Safe aviary plants

[Tabbiespice]

Hi everyone.

I am planning a planted aviary for my budgies and cockateils. The aviary is done and I am sourcing the plants.

I want to use trees as the perches but I am getting conflicting advice regarding what is safe and what isnt. The trees I get will be young saplings around 2 metres tall.

I was looking at:

apple
pear
bottlebrush
gum tree
fig
norfolk pine
leylandii

Some sites say all of the above are ok whilst others say they are not.

Do any of you have live plants in your aviaries and what have you used?
I have been looking at trees and shrubs where the branches are fairly horizontal so they can roost and use them.

I would welcome suggestions

By the way, I am based in Perth, Western Australia.

Jackie
xx

apple

 

[KBEquine]

Hi Jackie:

My birds have apple & pear branches for perches, but not the actual trees. I clip the branches from our outdoor trees & fix them to the cage bars. They can also perch on a Norfolk Island Pine in my bird-room.

If the trees you plan to use are from a greenhouse, you may need to be careful about the soils in which they are planted - the birds like to root through soil & if there are fertilizers in the soil, it could be deadly to the birds.

But I love the idea of a planted aviary & have been trying to figure out how to do that for my birds (without exposing them to the fertilizers).

 

[henpecked]

I would not use plants from a nursery,most use lots of pesticides,local native trees and shrubs would be best.Just my 2 cents worth.

 

[Tabbiespice]

Thanks for your replies.

Is there any way to get rid of the pesticides on the plants I buy?
I will not even consider it if its not possible.
I will be taking steps to ensure they don't even have access to the soil so no worries there.

Otherwise I guess I could try and source an organic nursery to buy the plants from, although being in Australia it isnt known for its organic-ness LOL

Jackie
xxxx

 

[lene1949]

I think I only have native Australian trees in my yard, but I have no idea what they are, since I was 30+ when coming here...

 

[Pedro]

Depending on how big your aviary is. Tiels & budgies love to chew. I would stick to the the native plants such as bottlebrush & Gums, Also as teils & budgies eat seeding grasses in the wild i am sure they would love some planted guinea grass. It's also a good idea to keep your plants in pots if you lack space, that way it will be much easier to replace plants should they get chewed & damaged by busy little beaks.

 

[Pedro]

Jackie ask the nursery if & what pesticides they use. Usually they just wash off. Most of the pesticides used today are enviornmentaly friendly. I know heaps of people that have planted aviaries & have bought plants from the nursery without any harm to the birds.

Instead of having soil on the floor, a good layer of clean course river sand works well.