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Homemade Perches

Mysdrym

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North Carolina
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Jenn
So, I had a bunch of maple and hickory branches fall during Hurricane Florence, and most of them have been taken away by trash, but I thought I could use the remaining ones for perches.

I have them cut. I know that I'm supposed to bake them, but my oven died while I was making dinner tonight, so the project is obviously on hold until I can buy a new oven. I was wondering, though, if there was an alternative to baking.

Also, the perches I've cut are made of maple--the hickory's all been thrown out--and my birds are parakeets.

I've also heard that I need to remove the bark from the maple branches, so I'll probably work on that in the meantime.
 

Fergus Mom

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Elly
Good job on saving those branches for your birds.

I found this on the internet under the following link:

Bird; Birds: Safe, Toxic Trees, Woods. Safe Tree Wood. Parrots. Parrot cages.
Cleaning Wood One philosophy says clean bird perch wood before it’s used by soaking for an hour or two in tub of water with a cap of household bleach. Then rinse the wood in clean water. Another says Chlorine bleach may cause an occasional sickness or fatality. Maybe due to too strong of a solution. The second philosophy may use mild soap and water solution followed by rinsing with clean water. Both viewpoints agree about allowing wood to dry thoroughly, including exposed to direct sunlight. Oven drying needs to be hot enough to kill microbes, but cool enough to avoid combustion.
 

rocky'smom

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Mysdrym

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Location
North Carolina
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Jenn
Oh, I just wanted to add that it's silver-leaf maple, not red. Does that make a difference with removing the bark? I know red is bad, but haven't been able to find anything on silver-leaf.
 

Just-passn-thru

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Silver maple, sugar maple, Norway maple, sycamore, etc. are ok . I leave the bark on , my birds like to strip it off , although they are larger than your budgies. You could try leaving a little bark on for them. Make a weak solution one part bleach to 5 parts water spray on, or dip branches depending on size, leave in sun turn frequently to expose all nooks and cranny's , "bleach neutralizes into a harmless salt, once dried". Leave to dry in sun then rinse well and continue to dry in sun for additional disinfecting.
 
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