Trees in their cages!

[Nocturnal]

And they're loving it! I chopped a nice sized branch off the willow in my swamp and in Mika's cage I put a 2lb yogurt cup beneath the bars with a slot cut in the lid and placed the willow cutting in it. The leaves will not shrivel for days and in fact the cutting could potentially root and continue to grow.

(sorry bad picture... even with the shade mostly drawn the backlighting is still strong... the stem is coming out of the papers (I put the papers over Mika and Cayenne's bars) in the back left corner of her cage. She is LOVING it.

And here's Cayenne's--- I didn't think to put the bucket under his bars, but I am not concerned that he will chew on it, he doesn't go to the very bottom of his cage too often and when he does, it's just to retrieve dropped food or foot toys, he never stays. I may be able to do this in the U2's cage as well if I place the bucket under the bars (as he WILL chew it to pieces, haha!)

Mika in particular is really enjoying the branches, and as soon as I had put them in went into her cage and started chewing the leaves. (so funny for a senegal, she isn't mortified of most things as the handbooks said she would be when we got her 11 years ago).

 

[Nocturnal]

Well, I get up this morning and the branches are still intact! The sennie is sitting right in the midst of a cluster of leaves :3

 

[JerseyWendy]

What an awesome idea!!!! I bet your fids are loving each and every twig of it.

 

[Mayden]

I'm so jealous! Wish we could do that for our guys! Bet they're just loving it!

 

[Jowelbg]

Are they tough to clean?

 

[Nocturnal]

Are they tough to clean?

My birds only poo in one or two spots in their chea, I don't expect these to last very long, and when they are destroyed I can replace it.

 

[MarciaLove]

looks great bet they love it! Im always giving mine tree clippings.

 

[mrgoogls]

wow that's awesome! I gotta do that

 

[crazyforfeathers]

I'd like to do this too! How do I remove possible ticks / fleas / mites that might be contaminating it?

 

[Nocturnal]

I'd like to do this too! How do I remove possible ticks / fleas / mites that might be contaminating it?

In all honesty I don't worry about it too much-- It's unlikely that the bird will "get" something from the branch. If you are concerned, you could blast it with a hose before bringing it in. I just gave the branches a check for wild bed droppings and popped them in the cages.

 

[Featheredsamurai]

That's awesome I love using natural branches in the cages every once in a while to change things up.

 

[Nocturnal]

You're lucky you live where eucalyptus grows well! Not so here. The willow is an OK substitute though. The willow tree that we planted 7 years ago is finally large enough I can snitch branches without getting yelled at xD

 

[Gizmomania]

You can give parrots eucalyptus branches??? We have three eucalyptus trees in our back yard, but I've been hesitant to provide any branches to my birds, thinking that the eucalyptus oils were bad for them.

 

[Jowelbg]

How's the foliage doing? I'm really intrigued by this project