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Conference 7.286::pet_birds

Title:Captive Breeding for Conservation--and FUN!
Notice:INTROS 6.X / FOR SALE 13.X / Buying a Bird 900.*
Moderator:VIDEO::PULSIFER
Created:Mon Oct 10 1988
Last Modified:Tue Jun 03 1997
Last Successful Update:Fri Jun 06 1997
Number of topics:942
Total number of notes:6016

169.0. "Is eating wood harmful?" by CURIE::TOBIN () Fri Apr 28 1989 20:36

    My gray-cheeked parakeet loves to eat wood.  We've had a problem
    with her eating some of the woodwork.
    
    Is wood harmful?  If she likes it so much, would it be harmful to
    put some wood in the cage for her to gnaw on?  If it's all right,
    what kind of wood should I use - a branch from a tree, a piece of
    cut pine, or what?
    
    Thanks for any advice.
    
    Dan
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169.1manzanitaSBLANC::MOEHLENPAHFri Apr 28 1989 22:455
    I like manzanita wood.  My macaw loves to chew on it, and it's safe,
    and VERY hard.
    
    Ed
    
169.2try aplle branchesMUNCSS::BURKESat Apr 29 1989 13:562
    	I've heard that Apple branches have the most nutrient (in the
    bark). Our birds love it.
169.3What is manzanita wood?CURIE::TOBINMon May 01 1989 12:005
    Re: .1
    
    What is manzanita wood and where do you find it?
    
    Dan
169.4BalsaAKOV12::SELESKYMon May 01 1989 13:1010
    My budgies love to chew on balsa wood.  I buy the colored sticks
    at pet stores (or Erikson Grain in Acton) like the Fish Nook in
    Acton or Debbie's Pet Land at the Pheasant Lane Mall (any pet store
    should have them) -- they're dyed with food coloring so are perfectly
    safe.  Sometimes they're sold for gerbil or hamster wood chews.
     Anyway, my budgies have been chewing on them for years.  I stick
    them threw the bars or clip them so they can chew them.  You might
    try tieing them up near the woodwork where your grey-cheeked chews
    now and he'll switch over.  Or tie it from the bars of the cage.
     Buy lots so you always have when ready when he chews through each one.
169.5Wood is GoodDUNCE::KIRSCHBAUMAnd so it Goes...Mon May 01 1989 14:1125
    
    You can find Manzanita either thru mail order in the back of Bird
    Talk, order directly from Animal Environments, or go to Boston Pet,
    and they have it in varied sizes....
    
    I made a swing from a piece I purchased at Boston Pet, so my Macaw
    has a toy and something to exercise his beak at the same time. 
    
    Also, Boston pet has many great hanging toys made from all sorts
    of various flavors of wood at the store.  You have to be careful
    of branches you collect from outdoors, I believe you either have
    to bake or boil them, or both, before they are really save for a
    bird that is not at all familiar with our local germs....
    
    Also, Chelmsford Pet Care has a lot of Rock Maple toys and play
    gyms for birds.
    
    I don't know about Gray Cheeks, but pine is much too soft for a
    Macaw, he can chew thru maple in less then an hour.
    
    As to whether chewing wood is good for them, it is my understanding
    that not only is it good, it is `required' if you don't want to
    trim the beak...
    
    -dick
169.6wood is part of dietANT::MPCMAILTue May 02 1989 18:2912
    I was told by two different Bird Shops, that wood is part of a birds
    diet on the outside. I was also told that I would want to put a
    wood perch in each of the bird cages. Incase of the cocktoo where
    he's not caged in I made a wood perch for him. 
     Wood offers many benfits for the birds, if they chew it it helps
    keep the beaks trim, without a cost to the shop. It offers the bird
    a differetn width in grip which helps prevent arthritis in a birds 
    talcons. and gives them a chance to chew without the chewing the
    house around you.
    
    Lise