On the pictures I show below, you can see the damage a small Senegal parrot can do to a powdercoated cage.
My Senegal parrot isn't a mega destructive Moluccan cockatoo, he's just a tiny bird. Nor is the cage a cheap powdercoated immitation.. (As they are available over here) I bought him a cage of a well known brand, and according to the store manager, it was a cage of excellent quality. Not!
Also, you would be able to ask: Was this cage so old? No, it wasn't, it was about 8-9 months old. No more. It had been damaged probably a lot earlier than I noticed the damaged areas. After about 4-5 months, if it wasn't any sooner!

Some months ago, Iago started chewing on the bars of his cage, I couldn't find any damaged spots, but I realized he must have had some success, else he wouldn't continue chewing on those bars! However, I couldn't find a spot where the powdercoating had come off.
I have to tell that I always clean the cage in the living room, with just hot water and NO agressive detergents! Lately I have switched onto a bird safe cleaner, which works excellent with me. (I do this as I don't want to run any risk when it comes to the health and safety of my parrots)
I also think I couldn't find the damaged areas because of the color of the powdercoating. If the powdercoating would have been of a light color, it would probably have been more visible to the eye.

As I cleaned his cage some days ago, I took the grate out and took it to the sink. I don't know why I did this.. I noticed many damaged cage bars.. Almost every single bar of the grate had been damaged severely.
I've marked the damaged areas with red, and an undamaged areas with green..

On the photo below, I've enlarged one of the damaged areas. It's really bad, you can see the iron right through it!

I called the shop, to ask if there was any guarantee. I mean, I didn't put a bird that is unsuitable for this size of cage in it!
The store manager told me that he could not give me a new cage, nor was he willing to solve the problem.
He told me this occurred many times, with certain parakeet species and also with sun conures. I was really amazed! How could he sell these cages to birds of which he knew, they would damage the cage! His reply to this was that the powdercoating didn't contain zinc, and thus was safe. (I don't think it is good for birds when they ingest this kind of material, even if it doesn't contain zinc, but this is just my opinion. Also, the areas of the bars which are not powdercoated anymore, can start to corrode. When your parrot ingests some of this corrosion, it cannot be good for him or her as well! I've also read that shar pieces of powdercoating can lacerate the bird's digestive tract if they are ingested) When I asked him to warn any future Senegal parrot buyers (He sells birds as well) or people of which he KNEW they would purchase a similar cage for a Senegal parrot, he replied that we wouldn't do that! There had never been an incident with those cages and Senegal parrots so he refused this.
He also told me that some of the cheaper cages available on the internet, were already damaged. He also sold them. He didn't dare to sell them, as they were such bad quality cages. (But he still did..)
It was all about the money in his company, he absolutely showed no compassion for the lives of his parrots or the lives of other parrots..

Please, please, if you buy your parrot a cage, buy a stainless steel one whenever the finances allow it. If not, please check give your powdercoated cage a thorough check every once in a while to make sure the powdercoating hasn't been chewed off and the underlaying iron isn't corroding! Also, inform about the composition of the powdercoating at the company you bought your cage from!

 

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