Making a bird tree like Emily's

[AubieBird]

I just saw the bird tree that Emily (BirdyBuddy1) made for her 2 budgies....it looks great (see her post in this forum). I would love to make one similar to hers and maybe some perches for my budgies' cages too. I live in the southern US and need to know what kinds of trees are OK to use for perches and what are not OK for budgies and cockatiels. Can y'all give me some help?

Thanks bunches!

[Tiger]

There are lists of what plants are safe, but there should be many eucalyptus trees in your part of the US. They drop branches often, plus you can trim a branch and let it dry. We used eucalyptus for our small portable play gym, getting a thicker forked bit for the upright. We got a foot square piece of timber (untreated, unfinished plank) and then drilled through the middle of this, also drilled into the end of the chosen timber piece for the upright. We tried for a thick enough piece to have two attachment points, so it wouldn't rotate on the board once it was bolted on.
If you haven't got a thick enough upright, then use two, about 6" apart.

Once you have the upright, then get some perch-thick branches, about a thumb thick and about 18" long, and attach them horizontally. Use stainless steel bolts and drill first, then drive the bolts in.

Once you've got it made, then you can attach the furniture you want. In mine, the ladder has two cup-hooks at the top and there's no way they can fit around the branch, so we tied them on with string.

Something else I LOVE is a plastic test tube which I tied on to the upright trunk part (tied in two places with string, to stop it from tilting over). I put water in it and use it to hold branches and flowers that I know are safe - callistemon, grevillea, banksia, casuarina. Any of those would do as play-gym wood, but eucalyptus is a harder wood.

You can make a play gym of just about any size. We like our portable one because we can move it form room to room depending on where we need the birds to be. We can sit ours on the table if we want, or the floor, or even a chair.

I hope this helps.

[AubieBird]

There are lists of what plants are safe, but there should be many eucalyptus trees in your part of the US. They drop branches often, plus you can trim a branch and let it dry. We used eucalyptus for our small portable play gym, getting a thicker forked bit for the upright. We got a foot square piece of timber (untreated, unfinished plank) and then drilled through the middle of this, also drilled into the end of the chosen timber piece for the upright. We tried for a thick enough piece to have two attachment points, so it wouldn't rotate on the board once it was bolted on.
If you haven't got a thick enough upright, then use two, about 6" apart.

Once you have the upright, then get some perch-thick branches, about a thumb thick and about 18" long, and attach them horizontally. Use stainless steel bolts and drill first, then drive the bolts in.

Once you've got it made, then you can attach the furniture you want. In mine, the ladder has two cup-hooks at the top and there's no way they can fit around the branch, so we tied them on with string.

Something else I LOVE is a plastic test tube which I tied on to the upright trunk part (tied in two places with string, to stop it from tilting over). I put water in it and use it to hold branches and flowers that I know are safe - callistemon, grevillea, banksia, casuarina. Any of those would do as play-gym wood, but eucalyptus is a harder wood.

You can make a play gym of just about any size. We like our portable one because we can move it form room to room depending on where we need the birds to be. We can sit ours on the table if we want, or the floor, or even a chair.

I hope this helps.

Thanks so much for your help. As far as eucalyptus growing in my part of the south, I have never heard of this and I have been here a long time. I will contact my county agent and ask him. I will also look for lists of other safe trees that are nearby. We live on 2 acres of all trees so there is surely something that I can use around here.

I like the idea of having a plastic tube with budgie-safe flowers attached to your play gym.

[birdybuddy1]

Ohhh! Good luck, I'm glad you like my tree! :D I'm sure it will be wonderful, be sure to post pics once it's done! :)

[Harlequin]

What a great project! Emily's pics of her tree are inspiring. But I agree with AubieBird, its always a challenge to figure out what tree branches are safe for budgies. Trees in North America are not necessarily the same as those that budgies would encounter in the wild on their native continent. I recently chose crab apple for natural perches in my bird's cage. What I had read told me apple tree was a safe bet.

[Tiger]

Maybe what you can do is make a list of what trees and bushes you have growing in your area. Then look up each of them to see what they are and if they are safe.