Case of the Mysterious Dying Bird

[Nokota]

Pine is fine as long as it is properly dried pine wood and not a pine branch or piece of tree. Any pine with pitch still present in it can be somewhat toxic. Also while dowels work alright perches with more diameter variation and texture are far better for your birds feet as well as intellectually stimulating to walk on.

If you are getting a baby, he won't likely be remotely adept at hopping from perch to perch and you should use several long perches close together, plus many around the bottom of the cage in case he falls and needs to climb back up. (young parrots often hesitate to fly short distances)

I would go with the dowels for now and then switch to better wood perches that are better for feet (But far more expensive) later on when you don't need them so close together.

Many people buy perches made from exotic woods, but I like to make mine by hand out of sunflower stems: not quite as good as far as diameter variety, but fantastic texture for feet and super chewable, full of good vitamins.

[Desire Mercy]

After closer examination of the cage, I can see the metal modifications they used to hold the top bar is definitely a different paint job than the rest of the cage. I'm about proof positive that it is indeed powder coated on the original items. I'm removing the modifications.

Also, noted, there were several fisher price baby toys hung in the cage. I'm throwing those away too.

If properly cleaned and identified, could I make perches out of natural wood? I was reading a site somewhere that went through a process of disinfecting natural woods by bleaching and placing them in an oven?

[KimberlyAnn]

Oh yes! Just make sure the trees are away from the roadside and that it's not in an area where chemicals are sprayed.

My conure LOVES apple branches. She strips the bark off and it's good on her feet. With branches that are too big, I personally use a vinegar wash and make sure it's very dry. But the branches come from my grandmother's tree and so I know they are pretty sate.

[Pajarita]

Use tree branches as perches (dowels are no good for their toes, feet and legs) but you don't need to bleach them, wash them thoroughly with soap and water and bake in the oven at 400 degrees for 20 minutes.

[Desire Mercy]

Also realized the "training" toys they gave me were hand made. Plastic-like rings like the backing that were painted, along with the wooden bases.

As a somewhat disturbing aside, I threw the old perches and the wooden bar that was stained into our wood burning stove... it was popping like a firecracker. Little pieces were popping and flying all over the fireplace. Couldn't open the door to put in a new log for awhile... kind of weird. Makes me wonder what was in/on that wood.