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luckyandjenn
09-21-2016, 05:59 AM
Is it ok to make perches with it or chew blocks

Dragonlady2
09-21-2016, 09:31 AM
Pine is fine as long as you thoroughly clean it off. I scrub any branches I use with vinegar and water. Leave it in the sun once cleaned to "bake" it, to get any little critters left. If it is small enough, I put it in the oven at approximately 250 degrees and bake it for 20 minutes. Others may treat their wood differently. My only concern would be any residual pesticides that may have been used on or around it. If I find any wood outside a wooded area, I typically don't take the chance.

luckyandjenn
09-21-2016, 02:04 PM
Pine is fine as long as you thoroughly clean it off. I scrub any branches I use with vinegar and water. Leave it in the sun once cleaned to "bake" it, to get any little critters left. If it is small enough, I put it in the oven at approximately 250 degrees and bake it for 20 minutes. Others may treat their wood differently. My only concern would be any residual pesticides that may have been used on or around it. If I find any wood outside a wooded area, I typically don't take the chance. humm its in my front yard but i dont think i want to take the chance ill just try and find some maple or any of the other woods suggested in previous post

Lady
09-22-2016, 02:22 AM
Is it newly fallen, like yesterday. If not I wouldn't chance it either. Now if you cut a branch yourself that's different.

I deleted the other thread of the same title, no one had replied to it.

luckyandjenn
09-22-2016, 01:52 PM
Thas fine lol I don't mean for it to post twice and I could not figure out how to deleat it

Macaw Lover
09-22-2016, 03:57 PM
If by 'fallen' you mean the tree just up and died or a branch fell off because of an unknown reason you need to stay away from it as it could very well be diseased and you sure don't want to go giving that to your babies to chew on and become sick themselves.

Now if a branch or the tree itself had damage due to a storm, that should be safe wood, unless the tree was stressed already and starting to die off and the storm just helped it along.

Another scenario is wood that the roots were absorbing in water with fertilizers in it. A friend has a lot of cotton wood trees that she was happy to get rid of. I finally got over there one day with my Worx Jawsaws ready to bring home a lot of wood because she is on 5 acres and never used fertilizers. We were talking about the development next to her and the wet lands that runs through her property and comes down from the houses from the one side from her. THEY more than likely use fertilizers on their lots and I had to nix using that wood, darn, for the fact all of that would be running off down the incline, through my friends property and ending up at the lowest point.

Best to be safe than sorry.

luckyandjenn
09-22-2016, 10:19 PM
If by 'fallen' you mean the tree just up and died or a branch fell off because of an unknown reason you need to stay away from it as it could very well be diseased and you sure don't want to go giving that to your babies to chew on and become sick themselves.

Now if a branch or the tree itself had damage due to a storm, that should be safe wood, unless the tree was stressed already and starting to die off and the storm just helped it along.

Another scenario is wood that the roots were absorbing in water with fertilizers in it. A friend has a lot of cotton wood trees that she was happy to get rid of. I finally got over there one day with my Worx Jawsaws ready to bring home a lot of wood because she is on 5 acres and never used fertilizers. We were talking about the development next to her and the wet lands that runs through her property and comes down from the houses from the one side from her. THEY more than likely use fertilizers on their lots and I had to nix using that wood, darn, for the fact all of that would be running off down the incline, through my friends property and ending up at the lowest point.

Best to be safe than sorry.

Thank you all I have decided to leave it be it looked dead and rotted after I looked at it more "it had been storming and super super windy ) not even going to try giving it to him he has stuff on the way in the mail he should be one happy bird

Macaw Lover
09-23-2016, 01:24 PM
Time to buy yourself a 12 inch miter saw and start cutting your own wood. Pine 2x4's are safe along with 'white wood. Never give cedar or the treated wood for decks.

Get yourself a couple of 2x4's to start out with and experiment and figure out just how your little one wants the wood. I have 3 Macaws, 2 do not like hanging wood, as they prefer to hold it and chip it off but the other will not touch the wood unless it is hanging on a screwer type thing. That you can buy from Expandable Habitats or Mother Pluckin Bird Toys. For Donovan's wood I ended up going the route of buying a drill press to get those holes in. Can't cut wood over the winter so I have 50 gallon garbage cans that have wheels on them to store a supply to get me through till at least the spring when the machines won't have issues in 0 degree weather.

Wood from the lumbar yards will have that printing on it, cut that part off and don't give that ink. Also, pine that has sort of a gray color of wood running down the length of it I think is called spaulting, not safe and stay away from. Check and see if they have a bruised and reduced area for the wood too. Won't matter for your baby if the wood is not straight as they will make toothpicks out of it anyway but the normal customer wants the wood straight.

Pick up a 2x2 also and cut things up different lengths, with and w/o holes and see what goes over. I also use 4x4's that I can cut thinner for my GW (1/2 - 3/4) which she chips away at quickly.

Cut up a variety at first to see what goes over and then when you know, go back and really get your supply in.

Dragonlady2
09-23-2016, 02:49 PM
Macaw Lover, awesome detailed response. I don't have a macaw, the closest I have to a wood chipper is my Alexandrine. I do something similar for him but the dimensions are more like 1 by 1 and triangles as he likes to have a starting point.

Macaw Lover
09-24-2016, 02:15 AM
Macaw Lover, awesome detailed response. I don't have a macaw, the closest I have to a wood chipper is my Alexandrine. I do something similar for him but the dimensions are more like 1 by 1 and triangles as he likes to have a starting point.

See, you found something (the triangle shape) as one that works well with your little one. It really is figuring out what each bird prefers. Over the years I hear of people talking about what their birds love and destroy in no time yet when I buy some of those things, my crew would not touch them.

I think Donovan was the real surprise. His former owner said he never touched wood and I did not believe that until he was here and saw that he would not touch the different variety of woods he had sitting on his shelves. Heck, he would even purposely knock it off too. A friend suggested to give little stuffs. Keep in mind this is a big boy, and small wood????? I ordered those waffle blocks from Mother Pluckin Bird Toys, hung it on the cork screw and he went to town on that. At the rate he could destroy, buying and shipping them would put me in the poor house in no time at all. I had borrowed a friend's miter saw a couple of times but knew it was time to get one of my own, especially because the way my hand had to pull the blade down, I was getting pains in my wrist.

Picked up a very nice used one, saw the stand that I wanted at Home Depot, problem there was they stopped making the exact model of the one on display but the manager came down more because there were a couple of parts that had ben cabbaged from it. Got that set up and talked to a friend as far as going about how to do those cut out portions like the waffle ones have. I cut some wood to see how Donovan like it and he totally shocked me when he made me a pile of chips and was thrilled that I would not have to do a lot more cut outs on his, just drill the holes.

I have to admit, having 3 birds helps if one doesn't like something, most of the time I can give it to another so it does not go to waste at least, but you have to be willing to try different things to find what the fluff ball in your life likes.

Dragonlady2
09-24-2016, 09:59 AM
I have to get clear pine and it had to be crosscut. Oliver has had his one foot that he holds the wood with pinched so many times. There are times when he gets bored with the same old pieces so I add pieces of string and rope with knots. He loves undoing knots.
I have better luck recycling toys with him. A $25 wood toy lasts 24 hours. Sometimes you just have to get creative. Good thing my husband has a woodworking shop out back...lol.