One of the many wonderful things that can be made of manzanita branches are bird perches and bird stands. These stands are free standing 6 feet or higher, installed on a large wooden or concrete base for your aviary, or as small as ten inches long to rock on the wall of a small bird cage. A popular designs I've worked with, is based on a tripod of three divisions, all of which attach to a central trunk running up about 5 to 6 feet tall and branching out into a perch and play area for your bird. Another way is to put an equal branch of a base of a bag or two of cement or concrete. Manzanita is perfect for this for many reasons ...
-First off in the forms of wear and stress connected with a bird manzanita is found to be very durable. It is natural, looks excellent, and is relatively easy to clean.
-Second, the curvature, configurations and colors of the grain is beautiful and unique from branch to branch.
Third, they are relatively cheap if you can find the right seller.
Now the primary purpose of this article is to give you an idea of the different approaches you can take when assembling a perch and play area for his bird (s) cage or aviary. There is of course your standard straight (or something equal) branch from one side to the other.
You can hang a branch inside the cage from small chains and two small holes drilled through the branches. String chain through the hole and probably a little ring or clip that is too large to allow the chain to travel back through the hole. This gives your bird a bit of a swing perch.
Another interesting possibility is a parallel multi or forked branch mounted on one side, there are several branches extending in different heights and / or angles in toward the center of your cage. This is a great approach of many small and medium cages.
A design can not be ignored is the full tree approach fitted from scratch in the center of your cage. Because of the manner and scale as manzanita branches grows, it is important that your cage is big enough for this type of display, namely that your bird still has room in the cage, and it is not hinder or impede the movement instead of increasing it's habitat. Manzanita grows dense network of branches, I often thin branches off significantly for use as a "birdcage trees" because you need big branches that the birds can reasonably perch on, and they should be distributed to the extent that a bird can move and fly around in the cage without running into the arms all the time. These types of perches may prove to look pretty amazing and serve well in large cages with mid-sized and small birds.
Several small sticks or one with multiple branches or levels tend to be more exciting and visually appealing then just your average branch stretched across. Maybe mount a stick, which goes from page to page in your cage somewhere in the top 1 / 4 of the cage and hang a swing out of that at a lower level of your birds. It makes great use of the height of your cage and is relatively simple to construct. (You can also order them pre-made, but we'll get to in a moment.)
Securing your branch of the cage can be done in several ways. A small bolt screwed into the end of the branch, coupled with a few slices and a wing nut works great for ensuring a branch next to a cage. Wire strung through holes drilled near the end of the branch is fine for a perch that the strings in the entire length of your cage and has two focal points. If you have a tree branch coming out of the side of your cage, it is advisable to establish two secure points of contact with the side of your cage. small bolts installed in your perch and secured to the washers and nuts or wing nuts give a nice robust and secure link between your bass and the side of the cage.
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