Homemade Bird Trap - Painting the Cage

If the homemade bird trap will be used for an extended amount of time or throughout the year, then you would be better off painting the trap.

After trapping a few birds during the summer, I somehow forgot all about the homemade bird traps which was were set on top of our garden arbor. When I finally had the time to take down the bird traps, the rains have already started and the landing board had warped.

So I put the traps aside in a corner in the garage and planned on painting them after a week. After all, I've already proven how effective the homemade bird traps were.

Weeks flew by and soon it was months that had passed. By the time I saw the homemade sparrow traps at the storage corner in the garage, a year had passed. The homemade bird traps were in a sorry state. They've rusted.


Treating the Rust on the Sparrow Trap Cage

Before painting the homemade sparrow trap, the rust needs to be treated. A product called "rust converter" will chemically change the rust into something that can be painted on.

Materials

  • Sandpaper
  • Paintbrush
  • Rust Converter
    This is the rust converter I use.



Procedure

  1. With a piece of sandpaper, lightly sand the rusted surfaces of the sparrow trap.




    There is no need to remove all rust. Aim to just lightly sand the wires. Do this on the outside and inside surfaces of the sparrow trap.


  2. Dip the paintbrush in the rust converter solution and brush the sparrow trap cage.

    Here's a tip. Brush sideways on "vertical surfaces" only. This means tipping the the cage so the brushing is sideways as shown below.


    The rust converter solution is thin (not viscous) like water and flows easily. By brushing sideways, the rust converter solution will flow quickly downward along the screen's vertical wires. Quickly brush up and spread evenly among the screen wires. This minimizes wastage of the solution.

    If you brush downward as shown below, much of the liquid solution drips on the floor or ground.


  3. Let the applied liquid solution dry and cure overnight before attempting to paint the sparrow trap.



How to Paint the Homemade Sparrow Trap

The only way to paint the inside of the homemade sparrow trap is through the access hole. It's difficult to paint the inside completely without getting paint spots and smudges all over your hand and arm. So be sure to have some rags and paint thinner to clean up.

Materials

  • Oil Paint (Enamel)
  • Paintbrush
  • Paint Thinner
  • Rag





Procedure

  1. Unless you're using paint with thick consistency (viscous), brush paint sideways as shown in the preceding procedure.

  2. Apply at least two coats of paint. Let the first coat dry completely before applying the second coat.

  3. Paint the screen wires covered by the plastic tubing that lines the access hole.


Shown below are various photos of the newly-painted homemade sparrow trap. The bird cage perches were installed after the homemade bird trap was painted.

Top view:


Angled or Isometric view:


Showing the Carrying Handle


Showing Opened Access Door. Note that most parts of the sparrow bird trap have been painted including the plastic tubing.


Left Side View


Funnel Entrance View. Here's the view of sparrow or rat as it is about to enter the funnel - very inviting especially if there are goodies (bait) at the end of the funnel.


In summary, here's a video clip of the steps:


Other articles in this series (click on the links below:)

Homemade Bird Trap - Build Plans & How it Works
Homemade Bird Trap - Materials and Tools
Homemade Bird Trap - Building the Housing
Homemade Bird Trap - Making the Funnels
Homemade Bird Trap - Making the Guard Rails
Homemade Bird Trap - Making the Access Hole
Homemade Bird Trap - Making the Door and Lock
Homemade Bird Trap - Making the Carrying Handle and Restraints
Homemade Bird Trap - Setting the Trap
Homemade Bird Trap - Painting the Cage (this article)
Homemade Bird Trap - Making a Perch for the Cage
Homemade Bird Trap - Pre-Baiting Sparrows
Homemade Bird Trap - Retrieving Trapped Birds
Homemade Bird Trap - Disposing Trapped Sparrows
Sparrow Trap by Day, Rat Trap by Night
Damage Caused by Sparrows




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