Anyone made their own perches or toys?

[Ocean]

so I've read somewhere that making your own birds perch you have to clean it with non toxic chemicals and the cook it at a certain temperature to kill any bacteria? Is that correct and if so what temperature?

I'm using my neighbours tree she's cutting down. I'll upload a photo in the week

Something happened was meaning Perches not leprechauns lmao

 

[Kalidasa]

225 F* for 20 minutes. What about the leprechaun part?

 

[Ocean]

Lmoa, it was ment to say perch? I don't know what happened.
Thankyou!, what tree is best? Cedar not red. Pear or maple? Should I remove the bark too?

 

[Kalidasa]

Cedar and maple are fine....pear came up as questionable with a quick search, so I'm not sure about that one. I tend to leave the bark on, as it's fun to peel and gives a rougher more natural purchase for birdie feet.
Now leprechaun wood...that's another matter

 

[getwozzy]

Anyone made their own leprechaun or toys?

Red Cedar is bad. Red maple is bad- other maples can be safe (Big Leaf Maple). Pear and Apple are safe. Leprechauns are bad (don't trust them).

 

[Allee]

Johnny and Baby will love their DIY perches, at least my birds prefer DIY natural perches over any of those I've bought. After you make the first half dozen or so it gets easier and you get really good at it. Of course your family may raise their eyebrows when they find the oven racks on the floor and an oven full of tree limbs. Tell them you're saving money.

 

[weco]

The cooking of branches that you've read about is to kill any insects that burrow into the bark, so that several weeks or months after your birds have enjoyed their new perches you don't wake up to find you've been infested by some uninvited guests.....

Good luck.....

 

[Ocean]

Thankyou so much, wouldn't leaving the bark on hurt their feet and give them sours? On sand it down to make it less rough?

 

[JerseyWendy]

I fixed the title of the thread, after ROFLMAO @ the 'little' autocorrect.

 

[Kiwibird]

Thankyou so much, wouldn't leaving the bark on hurt their feet and give them sours? On sand it down to make it less rough?

I would just offer one perch with the bark left on, that way they have the option to sit on a 'regular' perch if they find the bark one uncomfortable. I'm not sure, but I think lovebird feet are a tad more delicate than the feet covered with thick scales on an amazon/macaw/cockatoo ect... I wouldn't make it TOO rough if I were you until you see how they react.

 

[weco]

Thankyou so much, wouldn't leaving the bark on hurt their feet and give them sours? On sand it down to make it less rough?

Well, I know that some birds tuck sticks, twigs, grasses and other nest making materials into their feathers in order to carry larger loads, but I've yet to see any carry sandpaper or sanding blocks around so that they can do a perch pedi before they alight for a morning chat with the girls, but the Experts tell us that those perching, climbing around on those smooth round wooden dowels and especially the grooved plastic ones many cages come affixed with, are bad for circulation and musculature of birdie's little tootsies.....but, you are welcome.....

 

[Ocean]

I don't allow and plastic perches or plastic swings in their cage, thankyou

 

[Christinenc2000]

I bought two perches. One sand and one concrete . The others I have made from Mimosa..... Wood not the drink
The largest Perch I made 46 inches was to large for baking. So after suggestion from a friend I placed it in the tub with a small amount of bleach. Soaked it Rinse , scrub clean soak again another rinse and it has been in the cage for a week maybe two. This worked for me.

 

[Ocean]

Sounds great, thankyou so much!

 

[Kiwibird]

Thankyou so much, wouldn't leaving the bark on hurt their feet and give them sours? On sand it down to make it less rough?

Well, I know that some birds tuck sticks, twigs, grasses and other nest making materials into their feathers in order to carry larger loads, but I've yet to see any carry sandpaper or sanding blocks around so that they can do a perch pedi before they alight for a morning chat with the girls, but the Experts tell us that those perching, climbing around on those smooth round wooden dowels and especially the grooved plastic ones many cages come affixed with, are bad for circulation and musculature of birdie's little tootsies.....but, you are welcome.....

Kind of like how it's totally natural for humans to be barefoot and to have your feet unrestricted whilst walking. When you go barefoot a lot (which I do, sometimes even in the winter because I find shoes rather uncomfortable), your feet 'toughen up' and aren't so 'venerable' to cold and rough outdoor surfaces. Still, podiatrists will tell you that you need all kind of 'supportive' lumps and bumps in your already constricting shoes to have 'healthy feet'. And that's true for anyone who wear shoes frequently because your feet are used to being in shoes. If you try to walk outside barefoot (not just in soft grass) as a regular shoe wearer, you're going to be in a world of pain and discomfort!

Our hand-reared baby birds pampered by specialty perches their whole lives are not particularly used to certain textures with their 'delicate' footsies and (just an opinion) need to acclimate to natural surfaces if they've never sat on them before. Not trying to be argumentative, just expressing my opinion on this I personally have a variety of perches for Kiwi, from straight dowels, rope perches, pedi perches, natural wood perches, plastic perches, all in varying diameters from very thin to very thick. He uses all of them, and I'm sure has healthy feet because of it!

 

[veimar]

We use non-toxic trees from our garden all the time, but the perches are long and won't fit into the oven. So I just wash them with clorox and hot water really hard and let stand for a few days, then wash again to make sure there is no chemicals left. I take off all the bark too. I use poop-off to clean them afterwards. My birds love to chew on perches so we have to replace them pretty often.