How to Attach a Natural Wood Perch

Because a budgie perch has a small diameter, it's easy to attach to a cage. You shouldn’t need to screw-fix it. Choose the right thickness of perch and it will wedge snugly between the bars on either side. You can also use plastic zip-ties: the budgie will not be able to chew the hard plastic, so there’s no issue with toxicity. If you want to insert a natural wood perch that doesn’t span the entire cage, you’ll have to be a bit more ingenious and employ small bolts, washers and wingnuts.

Budgie Perch Diameter

Your budgies’ favourite perches – the ones they roost on – should be between 1 and 2cm diameter, to make them perfect for budgie feet. In a larger cage you can include perches of different diameters to make things more interesting for the bird, or construct a vertical ‘twig tree’ with perches of various sizes (different diameters of dowel inserted into a block of wood, for example).

Budgie Perch Stand

If your pet budgies have been finger-trained and can leave their cages to free-fly indoors, they will need places to perch. Once the birds are completely tame they will use you as the perch, and will happily play on the floor too. But it is still good for them to have non-human perches in the room.

The rough-and-ready stick perches are often the favourites

You can buy ready-made perch stands of all shapes and sizes. You can also extend your budgerigar DIY to this area and make your own. At its most basic a perch stand is a bent twig embedded in a flat base; but if you feel so inclined you can build a miniature playground for your birds, incorporating ladders, climbing frames and perches.

Budgie Perch Covers

If you’re using plain wooden perches made from pine dowelling, most pet-shop literature will recommend putting covers on them. These are custom-made tubes of sandpaper which fit over the perch and give your bird’s feet a bit more grip and texture. The sales blurb will also tell you how they help keep your bird’s toenails at the right length, but this is not actually true. Like feathers, the nails of a budgie reach the correct length and then remain at that length, unless they are snapped off, or if the bird has a disease or condition associated with excessive nail growth.

The truth is, perch covers are not necessary. They may even be a cause of a budgie condition known as bumble foot, where the toes become swollen and sore.