Where do you get your wood?

[ParrotJoe]

I want to make my bird his own perch and playgym out of wood ( i realize he may eat it to bits but thats ok) and I was wondering where everyone gets their wood for making perches and wooden toys.

I was looking in the phonebook for wood, didnt see much but then I checked Lumber and seemed to be more on the right track, but most likely these places would only carry flattened wood boards, and I want to get more natural branches. I live very close to a public park that has lots of trees. I was thinking for the toys I may be better off getting boards and cutting the toys from that but for the perches maybe I should go looking around the park to find loose branches... i did consider bringing a machete to chop down a nice branch or two but im not sure if that would go over so well with the other park goers

[Carbonproduct]

http://www.birdtoyoutlet.com/bird-safety/safe-woods-for-birds.htm

Originally Posted by ParrotJoe

I want to make my bird his own perch and playgym out of wood ( i realize he may eat it to bits but thats ok) and I was wondering where everyone gets their wood for making perches and wooden toys.

I was looking in the phonebook for wood, didnt see much but then I checked Lumber and seemed to be more on the right track, but most likely these places would only carry flattened wood boards, and I want to get more natural branches. I live very close to a public park that has lots of trees. I was thinking for the toys I may be better off getting boards and cutting the toys from that but for the perches maybe I should go looking around the park to find loose branches... i did consider bringing a machete to chop down a nice branch or two but im not sure if that would go over so well with the other park goers

Believe it or not I get some of my wood from a local fish and lizard store. They have neat wood branches for lizards and snakes to crawl up and use in their aquariums. I also saw my own from my back yard. I boil the branches first just in case there might be icky stuff on it, but it saves me money because i have a 15month old Macaw who's sole purpose in life is to destroy wood and anything else that can be disasembled. I saw the wood pieces into 2 or 3 inch sections and drill a hole in them then string them together with rope or chain with little wooden balls or squares in between. Sometime I drill a hole in wooden children's blocks and he loves to knaw on it until it's unrecognizable. I'd be careful about back yard wood though, make sure it's safe for birds. Bird care books or internet sourses like avianhttp://www.birdtoyoutlet.com/bird-safety/safe-woods-for-birds.htm

[ParrotJoe]

man thats a great idea, the reptile stores! I would have never of thought of that, thanks :)

[Greymom721]

Where so you live? I get a lot of mine at an unfinished furniture store called The Mill. They have all kinds of shapes cut in their craft section & it's pretty cheap. There is a place on line called Caseyswood.com also. They have a section of "specials". Hope this helps.

[ParrotJoe]

Thanks for the tips, ill definately check those places out. I live in Miami, Florida btw greymom, haven't heard of 'the mill' but maybe there are similar places about.

[Rue]

...we have an acerage, so we just go out the back door...but you could try finding someone with a woody lot...I doubt they'd mind as long as you weren't doing any deforestation...

[kathyinfl]

Originally Posted by ParrotJoe

Thanks for the tips, ill definately check those places out. I live in Miami, Florida btw greymom, haven't heard of 'the mill' but maybe there are similar places about.

Joe,
I don't have my bird yet (RF Macaw) but I've been doing a lot of research. A lot of people really like Bottlebrush for their birds. I know its really plentiful down here, I live in the Ft Lauderdale area.

This site talks about using Bottlebrush and has some ideas of stuff you could do. http://www.waynesparrotstuff.com

I'm going to start trimming off my Bottlebrush over the next few months and make a PVC playstand but use Bottlebrush branches for some of the perches.

Kathy

[kathyinfl]

Hurricane Katrina knocked down some good size Bottlebrush branches in my neighborhood. My neighbors were more than willing to let me haul them away for future use by my Redfront Macaw. Time to get the bleach solution and fire up the oven. I'll be able to get a bunch of perches for the cage and playstand and some toy parts.