Building a play gym
Posted: Mon Oct 07, 2013 1:31 pm
Even before I got Fats I was thinking about buying a play gym to put in the basement rec room so the birds would have an independent place to hang out while my boyfriend and I play computer or video games. But a play gym is more expensive than I can muster to splurge for right now.
I saw in one youtube video (something like "why IRNs are awesome") the guy had taken a perch dowel rod and tied it to string and suspended it. I tried that and hung it from the ceiling since our basement ceiling is unfinished--just joists and cables and a beam and such. Well, that did NOT work. The dowels moved too much and the birds refused to even try. I hung toys too--no way jose.
I thought about drilling holes in the perches and knotting the string through the perches to limit the rotation. But instead i think I'm going to construct a play gym to suspend from the ceiling.
The man at the bird store says untreated pine is fine for the birds. I don't feel like going through the natural branch hassel. So in my design efforts I've come up with a few thoughts...
a poop catcher. It would be nice for the poops not to get all over the carpet and or couch. I think the bottom layer of the gym will be some sort of flat board to catch poop and food. I think it will need a little lip on it. It would be nice if the only connections were on the side so that newspaper could be put down. But I want to try to make it so the birds don't actually want to hang out on that lowest level because then the poops will end up on the carpet. Poop is a funny word. I think I've seen people layer hanging baskets to try to acheive this. Maybe a peice of waterproof fabric?
Ladders are fun. I bought a cheap-o pine ladder that i think I will cut in two or three. but it's only about 18 inches long... if I cut it in half it's 9 inches long. If I mount it on a diagonal the distance between perch levels might be 7 inches or so. 7 inches, Fats doesn't really need a ladder for that does he? well, I think if he doesn't have any help or support at all he could beak up to 6 inches... 7 MIGHT be a stretch. Camo couldn't beak up 4 inches he's so small. I'm not sure whether he would even want to use a ladder....
then again, I think I need to measure how tall the distance between perches needs to be so they can sit up straight in between levels and walk comfortably underneath.
I'm thinking that this will end up something like a 3 dimensional Donkey Kong. Toys where the hammers would be... Food where the princess would be?
I also need to avoid the birds going all the way up to the joists. there's paint and dirt and yuckiness up there... maybe one of those cisel mats? or would that encourage them to go up there? maybe just a piece of cardboard? something sturdy eounch though that I can put eye hook in to hang toys from.
Thoughts anyone?
I saw in one youtube video (something like "why IRNs are awesome") the guy had taken a perch dowel rod and tied it to string and suspended it. I tried that and hung it from the ceiling since our basement ceiling is unfinished--just joists and cables and a beam and such. Well, that did NOT work. The dowels moved too much and the birds refused to even try. I hung toys too--no way jose.
I thought about drilling holes in the perches and knotting the string through the perches to limit the rotation. But instead i think I'm going to construct a play gym to suspend from the ceiling.
The man at the bird store says untreated pine is fine for the birds. I don't feel like going through the natural branch hassel. So in my design efforts I've come up with a few thoughts...
a poop catcher. It would be nice for the poops not to get all over the carpet and or couch. I think the bottom layer of the gym will be some sort of flat board to catch poop and food. I think it will need a little lip on it. It would be nice if the only connections were on the side so that newspaper could be put down. But I want to try to make it so the birds don't actually want to hang out on that lowest level because then the poops will end up on the carpet. Poop is a funny word. I think I've seen people layer hanging baskets to try to acheive this. Maybe a peice of waterproof fabric?
Ladders are fun. I bought a cheap-o pine ladder that i think I will cut in two or three. but it's only about 18 inches long... if I cut it in half it's 9 inches long. If I mount it on a diagonal the distance between perch levels might be 7 inches or so. 7 inches, Fats doesn't really need a ladder for that does he? well, I think if he doesn't have any help or support at all he could beak up to 6 inches... 7 MIGHT be a stretch. Camo couldn't beak up 4 inches he's so small. I'm not sure whether he would even want to use a ladder....
then again, I think I need to measure how tall the distance between perches needs to be so they can sit up straight in between levels and walk comfortably underneath.
I'm thinking that this will end up something like a 3 dimensional Donkey Kong. Toys where the hammers would be... Food where the princess would be?
I also need to avoid the birds going all the way up to the joists. there's paint and dirt and yuckiness up there... maybe one of those cisel mats? or would that encourage them to go up there? maybe just a piece of cardboard? something sturdy eounch though that I can put eye hook in to hang toys from.
Thoughts anyone?
