Home-built shelftop and laptop stands with photos

[Strawfrawg]

Marvin always likes to be up high, and it’s been a pain in the butt having him land on top of things I don’t want him lighting on…not to mention that he flies around with nutriberries and drops crumbs all over from the tops of things. So I made him this little shelftop-stand-with-tray. I’m no carpenter…this just took a few cuts with a saw and some non-toxic children’s glue that is completely covered by the bird-safe pine and hemp string. Marvin LOVES his new play area and spends hours up there every day. Just thought I’d share this in case anybody else could use something similar and could use a visual to base it on…the whole project cost less than $20 US and took less than half an hour to make.

Needed:

1 length of ¾” square untreated pine
1 length of 1 ½” by ¾” untreated pine
1 piece of ¼” thick untreated pine board
1 wooden dowel (or 2 if you want different diameter perches)
2 eyelet screws (used for stringing wire on picture frames)
Natural hemp string
Non-toxic children’s glue

I glued the dowels on top, but reinforced them with the hemp string. The bottom layer of string is glued to the post and perch, then well-covered by many additional, tightly-wrapped layers of string so the glue will not be easily exposed (just in case). Toys can be switched out easily because they just hook through the eyelet screws. I made the tray smaller than the shelf it sits on so he isn’t dropping toys and crumbs down to the floor.

[Strawfrawg]

I made this laptop perch from scraps of wood from the shelftop project…allows Marvin to perch above my screen without his toenails digging into it!

Like Marie said in another thread, the point is that your birdie wants to do what you're doing, but in Marvin's case he tires of wandering the keyboard...then wants to just sit on the top of my screen and look at it upside down. This was a very easy solution and so far, so good. I'm making another one with a taller post so I can hang a toy above the perch. Should've thought of it the first time.

[Strawfrawg]

Meant to mention, along with the little willow twigs in the bottom of his shelftop stand, you may be able to see two twists of dried seagrass. I found these (and the little twigs) in the rodent aisle of my favorite pet store. Very cheap in a good quantity and Marvin really enjoys them. I've found the rodent section is good for foot and undyed toys.

[KimberlyAnn]

That laptop perch is ingenious! Does it work to keep him away?

The other perch...I want! Lol The rope makes it look nicer then a normal perch and looks great on top of your bookshelf. Without the parrot, it could be an Ikea piece of art!

[marie83]

Well done:) Both look like fab ideas. I cannot wait til I've done my course and will have some spare time to try and make stuff like this. Try being the word, I'm hopeless at practical stuff.

[Strawfrawg]

Thanks, Marie and Kimberly Ann!

The laptop perch does work....for my bird, anyway. My only real problem was his toenails digging into the top of the screen so that's solved. Probably wouldn't work for larger birds, and you might want to make the perch a bit higher than the top of the screen if your bird bites the top....this won't help with that at all at the height I used. But it's sturdy and easy to use.

Marie...I am terrible at carpenrty so no worries, this is extremely easy to make. If you can measure accurately at least, you can do this.

I plan to put stands like these in a few different places where Marvin likes to land, so I am trying to make them decent to look at. Since I posted this he's chewed the wood quite a bit, so I may have to make new ones fairly often. At least when you make things yourself you can base it on what you know your bird likes. He has rejected three playstands/gyms I bought, so I'm going to have to develop some serious skills to keep things interesting....

[Strawfrawg]

Marie, if you don't mind my asking...what are you studying?

[janetafloat]

They're really ingenious, aren't you the clever one I'm amazed that Marvin is happy to sit on your computer screen perch since Alfie is straight on to the keys and will prise one off in a heartbeat given half a chance, but then I'm often amazed by the tales you tell of Marvin, he's a cool customer! Well done, you

[marie83]

Marie, if you don't mind my asking...what are you studying?

Animal Management, pretty much covers a bit of everything which means there's an absolute ton of work to do.