Coating Homemade Branches

**Mumble55** · 10-20-2011, 02:00 PM

Hello. My grandpa is making a play stand for my two cockatiels from Pecan Wood. All the back has been stripped off and we were wondering what to put on the wood to protect it. Any suggestions? If possible, something that will be somewhat easy to clean poos off of. Thanks

**Marrie** · 10-20-2011, 02:15 PM

Most people just leave the wood plain, it wipes off though with all natural wood sometimes you have to replace certain pieces once it gets too soiled (like I have to do with my perches). If you want to put something on it though, you can use vet tape which is used on PVC play stands. Personally i'd just leave the wood and wipe it with vinegar water after a play session.

**Mumble55** · 10-20-2011, 05:56 PM

Thanks Marrie. I will tell my grandfather that.

**clawnz** · 10-31-2011, 06:59 PM

I do not strip the bark off of the branches I use, as I find the Fids like to chew on the bark.
Pecan wood I think is a hard wood so you should not have much trouble with chewing damage.
I would certainly leave it bare unless you find it to slippery now it has had the bark removed.
As for cleaning all I do is spray hot water with a little detergent on the soiled parts and give a scrub then rinse off.
When you first get the wood you can wash with hot water and detergent and the leave out in the sun to dry.
With my large Play Gym I find most of the pooh lands on the floor so I do not have to clean very often and this is with 4 Tiels and 1 Eastern Rosella using it. The Fids also roost on it most nights.
Details of the Gym are around somewhere.

**Mumble55** · 10-31-2011, 07:15 PM

I don't really mind chewing damage because my birds only chew certain things and luckily that is not one of them. The bark was stripped because my grandpa didn't want to take any risks with what might have been there. Also because he likes the color of the wood once it has been stripped. Thanks for the help P.S. your birds are BEAUTIFUL and your rosella is soo intriguing

**jamesCalvin** · 07-05-2012, 12:26 AM

I know that this post had not been replied to in pretty close to a year but for those who also check it out i have found rubbing wax papper on the things you want bird poop to come off of pretty good just have to rub it back on every so often especially if you were like me when our bird was caged and cleaning it every few days became harder to clean when i stopped using the wax paper

**Ghosth** · 07-05-2012, 05:22 AM

Wasn't going to post but when JamesCalvin made his post I had to reply.

I've made walking sticks, staffs etc for years and prefered a natural finish. Ended up with a beeswax/walnut oil mix that worked very well.
It would make cleanup much much easier, but it will also make it harder to grip for your birds. Natural with the bark on is what I use for my birds.