DIY Play Gym ?

[BirdCrazy66]

Hi! I have a young lovebird named Geoffrey and would LOVE to build him a new playgym!!! I bought a 7/8" thick dowel at Home Depot, plus a 24x24" piece of oak plywood to cover with a piece of pretty thin, clear plastic. I also have smaller perches and thinner dowels to use as perches... but would LOVE ideas on how to set this project up!

I loved looking up the ideas on here but I was hoping to maybe ask if anyone has anything new to share. What was the hardest thing about making your own? What was the easiest? Is it hard to do by yourself? Pictures would be GREAT, especially step-by-step ones if possible. If not, finished products are fine too, or even just pictures of good supplies.

I did see one idea so far that I may borrow... thanks in advance!

[KDK241]

Be careful with the dowels from Home Depot. Most of them are oak or cherry and both of those are toxic to birds. The one's that just say "hardwood" are various types of wood so you don't know what they are made of. The best thing to use is pine.

[BirdCrazy66]

Here are some of the supplies I had mentioned:

(the clear plastic base is somewhat dirty for now, but it makes it easier to see!)

[BirdCrazy66]

Oh wow! I thought oak was okay, as I saw it on a list of safe wood... thanks so much for the heads up!

[BirdCrazy66]

The oak base should be okay if it's covered with the plastic though, right? I would obviously supervise him BIG TIME so would that be a problem???

[MicahEspudo]

as long as he doesn't chew on it he should be fine!

[BirdCrazy66]

Phew! I spent a good amount of money on that, and as it's just the base and will be underneath the plastic I would think it'd be okay... I just wanted to be 100% sure! Thanks!

[KDK241]

Yep, the base should be just fine! Can't wait to see what you come up with. I have no suggestions for you since I have been planning on making a playgym for my tiels for months now and no matter how hard I think about it, I can't come up with squat for ideas...

[BirdCrazy66]

Awww, thanks for the OK on the base though! I find myself unable to sleep tonight... I really wish it wasn't almost 3:15AM, or I'd go downstairs to Dad's toolroom and try to find a drill to do some real work on the thing! But then again, I should probably get his help on it... heh! I am just drawing up ideas and I drew on the board where I need to drill holes...

So far I have the 24x24" base, then I drew an X where I need to drill, 3" in from each side... then another X in the middle of the base where I want to add another dowel. There's a website I'm somewhat going off of for ideas but I forget the URL off the top of my head!

[KDK241]

I'm to the point where I think I'm just going to go in the woods and find a big branch...or maybe cut down a small tree and just use that. Quick, easy and free. Not only that but with 7 tiels I need something pretty big. It's supposed to be nice tomorrow so maybe I will make that my mission (in other words I will tell my cousin to go do it, lol).