[Marnies' mom]

i made this perch for Marnie today. its made from a maple branch and an old tree stand. i think she will gets lots of use from it. right now she is testing its shredability

and here is one i found at a yard sale. its an old piece of driftwood. its perfect for table top fun. she likes to hang upside down on it and shred it of course!

you can also see in these pics how deep her "V" is compared to a male.
she is a sweety, i just love her!

you may notice she has quite the "condo" set up. she has 2 cages connected with a plastic chain intertwined with rope.
she likes to hang ond twirl on the rope and beads. she is such a clown.

 

[Jenny]

Those look great! Good job!

 

[nanay]

Great idea using the tree stand. Thanks for sharing.

 

[SevenVeils]

I live at the ocean, and had thought of driftwood because it is copious and there are some interesting shaped pieces. But I didn't know if they would be okay due to the salt residue.

Did you soak yours, or rinse it? Or am I being paranoid?

 

[Marnies' mom]

i don't live near the ocean so no salt here. i did nothing to this piece of wood.
some say you can bake the wood to kill any bad germs etc but in the wild nobody does this for them so i don't worry about it.
i would think just a good washing would get rid of salt.

 

[SevenVeils]

Oh, okay, I hadn't thought of lakes as having driftwood.

Since it's all been in water anyway, maybe I'll give it a good soaking if I find one that I like.

I really like your tree stand idea too!

 

[beth]

Thats great!
I've made a couple driftwood playgyms, I just washed them with water

 

[nanay]

I am nervous about posting this, because I do not want to offend anyone. I am not making judgements, but I feel in the interest of safety I should mention this.

I am a member of another forum. In a thread regarding driftwood there many folks posted that there could be many dangerous germs, chemicals, etc. saturating driftwood.

I am not saying one view or the other is correct, because probably some pieces would not harbor anything dangerous and others would. It would depend totally on the water the wood has been drifting in.

Actually, the same would apply to wood from trees that has not been in water. If an animal with a disease a bird could get has defacated on the wood, or dangerous chemicals have been applied to the wood, it could be dangerous. Yet any of us could know that any particular piece of wood is probably safe due to the source.

Nevertheless, birds were made to live outside in trees with all of these natural dangers, so I also understand that point of view, too.

Please know that I think the playstands are great. I just wanted to mention some considerations when working with woods.

 

[SevenVeils]

Thank you nanay, I had considered that as well, and to be honest I am worried about that. I live on the southern coast of Oregon, so the driftwood here can come from any number of sources.

My neighbor has cleared some property and has some pine trees that have been cut down and are awaiting disposal. This area does not have any sort of insect spray program, or any sort of crops that may cause chemical drift. I do not know the whole history of these trees, but I have good reason to believe that they are uncontaminated.

Are pine branches safe? If so, should the bark be removed before building it into a playstand?

 

[nanay]

There is a thread on a forum I read recently that either lists safe woods or gives a link to a site with safe woods. It would either be this forum or The Linnie Fourm. I am going to try to find it for you. If anyone else remembers it, please feel free to post the link first. It was a good link, and I wish I could remember where it is, because I'd like to have kept the information handy for myself, but I didn't mark it.

OK, I found a good link right on this forum. Look under Parrot Health, Maintenance, and Safety. It is the very first sticky. The title talks about safe woods for perching materials.

Some others probably know some other great links, too.

Pine is on there, and some specifics about using pine are mentioned.

 

[Jenny]

Pine is safe If you're worried about the bark, you can bake it for an hour at a low temp and kill anything that may be on it

 

[SevenVeils]

Thank you!

 

[Abby]

I think nanay had some good points. I'm always very nervous about using random things for toys or perches. I try to be very cautious. I personally don't believe I would use driftwood. Luckily, we've got a big willow tree in the backyard. It is safe for birds, so I like to take some branches from there.