Portable stand

[RabidAlien]

My wife got us a re-home Eclectus parrot last summer, and has been looking at different tree perches and table-top stands online.  Those things are EXPENSIVE!!!!  So she had showed me a small A-frame style stand, of course I said I could make one for a LOT cheaper.  One trip to Lowes for a 1x12x6' piece of pine, a 3/4" dowel, and a set of paddle drillbits (my current set went up to 1/2", the two larger bits being sacrificed to the "you must lose something" house move several years back), a little bit of tinkering in Inkscape, and I think I have a passable stand.  We also made one out of PVC pipe, wrapped the cross-piece in athletic tape for grip, and  use it in the bathroom, but no scrolling was done on it.

 

Stack cut the two sides so they're equal and the drill holes matched up.  Scrolled the center portion, and then scrolled the outer edge.  About an hour on the saw and drill press.  Sanded down the ends of the dowels a tad bit, everything is pressure-fit together.  Since parrots are known to nibble on their stands, this will remain raw wood.  They are also very susceptible to fumes, we have to take her out of a room for a couple of hours when doing touchup painting on the walls, so staining would require a long drying time to make sure that nothing is off-gassing anymore.

 

Rosie hopped over to it from my arm with only a little bit of coaxing (and a walnut bribe....spoiled rotten, she is), and seems to approve.  She likes being near her people, so we bring her over (she's less than a year old, and previous owner had her wings clipped at some point so she's still learning how to fly....she's starting to figure out that its easier to land with her claws than just slamming belly-first into the perch and scrabbling for a foot hold.  Next, steering!!!)  whenever we're congregating in the kitchen.

[Dan]

Beautiful bird and good work on the perch.

[daveww1]

very nice, beautiful bird