Fruit Cages - can anyone please suggest a well made, robust cage?

I have half a dozen blueberry plants of a reasonable size (about 4 to 5 feet tall) that are in large tubs and in a cluster - to keep the birds off the fruits next year I was thinking of putting a single walk-in cage around the plants. I've looked on Amazon but what they sell appears to be cheaply made which will probably rust and fall apart within a year or two.

Any suggestions please for some more robust alternatives? Must be able to be secured to the ground of course.

Or even any other ideas to stop the birds from nicking the blueberries? Not netting of course because birds can get caught up in that and I have no intention of harming them.

 

You can erect a cage by simply using wooden posts set in concrete or metposts and then adding some cross bars. You can then stretch netting across the top and down the sides, using staples to hold it taut so birds don't get stuck in it. Fashion a door or leave a flap you can undo to gain access.

 

Have a look at Knowle nets or Harrods they both make good quality fruit cages.
As for birds I've used nets on a fruit cage and just casually thrown over things and never found a bird entangled.
I did have a young badger get in a little stuck in the strawberry netting when I startled it.

 

For just six bushes I would consider hoops and scaffold debris netting (too fine to tangle birds etc)
It can be pegged to ground or attached to battens to prevent 'hit'n run snatches.

 

DIY with bamboo metal rods in the end of the bamboo so its not buried in the soil and itll last 4 years

Hazel coppice or similar is even better

 

Our allotment cage is just coppice hazel posts and netting stretched over the top. Tbh we don't need it anymore because there is such a lack of birds that we leave it open now.

The only bird issues we have is the occasional wood pigeon going after the pea shoots or cabbages and for those we just use a cane with a cd attached. The best thing I have seen are on our neighbours plot where they use the spinning colourful windmill things that children used to get, they really do seem to work.

 

I have a wooden cage as described for my cabbage etc, plus a metal frame one from Knowle nets but if I was buying now I would go for Harrod though they are not cheap.

 

I bought several Harrod aluminium veg cages about 10 yrs ago and they're all still standing (fruit cages are the same, just a bit taller).
I also got the 'storm-proof' netting which automatically detaches from the poles in very strong winds or heavy snow (if that's appropriate) so stops damage to the frame.

Bear in mind that the flowers need to be pollinated, so either don't put the netting up until that's happened or get a mesh of sufficient size to allow bees to get in and out.

However, I don't use the netting any longer and the birds leave all my soft fruits alone.
About 5 yrs ago I tried hanging CDs from the frame attached by a single thread of string (not a loop of string). A single thread of string allows the CDs to spin easily in any breeze.
If you hang them in pairs, they sort of resemble a huge pair of eyes that flash as they spin in the breeze - birds keep well-clear.
For the last 5 yrs I've just used the CDs in my soft fruit area (35ft x 30ft) and have not lost any berries to the birds.
I have Summer Raspberries, Autumn raspberries, a huge blackberry, blackcurrants and 3 mature blueberries. None of which get nicked
As soon as I harvest I remove the CDs and birds soon return.