Pets of Mav
Meeting neighbors
- Joined
- 5/25/18
- Messages
- 31
Good day fellow bird worshippers!
I believe everyone here wants the best for their birds as I do, and I want to share my experience of building a climbing tree for my birds as it has given them so much fun.
To start off, I will present the finial result of this build, I do apologise for the quality.
I am very happy with the result of this build, and that is the main reason why I want to share it, cause it is very easy to do.
To start off, finding the tree you want to use is not easy, trust me. It took me a while, and I searched long and hard until I found this. What I was looking for was horizontal branches with a vertical stem that was the right size. I finally found the 'perfect' small tree of common oak (Quercus robur).
Step 1:
Find a tree that suits your plans, the size of your bird and the space you have available. It is important to make sure it is a tree that is safe to use, it is recommended to not source it next to roads and heavily trafficked areas, but you can wash it and in my case, remove the bark. Sadly I do not have any pictures before I removed the bark, but this is the tree I ended up with.
What I did was that I cut off the thin tips, roughly shaped it to what I wanted and removed the bark. I then proceeded to let it dry for two weeks to harden up so that it would be ready for the build.
Step 2:
While you wait the long two weeks or so for the tree to dry, it is a good time to start thinking of the base. I had a leftover piece for a kitchen bench that suited my needs perfectly.
Old and rough, but with some paint it will look fabulous. I did want most of the seeds, wood-chips and droppings to collect, so I added some skirting boards to the edges.
I had some off-cuts laying around, these were angled to 45 degrees in the corners.
And after adding them it looked like this:
Nice, isn't it? Okay, time for some paint. I went with some semi gloss white paint to make it fit in with the rest of the house, and after sanding down the base plate, I started painting.
One coat was definitely not enough, so I ended up using three coats in total, and the I was very happy with that result.
It is by no means perfect, but it is definitely good enough to catch bird poop. The idea here was always to have newspaper in the bottom for ease of cleaning.
Step 3:
The next step now is to prepare the base and tree so that they can be mounted together. Simply find the middle of the base by flipping it upside down and draw a line diagonally from corner to corner. X marks the spot.
Now the next step is to drill a hole. I used a large wooden bolt to secure it in place, and the whole is the size of the diameter of the bolt for the base plate and minus the threads for the tree.
I then proceeded to drill a whole through the base plate and through the tree, using the ring markings on the tree to find the centre point. I squared off the tree by using a mounted saw to ensure it would stand straight. Another hole was drilled into the base to make room for the washer and bolt head, about the size of the washer.
This will allow the base plate to sit flush against the floor. Another alternative is to put legs in each corner of the base plate.
With both holes drilled, it is time to put the two together. This is as easy as putting a washer on the bolt, lead it through the base plate and into the tree. The key is to make it tight enough so that is not going to move without over-tightening it so that the threads jeopardise the tree stem.
The tree was then further trimmed to easily fit through any doors, and to make it easy to move around, a few pads were placed under the base.
The finished product is now ready, and looks like this:
Now, all there is left is to add some toys, newspaper to the base and find a suitable place. I also attached a feeding cup to it for treats. And it did not take long before it was the new favourite spot to groom, play and climb.
A few toys later
Then some more.
They love it!
It gives them plenty of opportunity to fly, grip different size branches and I think it looks really good. I do hang fresh branches in it to supply some green and bark, and they love that. Cable ties are really helpful when hanging toys and branches.
It is really easy to move, fits through all the doors in the house and can easily be stored away to free up space.
It is an absolute favourite for playing, napping and hanging out
It is very easy to change toys, it gives the birds great opportunity to practise flight and climbing, and hey. Birds do belong in tree's, right?
I hope you enjoyed this, and if you did let me know. I have done a couple of more builds that I can post if this one was helpful.
I believe everyone here wants the best for their birds as I do, and I want to share my experience of building a climbing tree for my birds as it has given them so much fun.
To start off, I will present the finial result of this build, I do apologise for the quality.
I am very happy with the result of this build, and that is the main reason why I want to share it, cause it is very easy to do.
To start off, finding the tree you want to use is not easy, trust me. It took me a while, and I searched long and hard until I found this. What I was looking for was horizontal branches with a vertical stem that was the right size. I finally found the 'perfect' small tree of common oak (Quercus robur).
Step 1:
Find a tree that suits your plans, the size of your bird and the space you have available. It is important to make sure it is a tree that is safe to use, it is recommended to not source it next to roads and heavily trafficked areas, but you can wash it and in my case, remove the bark. Sadly I do not have any pictures before I removed the bark, but this is the tree I ended up with.
What I did was that I cut off the thin tips, roughly shaped it to what I wanted and removed the bark. I then proceeded to let it dry for two weeks to harden up so that it would be ready for the build.
Step 2:
While you wait the long two weeks or so for the tree to dry, it is a good time to start thinking of the base. I had a leftover piece for a kitchen bench that suited my needs perfectly.
Old and rough, but with some paint it will look fabulous. I did want most of the seeds, wood-chips and droppings to collect, so I added some skirting boards to the edges.
I had some off-cuts laying around, these were angled to 45 degrees in the corners.
And after adding them it looked like this:
Nice, isn't it? Okay, time for some paint. I went with some semi gloss white paint to make it fit in with the rest of the house, and after sanding down the base plate, I started painting.
One coat was definitely not enough, so I ended up using three coats in total, and the I was very happy with that result.
It is by no means perfect, but it is definitely good enough to catch bird poop. The idea here was always to have newspaper in the bottom for ease of cleaning.
Step 3:
The next step now is to prepare the base and tree so that they can be mounted together. Simply find the middle of the base by flipping it upside down and draw a line diagonally from corner to corner. X marks the spot.
Now the next step is to drill a hole. I used a large wooden bolt to secure it in place, and the whole is the size of the diameter of the bolt for the base plate and minus the threads for the tree.
I then proceeded to drill a whole through the base plate and through the tree, using the ring markings on the tree to find the centre point. I squared off the tree by using a mounted saw to ensure it would stand straight. Another hole was drilled into the base to make room for the washer and bolt head, about the size of the washer.
This will allow the base plate to sit flush against the floor. Another alternative is to put legs in each corner of the base plate.
With both holes drilled, it is time to put the two together. This is as easy as putting a washer on the bolt, lead it through the base plate and into the tree. The key is to make it tight enough so that is not going to move without over-tightening it so that the threads jeopardise the tree stem.
The tree was then further trimmed to easily fit through any doors, and to make it easy to move around, a few pads were placed under the base.
The finished product is now ready, and looks like this:
Now, all there is left is to add some toys, newspaper to the base and find a suitable place. I also attached a feeding cup to it for treats. And it did not take long before it was the new favourite spot to groom, play and climb.
A few toys later
Then some more.
They love it!
It gives them plenty of opportunity to fly, grip different size branches and I think it looks really good. I do hang fresh branches in it to supply some green and bark, and they love that. Cable ties are really helpful when hanging toys and branches.
It is really easy to move, fits through all the doors in the house and can easily be stored away to free up space.
It is an absolute favourite for playing, napping and hanging out
It is very easy to change toys, it gives the birds great opportunity to practise flight and climbing, and hey. Birds do belong in tree's, right?
I hope you enjoyed this, and if you did let me know. I have done a couple of more builds that I can post if this one was helpful.
