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How to dry wood?

Coki

Sprinting down the street
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Heya guys! So recently the municipality took down a maple tree, I've got a few pieces for toy making and perches. I've already cleaned them and added SS bolts to make the perches.

But the thing is these are still green, and I'd like to fasten the drying progress (rain is not helping either). Have anyone tried drying wood using your kitchen oven? Seems to be possible, and just wanted to know if anyone tried it. If not, do you know a way to dry wood faster?

Next month I will be adding a Bourke and possibly (depending on DNA) a regent parrot to my flock, and I wanted to make more perches for them.

Is green wood toxic for them or if I used green perches would it affect them in any way?

Not sure if I posted in the right place, lol. If not please feel free to move my topic.

Thank you!
 

Macaw Lover

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Can't help you with the drying of it, but WHY did the city cut it down? Did it die? You don't want to use any wood that had died because you would not know what it died from. Now if a storm knocked it over and then the city had to cut it down, that is one thing, as long as the tree was not old, rotted and was dying already.
 

Coki

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Can't help you with the drying of it, but WHY did the city cut it down? Did it die? You don't want to use any wood that had died because you would not know what it died from. Now if a storm knocked it over and then the city had to cut it down, that is one thing, as long as the tree was not old, rotted and was dying already.
Nope, it didn't die. In the place I live these trees are HUGE and sometimes they take wires or get into people's homes. When they are this big, instead of cutting a few branches they directly cut most of them in a way the tree can grow back but it will take years to be as tall as it was. If the trees are too tall it's dangerous when we get storms (The other day a big branch fell down on a car o.o Luckily there was no one inside).

Don't worry! It was a healthy tree. I always make sure of the quality of the wood before giving it to my birds. Sorry if I didn't explain myself correctly.
 

JLcribber

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There's no "need" to dry them out. I use green apple tree wood all the time.
 

karen256

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Green wood isn't just safe, it's great fun for them to chew on, and may even be beneficial to the diet. I just rinse branches off the way I'd wash vegetables. Large older branches with thicker bark generally should be baked to kill any insect eggs in the bark (not so much for bird safety as just to keep bugs out of the house). But the younger branches with green bark that you would use for smaller birds don't really need that.
 

Chihuahua

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i used driftwood so it came "pre dried" lol. just cleaned it up and zip tied it to the cage.
 

Peachfaced

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i used driftwood so it came "pre dried" lol. just cleaned it up and zip tied it to the cage.
I would be very careful about using driftwood; you won't know what tree it came from and what organisms and nasties it's been exposed to.
 

Chihuahua

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you can say the latter thing about any tree branch... as for the type, there is a very good chance around here that it is pine. people give their birds fresh branches that could have a kinds of bugs and fungus and germs on it...
 

BirdCatLady

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I'd also be careful using driftwood, because generally it's been in water for a long time, exposed to lots more things than a tree branch from a recently cut down (live) tree will have been. Various types of poop (depending on the water where it was) that will have had the chance to soak into the wood, bacteria that's different than what's found on live trees, different organisms than are found in/on live trees, sometimes pieces of decayed matter (plant or animal). That being said, I'd be a little less concerned if it were driftwood that was sunbleached on a beach somewhere (although I'd definitely still clean it thoroughly) -- but it's something that I'd keep an eye on regarding my bird's health, at the very least. Not trying to berate you, Chihuahua, though! You know the origin of the driftwood you have better than I do, but there are generally more concerns about using driftwood than there are with fresh wood.

I also read somewhere that red maple is not good for birds. Not sure if this is true or not...? but read that if it's red maple, taking the bark off should be enough to make it healthy. Red maples are very common in my part of the country, but not sure about yours, OP.

I wonder what Brodie would do with fresh wood. Seems like something he'd love!
 
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