FINCHforum

I live in a small village surrounded by woodland / forrest .. I would like to head in the forrest and collect branches to use as natural perches, as well as using a selection of different diameter canes ..

What branches are advised and even more important what branches are a must NOT!! ...

Any advice appreciated, although im in England the forrest is dense and im pretty sure if i look hard enough i will find pretty much any type of tree ...

Thanks in advance

Gav

Hiya,
I've never had a problem with any branches I've used,but the saplings of ash and sycamore are ideal..there are usually loads growing among the trees in English woods.You'll be doing the woodsmen a favour thinning them out.You can see them behind my dogs ....all sorts of thicknesses.

yeah thanks pooh ... was thinking silver birch too .. are these ok ?

Birch is ok...depends what you're after.Sycamore and ash gives you long lengths pretty straight...birch tends to be a bit twiggy...Not that the birds are bothered

Here is a link to many types of safe and unsafe trees. Though remember, finches do not gnaw like hookbills.
I always stick to fruit trees or nut trees. My favorite is live oak
http://www.mdvaden.com/bird_page.shtml

CandoAviary wrote:Here is a link to many types of safe and unsafe trees. Though remember, finches do not gnaw like hookbills.
I always stick to fruit trees or nut trees. My favorite is live oak
http://www.mdvaden.com/bird_page.shtml

Candace, do you use live oak branches? Oak is listed on the bad column?
I am refurbishing an aviary and could use live oak if it's safe for rosey bourkes?

Here is a list of safe woods and as a bonus some fruits and veggies

http://www.parrot-and-conure-world.com/ ... birds.html

Charlie...I would avoid oak with the bourkes and any hookbill. If you have an orange grove near you as if you can have a few limbs when the prune. Take them home and scrub and soak the branches in bleach and water...scrub well and then rinse a few times, set in the sun to dry and brea down any residue bleach. Since most grove spray their orange trees scrubbing and cleaning them well is generally a good idea.

The orange tree branched are tough and if they peel the bark if won't hurt them. When in the Bird Club in Ft Myers we were invited in as a group to assist in pruning and we took truck loads of branches for our club memebers. The branches smell good to.