Branches

[Roscully]

I want to give my Senegal some natural perches so that he can climb and chew. Please can anyone give me advise on what to use and what not to use? And do I use them straight from the tree or do they have to be dried etc.?

[liz]

Rather than going through the whole list tell me what you have available.

Wash them off real good - no soap. You can use viniger or lemon juice. Then rinse good.

They like to pick at the fresh bark.

[Naurthon]

You can google "parrot safe wood" and find a lot of discussion on this topic. Here is one list I found, that provides a little bit of an explanation about why the wood was classified as "safe" or "unsafe".

http://www.birdsafe.com/woods.htm

I'll have to remark that I've never found any of these lists that appear to have a basis in scientific research. Many of them contradict each other, and I personally feel a good deal of the info given is as much urban legend as anything else. That said, it is probably a good idea to avoid very aromatic woods, like cedar, or branches from plants that are otherwise known to be generally toxic, like rhododendron or yew.

[liz]

Thank you. I was getting tired of making lists.

[Naurthon]

Here is another list of "parrot safe wood': http://www.avianweb.com/safewoods.html

I've added it to highlight the problem with Internet lists of what is supposedly safe or not for parrots. A lot of lists contradict each other. This list actually contradicts itself, having arbutus in both the "safe" and "unsafe" sections. (Arbutus, also known as madrone/madrona, actually is safe. The berries, in fact, are edible.) It also includes sago palm as a safe plant, which is entirely false. Sago is extremely toxic. It *DOES* kill dogs and *CAN* kill people, let alone birds. To be very frank, I don't believe most of the people compiling these lists have any clue as to what they are talking about, let alone any actual qualifications for determining the safety or lack thereof of different plant materials for parrots. Their sources are simply other lists they found somewhere on the Internet.

There are a few things to keep in mind:

First, there are a LOT of different kinds of plants out there, and even similar plants with similar names may have very different chemical properties. There may be as many as 1,000 species of eucalyptus, for example, so you really can't just lump all 1,000 of them into the same category as either safe or unsafe.

Second, there are a LOT of different kinds of BIRDS out there, and what is safe for one species may not be safe for another. Let me use eucalyptus as an example again. Some eucalyptus plants DEFINITELY have toxic compounds in their leaves. Some Australian parrots have evolved with these plants and can probably tolerate them. African and American parrots have not evolved with these plants and may not be able to tolerate them. I don't believe that just because something is safe for a cockatoo would make it also safe for a macaw. None of the lists I have seen make any distinctions like this.

Third, and this really builds off my second point, is that there is damned little science out there supporting claims of safety or toxicity of plants (or even the medications our avian vets prescribe, for that matter) BY INDIVIDUAL BIRD SPECIES. Nobody is conduction double blind studies wherein they give samples of the thousands of different kinds of wood to the hundreds of different kinds of parrots to see which are toxic and which are not for any particular combination of plant and bird.

While I am neither a botanist nor an ornithologist, I have spent a lot of time studying wild edible (to humans) plants of the North American Pacific Northwest, so I at least have some small bit of knowledge on the subject generally.

The first rule when it comes to determining if a plant is safe to consume is that if you don't specifically know that it is safe, assume that it is not. The second rule is, if a plant is sold for landscaping or as a house plant, assume that it is toxic or at least non-edible. The idea behind these rules is that you should err on the side of caution.

Here is what I know for sure about bird-safe wood: the round dowel perches that come with new cages are made from pine or fir. The "natural" perches sold in bird stores in the Western US are manzanita. Grape vine is also sold as a natural perch. Chew toys for parrots often use balsa wood, or the wood from the flowering stems of aloe, agave, or yucca species. Those are all safe for birds. The wood from arbutus/madrona is safe, as is wood from any species of maple. Wood, leaves, and flowers from hibiscus plants are safe (edible, in fact).

I would feel safe giving my birds branches from cottonwood or hawthorn trees because I know they don't rely on chemical defenses. I would give them hazel branches for the same reason.

I would not give my birds branches from any aromatic tree like cedar or eucalyptus or pine branches with a lot of pitch. I would not give them willow because I know they contain the chemical compounds that we derive aspirin from. I would not give them yew branches, because I know them to be deadly.

Just about anything else I would view with suspicion, just to be on the safe side. Bear in mind that plants are far more likely to contain toxins in their fruit, leaves, bark, and sap than in the wood itself.

Okay, wow....I just realized how long-winded this has become. My apologies! I hope you find it helpful!

[HungryBird]

I used maple to make my playstand. Not Japanese maple though, I've heard that is not a good idea.

[Sixwing]

Naurthon, that's a very useful wall of text! Thanks quite a bit - your comment on plants that don't use chemical defenses made me think.

I live in a desert area, so most of the plants (aside from the cottonwoods that grow near flowing water) -do- use chemical defenses to prevent themselves being eaten or dried entirely out, and even most of the native berries which I know to be safe to eat (most aren't) are incredibly astringent.

I will research more and see if any of them are known to engage in allelopathy before giving my birds access to any branches. Thanks!

[Naurthon]

Glad you found my logorrhea helpful, Sixwing! Which desert are do you live in? When I lived in Phoenix and Southern California, I often saw flowering century plants with flower spikes more than 20' high. If you can nab one of those after the flowering is done, you could cut it into disks and have enough chew toys for your birds for a long, long time!

I should also add that untreated bamboo is safe, as it is just a big grass.

[Cage Cleaner]

Damn. I was about to put in some eucalyptus b/c it grows everywhere in california.

[Naurthon]

Cage Cleaner, you'll find sources on line that say eucalyptus is okay. I just personally wouldn't risk it. Have you ever noticed that nothing else grows under all those eucalyptus trees in California? It is because of the chemicals in their leaves. They poison the soil to reduce competition. It is part of the reason why those trees have spread so widely in California. They were originally brought in to be grown to make railroad ties, but then they took over the state.