing that. It’s easy to assemble and cleaning will have to take place with the removal of the bottom since it doesn’t have a cleaning slide-out tray.

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Yaheetech Flight Bird Cage

The cage is made simple having a full wire build. The exception is only the cleaning tray that goes in the hole between the wire grid floor and the wire bottom. The wire grid bottom will prevent them from stepping into their litter.

You can certainly use it to travel or for quick trips to the vet since it weighs below 10 lbs and has 2 wire handles on each side. This makes repositioning a lot easier as well.

If you find the white finish boring, you can also choose to get it in black, almond, blue, and light grey. The cage is partially preassembled so it won’t take a lot of time to set it up.

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Yml Breeding Bird Cage

The divider that comes with this cage for canaries can be placed in the center to split the cage into two equal parts. Then, it makes sense that the cages feature 2 off-center entrances as well as 4 feeding entrances.

Each bird will get 2 food cups and 2 perches. They have the same diameter and are made of wood. It comes with a handle on top that will allow you to carry it or hang it someplace if you’d prefer that.

Much like the small flight cage reviewed previously, it has a deep plastic tray in the slot between the cage bottom and wire grid floor. Although it’s not considered expensive, considering other cage prices, it is pricier than others.

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Pawhut Steel Bird Cage

The cage is pretty tall so the front door follows up on the height by being tall itself. This allows you to access the inside with no problems. The feeding doors can be found on the sides and are closer to the bottom to slightly better prevent seed scatter.

The top edges are curved and the actual top has a double door that you can open. You can then keep them open by placing a perch in between that will then serve as a rest top. With the doors open, the cage is 28-in tall.

The wire spacing is perfect for canaries. The only other bird we’d recommend housing inside is a finch but even then, finches will need a much wider cage than this so it’s only limited to canaries or perhaps you can use it for traveling and as a secondary cage.

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Mcage Flight Bird Cage

When you look at its construction, this cage is made much like a small flight cage but the bottom does feature wheels so you can move it easily from room to room even though it is very light.

On the bottom, you’ll find a pan that holds those wheels together. You’ll also find a slide-out cleaning tray. The inside comes with a total of 4 perches and 6 cups you can place on the feeding doors. The only worry is that it’s not going to be as stable.

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Petco Brand Scallop Bird Cage

Even though this cage doe features a hook that you can use to hang it or carry it, since it’s a fairly heavy cage, we’d suggest not hanging it. You can however make your own more secured hook to do so if you’d like.

It’s pretty small so we’d also suggest giving your canary plenty of chances to exercise outside of its cage. It has a victorian style top and a plastic base featuring a slide-out cleaning tray. You can also use it for traveling.

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Prevue Hendryx Hanging Bird Cage

We have to start by saying that this is an extremely light flight cage. Since it only weighs 12 lbs you can even hang it someplace using the top handle that also allows you to carry it for traveling or for relocation from room to room.

The entrances are small but you’ll get two so that you can easily access all parts of the inside. It comes with a total of 4 wooden perches and 2 clear food and water cups. It does feature a plastic base and a cleaning slide-out tray in it.

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What Do I Need To Know Before Getting A Canary?

What Does A Canary Cost?

Canaries come a lot cheaper than the more popular, harder to take care of, bird species. For a canary, you’ll only have to give around 25 to 150 dollars, depending on the breeder, canary breed, or if you’re buying from a pet shop.

What Is The Life Expectancy Of A Canary

Most canaries will live up to 10 years which is a lot less than most bird species out there, especially parrots and their subspecies. This shorter lifespan makes them great pets since there’ is no long-term commitment like with larger birds and parrots.

Are Canaries Good For Beginners?

The canaries, unless you’re trying to tame them and bond with them, don’t require a lot of handling because of their loner wolf personality. Providing them with food, water, a clean cage, and some toys will do enough to keep them happy. Because they don’t require you to pay a lot of attention to them, they’re excellent beginner birds.

Do Canaries Recognize Their Owners?

They certainly can and will commonly react to seeing their owner. You can teach them to perch on your finger if you give it time as well. They’re most likely to sing when they see you.

Can All Canaries Sing?

Although they’re a popular breed because of their ability to sing, not all canaries can. Males are the ones that are most likely to sing. Females can be taught to sing but it will be a lot harder to do so. Nonetheless, all popular canary breeds can sing but some sing more and better than others because of selective breeding (for color and singing ability). They usually start singing for mating purposes which means that a young canary will only start to sing after the first molt. The best singing canaries are the Yorkshire, The Border, Norfolk, and the Gloster

How Can I Tell If My Canary Is Male Or Female

Visually, both male and female canaries look the same. There’s no difference in feather color, length, or size so the only way to check their gender is to either run a DNA test or gently blow the feathers of their vent area to look for their sex organs. Male vents appear elongated while female vents are flatter and rounded.

Should You Let Canary Out Of Cage?

Any bird should get at least 2 hours of out-of-cage time, especially canaries. Unlike other small birds, canaries don’t climb cage bars so the only exercise they’ll get is if they have a big cage and if you let them out. They do like to be in their cage though which is all the more reason to try and get them out.

How Often Should Canaries Bathe?

You can either buy a bath for the cage or provide a simple dish with water for your canary to bathe. They should do it at least twice a week, but you don’t have to force it. They’ll do it on their own since they are very clean animals.

Do Canary Birds Like To Be Held?

Much like a lot of cats, they enjoy the presence of their owner more than they enjoy being handheld. That isn’t to say that you can’t train them to land on your finger and chill in your hands but this is more for the owners’ pleasure than it is for the birds’.

Do Canary Birds Like Heat Or Cold?

They can settle in well with average room temperatures that don’t fall below 65 degrees Fahrenheit or go above 85. What you should be careful of are extreme temperature changes. Birds in general are frail and highly sensitive to these.

Sun Exposure

They’ll require light exposure at least 10-12 hours a day. At night, they will require a dark and secluded area. In case you can’t provide them with that, a solution would be to purchase a cage cover. Make sure it’s a breathable cover though.

How To Make A Canary Cage?

There are all sorts of ways to make a birdcage and since you’ll be making a small cage, not a lot of materials will go into making it. You can use a variety of materials but for this cage, you’ll be mostly using wood and wire.

The things you’ll need are a saw, slats, perches, nails and hammer, wire mesh, wooden planks, plexiglass, wood boards, staple gun, wire cutter,

1. First, make the bottom of the frame using 4 wooden boards, you can stick their sides together by gluing them and/or drilling holes and putting screws inside them.
2. You should be left with a box that doesn’t feature a front side, take your plexiglass and place it on that side, leave some space on the bottom since that’s where the tray is going to go, and screw in the plexiglass.
3. Take your wooden slats, and cut them to measure to make the frame of the top of the cage. Glue or nail in the first two slats on the sidewall of the bottom. Repeat the process on the other side.
4. Take your longer wooden slat and place it right on the top of the others, glue and/or nail them in. Repeat for the other two slats.
5. Take a perch and screw it in to make the top frame of the sidewall. Do the same on the other side
6. Take your wire mesh, cut it to measure (doesn’t have to be perfect, and staple it on the long back wall. Repeat the process for the rest of the sides. Make sure you’re not leaving any sharp edges that might hurt your canary later on.
7. Cut out the wire where you want your door to be, take out some thicker wire mesh(maybe another door from an already used cage), and cut it to fit the hole you made or are going to make.
8. You can use really thin wire and wrap it around the wire mesh and door to keep the door in place. To lock the door, later on, you can use the leftover wire from the cutout hole and bend it on the top, bottom, and right or left side.