Prevue vs A&E vs Kings Cages: Three Cage Makers Compared on What They Publish

What each publishes

	Prevue Pet Products	A&E Cage Company	Kings Cages
Where we read it	prevuepet.com product pages and FAQ	Amazon listings and PetSmart; aecageco.com showed category pages only	kingscages.com did not resolve; a retailer's buying guide
Interior dimensions	Yes, interior and overall, per cage	Overall in listings; interior sometimes	Not read
Bar spacing	Yes	Yes, in listings (in inches or mm)	Not read
Wire gauge	Yes (8, 9, 12, 14, 16 gauge by cage)	Bar diameter on some listings (5 mm on the walk-in aviary)	Not read
Coating statement	All finishes lead-free and zinc-free (FAQ)	"Non-toxic powder coat" in listings; no maker statement read	Retailer: stainless line is 304 with 8 percent nickel minimum
Stainless cages	Imperial 3457, Imperial XXL 3458, stainless playtop 3455	Stainless lines sold through retailers	Stainless line (retailer description)
Warranty	Not found on the pages read	Not found	Not found

Prevue

Prevue's product pages are the reason so many of our picks are Prevue: each one states overall and interior size, bar spacing and gauge, the bird sizes the cage suits and the care instructions (mild soap and water). The FAQ states that all finishes are lead-free and zinc-free, which is the only maker coating statement we found among the three. The range runs from the $27 Parakeet Manor (12 by 9 by 16, 3/8-inch) through the F040 and F050 flight cages (flight cage guide), the 3152 and 3154 playtop bird homes, the Empire 3157 and Silverado 3155S (46 by 36 by 78 1/4 overall, 1 3/8-inch, 9 gauge, for macaws) to the stainless Imperial. Prevue's figures do not flatter the cages: its own interior numbers are what show the 3154 under Merck's grey row and the F050 as a budgie flight rather than a conure one. Amazon carries some Prevue cages and not others (the 3154 and the Imperial were retailer-only when we read), so a Prevue pick in our guides is sometimes a maker link.

A&E Cage Company

A&E's cages come to us through listings. Its walk-in aviary WI8662 (86 by 62 by 79 inches, 5 mm bars at 1-inch spacing, 340 pounds, in stock at $2,738) is the largest indoor enclosure in our guides; its double flight cage 6421 (64 by 21 by 65, 12.7 mm spacing, $653) is the long divided cage in the multiple-birds guide; its 503 flight cage (24 by 16 by 16, 1/2-inch, $51) is a small travel or hospital cage; the Platinum Victorian-top cage (22 by 17 inches, $321) is a cockatiel cage with a plastic base. PetSmart lists an A&E Flight Cage XL at 40 by 30 by 72 with 1/2-inch spacing. What the listings do not give is gauge (other than the aviary's 5 mm bars) or a coating statement from A&E, and retailers describe the walk-ins as indoor-only. A&E's own site, when we read it, showed product categories and no product pages, so a figure printed on an A&E listing is the retailer's transcription of the maker's sheet and not the sheet itself.

Kings Cages

Kings Cages did not resolve at kingscages.com when we tried it. A retailer's buying guide describes its stainless line as medical-grade 304 stainless with a minimum of 8 percent nickel, and Kings' coated and stainless cages appear in pet-retailer catalogues. We have no Kings interior figure, spacing, gauge or coating statement from the maker, so no Kings cage is picked in our guides. That is a statement about what we could verify, not about the cages.

Spacing and gauge, side by side

Cage	Maker	Interior or overall (in)	Spacing	Gauge or bar	Figure from
F040 flight cage	Prevue	30 1/4 x 20 1/4 x 40 interior	1/2 in	12 and 16 gauge	Maker
F050 flight cage	Prevue	36 1/8 x 22 1/8 x 47 interior	1/2 in	8 and 12 gauge	Maker
3152 playtop bird home	Prevue	23 1/4 x 19 3/4 x 34 3/4 interior	3/4 in	9 and 12 gauge	Maker
3154 playtop bird home	Prevue	34 1/2 x 22 3/4 x 36 1/2 interior	3/4 in	9 gauge	Maker
Empire 3157	Prevue	45 3/8 x 35 3/8 x 63 interior	1 3/8 in	9 gauge	Maker
Imperial 3457	Prevue	39 1/4 x 25 7/8 x 60 interior	1 in	8 gauge stainless	Maker
Walk-in aviary WI8662	A&E	86 x 62 x 79 overall	1 in	5 mm bars	Amazon listing
Double flight cage 6421	A&E	64 x 21 x 65 overall	12.7 mm	Not stated	Amazon listing
503 flight cage	A&E	24 x 16 x 16 overall	1/2 in	Not stated	Amazon listing
Flight Cage XL	A&E	40 x 30 x 72 overall	1/2 in	Not stated	PetSmart listing

Gauge matters because the Merck table pairs each spacing with a bird that can bend thin wire: a macaw on 1-inch spacing needs the 8 or 9 gauge Prevue states, and a listing that gives spacing without gauge leaves that unknown. The bar spacing guide has the species table.

Materials

Prevue: powder-coated wrought iron and steel, stated zinc-free and lead-free, plus stainless without a stated grade. A&E: powder-coated steel described as non-toxic in listings, plus stainless lines through retailers, with no maker statement read. Kings: stainless described by a retailer as 304. The coated versus stainless comparison has VCA's view of each material; the point here is that only one of the three put its coating claim where we could read it.

Where they sell

Prevue sells on its own site, on Amazon for part of the range, and through pet retailers. A&E sells through Amazon and pet retailers, with some cages shipping in two boxes by freight (the walk-in aviary and the Seny-sized doubles). Kings sells through pet retailers and dealers. For a cage over $500, the retailer's return terms matter as much as the maker's, because a 340-pound aviary is not posted back.

Warranties

We did not find warranty terms on Prevue's product pages or FAQ, on A&E's listings or on the Kings retailer page. If a warranty matters to the purchase, get it in writing from the seller before paying; we will not state a term we have not read.

Which to look at first

For a bird under grey size, Prevue, because the interior figures and the coating statement are published and the size checker can be run on them before the box arrives. For an indoor aviary or a long divided cage, A&E, because nothing else in the US market we read reaches 86 inches, with the caveat that the figures come from listings. For a stainless macaw cage, Prevue's Imperial XXL and the King's and A&E stainless lines are the candidates, and the one whose seller will put interior size, spacing, gauge and grade in writing is the one to buy.