This is actually more a question about building a cabinet type thing for african greys but it would apply to all birds I guess.
My greys are trying to take over my hall closet. Well they have taken over it and I had to move everything out of it. They are both males so no worries of mating, but they want to be in an enclosed multilevel type thing so I want to make them a cabinet with mulitlevels.I spent $20.00 on a cardboard triple decker cat house and they are in it alot so I decided making this cabinet will be a good idea. It needs to be bird safe wood and some type of safe glue or possibly stainless steal screws even. Picture a book shelf, but not as wide. Doors on some of the shelves and open on others. Holes cut out of the floor of each shelf with a ladder or some other system to allow them to go up each level. Then I will have toys hung in each level. This will make them very happy. I am defeated and they will not stay on their playgyms no matter what I do, but they will happily just sit in that closet and relax all day if I let them. They also want to chew in there which is why I need to build something fast.
Does anyone here know what the best wood and glue to use? I hear pine is good but how do we really know it's not treated? I guess that's why I haven't made this yet. Any help or ideas would be greatly appreciated
thanks
tikileahsmom

i can't picture what you are talking about, but am laughing at the visual of the birds in the closet.

i've been thinking about buying a long 2x4 to cut into thinnish planks to make toys for goofy. but like you i am unsure how to tell if it's untreated and safe. do you just get an untreated stud? seems like it would be much cheaper to have a TON of these things at the ready because goof will get thru one of those expensive (yet seemingly simple) toys in a day's time.

if you get it figured out, lemme know will ya? lol. the home stores always have lumber for pretty cheap.

kris

I've heard pine is not treated unless it's the stakes that need to go in the ground. I want to make sure though. I'll let ya know if I find anything out. Basically I want to build them thier own free standing closet with large holes cut out of each shelf so they can go up and up and up to the top. I want it to be interesting enough to keep them out of "MY" closet so I can start using it again. I have tried to no end to keep them out of there but I have failed.

You can get un treated boards at Lowes or Home Depot or any lumber yard. Treated wood is easy to distinguish because it has little track marks in it and it is a brownish orange color. Regular pine or alder would be an excellent material and I would use 1 x 6 or 1 x 8 or 1 x 10 depending on how deep you really want to make this.

Depending on how crafty you or your hubby are there's lots of different ways to put it together so you don't have to use metal screws or anything like that if you don't want to And you can put it together with Elmers glue which is safe for birds.

You can also countersink screws and put wood putty over them so they aren't exposed to make it a little stronger.

Pine, hemlock, alder, aspen maple, oak are woods that are safe and pine and alder are probably the cheapest

If it were me, and I didn't have all the saws and what not to do tongue and groove type or dove tail joints then I'd just use wood screws, counter sink them and do the wood dough putty over them its fast, strong and would be pretty inexpensive if you used pine.

Here is a wonderful site for building a cage cabinet for pet rats. You would have to make modifications and space your shelves farther apart to accommodate the height of your Greys but rat folks are always cautious about safe products to use since rats are susceptible to respiratory infections, etc.

http://www.dapper.com.au/grotto.htm

I think this is a great idea! I have a picture in my mind of a doll house w/ sides and cat type holes lol I have used plain ole pine plenty w/ our birds just make sure its the untreated when you purchase it

That has to be one of the coolest things I have ever seen for a rat cage! Now I'm wondering if I could convert it a little o make one for my ferret?...

I am not sure how save wood filler is, but you can make your own. Just take the sawdust from the pine or board you are cutting and mix it with Elmer's glue to a dough like consistency. Fill the whole with this and it will harden just like filler. I use this technique a lot, and it stains the same color as the wood you are using because it is the wood. Not that you will stain your unit.

I bet you could...just have to be a *bit* bigger.