Destroys wood perches

[Catherine89]

my two cockateils ( mainly Charlie) like to destroy there wood perches. I find the peices at the bottom of the cage. Does anybody else’s birds do this? What’s the best perches to get besides wood? I do worry they may ingest some of the wood and I don’t want them to get sick. They came with the cages.

 

[Mizzely]

That is awesome! Birds need to destroy stuff; if they can't destroy their toys they will go for the perches (and some just prefer to chew the perches because its most similar to chewing on a tree). It is extremely rare for a bird to eat wood.

Here's Bobber's masterpiece:


You can also offer rope perches, harder woods like manzanita, and flat perches.

Dowell perches usually come with the cage and are not the best. They need a variety of textures and thicknesses to avoid foot problems.

 

[JLcribber]

I do worry they may ingest some of the wood and I don’t want them to get sick.

They're not eating the wood and they're not going to. They're chewing the perches because they want wood. If you change the perches then you need to provide other chew wood of similar hardness and texture to make up for it.

 

[Davi]

Yes, as others have pointed out above, this is natural and desirable behavior (a busy beak is a quiet beak!). If you'd like to check out some other types of perches (flat, harder, etc.), feel free to take a look at what's available on my Etsy shop and to ask any questions you may have. Here's to lots of healthy chewing!
View bird perches by Perches4Change on Etsy

 

[Catherine89]

Okay , they have other perches . They love their rope perch I think the most, I will definitely look into better wooden perches for them.

 

[Familyof12]

And maybe some more wood toys for them! All birds have an instinct to chew. They chew to make their homes, they chew to sharpen their beaks (teeth) they do it out of instinct. Why not make it fun?

 

[Catherine89]

I honestly also think my shoulder is there favorite one as well , they have to make sure I don’t have anything they want because if so it apparently becomes there’s

 

[Catherine89]

And maybe some more wood toys for them! All birds have an instinct to chew. They chew to make their homes, they chew to sharpen their beaks (teeth) they do it out of instinct. Why not make it fun?

They have toys but I guess I’ve always been afraid of the “chew” toys because I wasn’t sure if they would eat the wood, but I will definitely get them some now that I know they won’t eat it. Ever since I lost my last bird pepper I over worry I think, I don’t think I can deal with losing another one

 

[Mizzely]

Honestly over any other type of toy, destructible toys are the most necessary IMO

https://www.lilmonstersbirdtoys.com/why-toys

 

[cosmolove]

Chewing the wood perches really isn't a problem in terms of health. Birds love to chew wood Its always good to give them tons of toys to play with and destroy for this purpose. You mentioned these are the perches that came originally with the cage. I would remove them because they're most likely dowel rods and I'd replace them with natural wood perches of different sizes. It helps keep their feet healthy by having multiple sizes of perches.

I also have found that natural wood perches last a lot longer for me. They'll usually play with the bark and peel it off but for the most part my natural perches last FOREVER. I usually toss them before the birds really make any damage to them.

 

[HolliDaze]

Birds are great at not swallowing things that aren't food. The only reason I've ever had a bird swallow a non-food item was while Dexter was a baby and was bobbing at the time. The best wood for this issue is manzanita.one of us hardest woods in the world (or so I'm told). If they have destroy something, they'll go after the stuff they aren't supposed to.

 

[Smbrds]

Chewing provides good stimulation to beaks. If they aren't given the opportunity to chew what else is there. They will start chewing their feathers/picking. Providing things to chew and destroy will be a good activity for enrichment and ease boredom/need to chew. Lots of perches, toys and safe "toys" that are shreddable at dollar stores are handy and provide lots of entertainment.