I was thinking about getting some dried out branches to put in Gracie's cage. We're going to Josh's grandpa's next week and he lives in a very wooded area. Any suggestions on which kind of branches to get? I read somewhere that redwood was a no no when it came to birds. Any other no no's I should know about?

I prefer to use the already cured manzanita or java wood branches. Here are some sites with good information. I always worry about what the pigeon or crow that pooped on the outside branches may have been carrying...

Birdsnways - Safe Plants & Trees for pet birds, pet parrots &exotic birds

Bird; Birds: Safe, Toxic Trees, Woods. Safe Tree Wood. Poisonous. Parrots. Parrot cages.

safe and toxic plants and trees

Most fruit trees are safe if they've never been sprayed. That's what I'd recommend if you have any available, but do a websearch first to make sure that the particular type of tree you want to use is safe. Nut trees are also safe except chestnut and oak, and personally I don't think I'd want to mess with black walnut either. Willow is safe. Some sites say pine is safe but I don't especially recommend it - not that I'm very well informed about it. I know that untreated pine lumber is OK, but when I lived in Georgia I rescued an escaped tiel that had apparently spent at least a day hanging around in pine trees, which are heavily predominant there. Her poop looked like tar for the first day we had her, and I suspect it was from eating pine needles. She was really hungry when we first brought her in!

My tiels like to chew on acacia and eucalyptus, but I don't think you'll find many of those in Illinois!

P.S. Don't just look for dried-out branches - birds love to gnaw on fresh ones with the leaves still attached! Anything you give your bird should be thoroughly cleaned first, of course.

I'm with you Kathy. We tend to error on the side of caution. (Truth be told its because Amber & I have no clue what we are doing )

When little Jack flew out the front door last November he camped out over night in some fir trees & pine trees. I remember his poor feet were covered in pitch. After some research and a call to our friends at Avian Medical we learned pitch isn't very good for birds. (I cannot for the life of me remember the details as to why)

Not all fruit trees are safe, you cant use peach family trees.