I'm planning on building a bird tree. Post pics of yours.

[Whistle&Steve]

I'd like to see pictures of other people's bird trees so I can get ideas for mine.

[Budgietom]

Thats a good idea. I'll be interested to see everyone elses. Sorry, I don't have one myself but can't wait to see everyoe elses.

[titoandMac]

If you notice in the pic.... my bird tree is on the side. I took one of my old bird cage stand and got a basket. I filled the basket with rocks and stuck branches in it. They love it!

[Budgietom]

What pic?????

[titoandMac]

sorry forgot to attach it... here it is:p

[kasia]

:) Hi, this is the tree we have in our house. I cut down a fairly large branch from a willow tree. On the very bottom I screwed two pieces of 2x4 in a cross shape to help the tree balance itself, kind of like a x-mas tree stand. I had an old, large ceramic pot, put the tree in the pot and filled the pot with 10 pounds of rocks. Then I cut some plywood in two half circle pieces, put that on top of the pot and a towel on top of the plywood to catch poop. I also maid a swing. I have a bunch of clips on the tree to clip greens and veggies to.:D Make sure the tree you select is not poisonous to budgies. Alote of them are. If you can't find a tree with horizontal branches you just tie them up with string or twine, they love to chew on the twine.You can buy the clips in dollar stores ( the magnetic kind) Hope this helps.

[Budgietom]

WOW great trees you two. Really nifty and creative. I want to make one myself.

[Rosie]

I have one as well. It's not as amazing as the previous two! But the budgies love it. I'll get a picture for you soon. :)

[kasia]

how do you guys make such cool signatures? I'd like to make one too.

[kasia]

:cool:Here's this hanging perch I maid. I used perches That I bought from Petsmart that I don't use anymore in the cage, but if you want to save money you can use the same branches that you would use for the tree.;)

[Zippi]

Neat ideas...my DH is going to make me a nice bird tree for our babies and put it by one of their playgyms, near the window :D

[titoandMac]

I made a new tree with huge branches planted in a bigger terra-cotta pot with hard stones... it is all naturl and they fly between perches

[birdybuddy1]

How do you make sure that you "plant" the tree sturdy enough so that it doesn't fall?

[birdybuddy1]

:) Hi, this is the tree we have in our house. I cut down a fairly large branch from a willow tree. On the very bottom I screwed two pieces of 2x4 in a cross shape to help the tree balance itself, kind of like a x-mas tree stand. I had an old, large ceramic pot, put the tree in the pot and filled the pot with 10 pounds of rocks. Then I cut some plywood in two half circle pieces, put that on top of the pot and a towel on top of the plywood to catch poop. I also maid a swing. I have a bunch of clips on the tree to clip greens and veggies to.:D Make sure the tree you select is not poisonous to budgies. Alote of them are. If you can't find a tree with horizontal branches you just tie them up with string or twine, they love to chew on the twine.You can buy the clips in dollar stores ( the magnetic kind) Hope this helps.

What are the clips for?

[Pippin's mom]

I'm excited!:) Went out today and cut two good size manzanita branches from our property to make a tree stand! I'll hopefully have pics to share by next week as I have to scrub it all down good with bleach and water and then let it dry out good in the sun for a few days. Also got some more smaller branches for cage perches.

I'll probably spend some time this Saturday making some new toys to hang from the tree.:)

Kasia~ I love your hanging perch!:cool:

[Pippin's mom]

How do you make sure that you "plant" the tree sturdy enough so that it doesn't fall?

I'm using crushed mine rock..it locks together better than smooth rocks.

[Keet1976]

Here is mine...My husband brought home 2 wooden spools from work and we stacked them and they had hole in them so we stuck the branches in that way. I added a rope and between two branches that were vertical in the hole I put anther branch and tied it in place with hemp string.

[Flappy]

Here's mine:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v37/Carly1982/DSC00533.jpg

[Bethany]

i like yours Flappy!! it is tall and not ugly (no one here has any 'ugly' ones just saying):P

[Flappy]

Thanks :) I decided to make it tall, since my birds seem to like being as high as they can be, which meant the curtain rail. we've since covered the top of the curtains to stop them going on there...... they had started chewing the wallpaper off!

[sydney]

i could do with a parrot gym lol

[birdybuddy1]

I love yours also, Flappy! :D I can't wait to build mine! I just don't know where to find the branches! Is it okay to find a safe tree in a park, or something, and just go up and cut off a brach?

And thanks for the advice, Pippin's Mom! :)

[Pippin's mom]

I love yours also, Flappy! :D I can't wait to build mine! I just don't know where to find the branches! Is it okay to find a safe tree in a park, or something, and just go up and cut off a brach?

And thanks for the advice, Pippin's Mom! :)

You're welcome.:)

I wouldn't get branches from a park. For one they may be sprayed and they may not appreciate someone taking branches from their trees.:p

Do you know anyone who has trees who wouldn't mind you taking a few branches?

[birdybuddy1]

Okay, thanks for the advice, I will try to find someone with a bird-safe tree that would be willing to let me have a branch. :)

[Pippin's mom]

If we lived close enough I would be happy to give you some manzanita branches.:)

[Flappy]

I love yours also, Flappy! :D I can't wait to build mine! I just don't know where to find the branches! Is it okay to find a safe tree in a park, or something, and just go up and cut off a brach?

And thanks for the advice, Pippin's Mom! :)

Thanks :)

My branches are Ash. We just drove around and found a little secluded pathway.... picked the ones we wanted, went back late at night with a saw, and cut them down in the dark! Make sure you know what species the branches are. Steer clear of anything with blossoms. One of the brances i brought home was Oak, so i had to get rid. Also prepare any branches you get before you give them to your birds.

[fullmetalgirl]

would it be ok if i posted a link to a dutch topic wich has about a dozen ideas and pictures for play trees???
i think it would give allot of people fun ideas :)

[Pippin's mom]

Thats fine as long as it complies with the Talk Budgie rule of not posting links to competing sites..that would mean any site otr forum that is ALL Budgies.

I hope its not because I would love to see the pics since I'm just starting on mine.:)

[birdybuddy1]

If we lived close enough I would be happy to give you some manzanita branches.:)

hahaha thanks! How kind of you! Manzanita branches make such great perches! :) But chances are, we probable aren't very close! Are you near San Jose? :fingerx:

[birdybuddy1]

Thanks :)

My branches are Ash. We just drove around and found a little secluded pathway.... picked the ones we wanted, went back late at night with a saw, and cut them down in the dark! Make sure you know what species the branches are. Steer clear of anything with blossoms. One of the brances i brought home was Oak, so i had to get rid. Also prepare any branches you get before you give them to your birds.

Okay, cool. I'm sure I'll be able do find something when I put my mind to it! :) How did you prepare your branches? I've heard that you can make some kind of sterile solution, but I don't know how. Is that what you did?

[fullmetalgirl]

Thats fine as long as it complies with the Talk Budgie rule of not posting links to competing sites..that would mean any site otr forum that is ALL Budgies.

I hope its not because I would love to see the pics since I'm just starting on mine.:)

ok thats why i asked.
it is ALL budgies. but well its dutch so wether or not its competing is the question.
but i wont post it then :)

[Pippin's mom]

Oh too bad! I really wanted to see the pics.

[fullmetalgirl]

one person actually had a tree 1 meter high...
with pretty much all the toys you can buy in it!
about 30 toys or more... :eek:

[Kip.The.Great]

Everyone has such awesome bird trees!
I don't have one. :(
But it's nice seeing everyone elses!
Great job!

[Tiger]

Here is ours. It's one that my dad made out of peppermint gum from our front yard. He has put two screws through the base from underneath into the thicker upright piece, which had a natural fork in it. He used two screws, so it wouldn't rotate easily. He then screwed on two more branches as horizontal pieces.

The budgie ladder we had to tie on, because the branches are a bit too thick for the hooks to go over the branch. We've attached a few other toys but Lucky isn't really interested in them. He likes to sit in the same spot, just at the top of the ladder, and he snoozes there while I'm doing my schoolwork. Mum made Lucky a Cheerios necklace on a string and hung it next to the ladder. He's been chewing on that today.

We haven't been able to get Daisy interested in this playgym yet, because she's still very wild and just wants to fly everywhere or perch in her favourite spot in my parents' bathroom. We're slowly getting Daisy tamer though.

In this photo you can see Lucky in his favourite spot on the perch.

[Tiger]

Something I forgot to mention - although I understand why you might need to do it in your area, we didn't scrub down the branches or anything with our play gym. We're surrounded by wild Aussie parrots anyway, that happily use this tree and many others. So we knew the tree was non-toxic. We also knew it hadn't been sprayed, ever. We sometimes cut browse from this tree to put in the cages for the birds. We deliberately choose bunches of leaves that have lerps on them, in case the budgies want to eat them. We were told that wild budgies up in Kakadu like eating lerps. But they didn't seem interested. Mum said the lerps are safe to eat - the aborigines used to eat them as bush tucker. Mum ate some and gave me some to eat - they're like very tiny biscuits.

Daisy and Lucky were more interested in blueberry ash (Elaocarpis grandis) browse - it's got lots of berries on it at the moment and they both were chewing the berries, especially Daisy. When we can, we'll get some lilli pilli for them, that also has edible berries. Lilli pilli and blueberry ash would make good budgie furniture too.

We also put some bark in Lucky's cage and he was chewing on it. The bark is from one of our eucalypt trees, not sure which sort. Lucky hasn't touched his cuttlebone, so we hoped that he would chew the bark to wear his beak down. It is a really thick piece, about a cm thick and very soft and rough. It came off a dead tree and rolled itself into a scroll, almost like a tube. He's chewed it to sawdust.

A local wildlife rescue person said it was OK to do all this, because this is the stuff that other parrots like and it's what she does for all the wild parrots (and any pet ones) she is trying to
look after and treat, before releasing them. The vet seemed to think it was good, too.

We also pick a lot of flowers from our garden, the grevilleas and callistemons. Again, these are native Australian plants and also very pretty.

I've been watching the wild parrots here to see which plants they really like, and choosing those ones for my budgies. I like to keep changing the plant types around, to stop them from getting too used to only one thing.

I think I'll have a go at making more play gyms from our fallen branches. We have a lot of them and they only get burned or thrown away if we don't use them. I wish I could send them to people on this site who want them, but the postage would be ridiculous!

We can buy ones like ours here in the shops - they cost about A$20. Or more, depending on how big they are.