FerplastGiulietta 5 Bird Wooden Cage, 69 x 34.5 x 58 cm, BlackThe Forest Stewardship Council

It cost more to return than the price of the product

I bought this to replace a Ferplast Piano 6 that arrived broken (inadequately packaged), and I didn’t have time to return and wait for a replacement (which could also have been broken - it seems to be a common complaint). This was available direct from Amazon and with Prime delivery.The first minor disappointment was that the wooden components of this cage are sort of white washed; I hadn’t looked closely enough at the pictures and had assumed it was untreated. I’d hoped to use a food safe wood stain to match our room, but won’t bother trying as it wouldn’t accept the stain. Bit of shame, but it could be painted I guess.However, there are many other issues with this, mostly regarding accuracy of manufactured components and quality control.The wooden materials are very poor quality wood, the straight lengths warped, the pieces full of knots. Perhaps to be expected. But out of the box, the thing would have been impossible to put together properly!One of the holes in the lower horizontal struts that the back metal grill is supposed to sit down into was not positioned correctly and needed to be drilled out larger. Both of the upper horizontal poles were not recessed enough to accommodate the roof grill, and would have prevented proper construction if I didn’t have a table saw and couldn’t easily deepen the rebates. The central bottom strut - which has an offset piece the instructions tell you is supposed to be 4.5cm - was nothing like it, meaning I had to cut away wood from both ends (see picture). Even then, the slat this was meant to accommodate was too wide to be fixed in the ends, and needed about 1cm taking off it’s width along the full length. Table saw needed again. On the other side (the back side, which the drawers butt up against) it’s even worse - there is no horizontal supporting slat! I guess they realised it wasn’t necessary and having the litter trays supported along 3 edges would be fine, so they don’t even add one to the design, but it just looks like there’s a piece missing! As I was using the table saw plenty anyway I just made one and fitted it to make it look more symmetrical and sturdy.Other stuff - wrong number of screws for the model supplied (not enough - 12 black anodised screws when there should be 14). Two longer screws for the bottom central strut completely missing, had to find appropriate screws myself. Another complete design fail - look at the photo and see if you can figure out why this screw will never go in if you use the pre-drilled holes!Positives? Well, the little spinning food dishes are quite neat I suppose. I’d prefer there not to be 4 of them, because you have to fit them all otherwise there’s a hole in the grill, but it will be overkill for 2 budgies. Even then, in terms of the apparatus supplied, one of the water dispensers was missing a piece - thankfully I can scavenge this from the broken Piano 6 before sending it back.The main benefit to this line of cages is that, because they’re wood, if you’re handy you can adapt/fix/replace/make any wooden components that are missing, damaged or incorrectly cut. But make no mistake - If I hadn’t had that ability, this would have been a disaster and would have to have gone back.After all this, I just hope the budgies like it…! But if something happens to it I would buy an all metal flight cage to replace it, and avoid Ferplast in future.I’m giving it a 2 for value for money and overall rather than a 2 only because I know how long things take to design and build, so inevitably despite all the trouble it is easier/quicker to buy this and adapt/reinforce/modify as needed than start from scratch. But “marginally quicker than making one yourself” is hardly a ringing endorsement for a £100 cage.

I purchased this cage because it looks really lovely. But the wood is very soft which lets it down. This cage would have been so much better if it was hard wood. I’m lucky because I bought it for my canary which don’t chew wood like other birds do. So anybody thinking of buying this for budgies or parakeets etc be aware that they could chew through it. It’s a shame really because this cage is so flimsy. And has for keeping it clean well that will be another issue because it’s wood which isn’t really hygienic and easy to clean like plastic. But the overall cage size is perfect. I don’t think I’d like to put a parakeet in it though. Has for building it a lot of reviews say this was difficult to put together but I found it was really easy. I just wished it was stronger though.

Good quality product! Italian made with a nice finish. IT is not the easiest thing to assembly but once you get started it all fits nicely.Our 2 budgies love it! It definetely offers space for 6 birds with plenty of feeders and places to attach toys and treats. They used to fly out constantly from the old cage as we used to leave the door open ofr them, but now they are happy to spend all day inside, even with the doors being open. I would recommend and definetely buy again if I would have to choose again.

Excellent cage. A little fiddly putting together but I'm no DIY-er and I managed it without TOO much trouble. The perches are a nice idea (slot pieces together to make up your own length and shape) but they are a little flimsy and need readjusting now and again. Having said that, it's a spacious cage, ideal for a 2-3 of finches or a couple of slightly larger birds and is an atteactive item too. My 2 zebra finches seem very content in it. The slide out grill and the swivel feeder features are a nice touch and make life a lot easier.

Had to edit this.The birds ate these cages within months.