How to Choose the Right Sized Perch For Your Bird

Choosing the right sized bird perch for your bird is very important since that is where your bird will spend most of its life. It may be tempting to just buy the common wooden dowel or pvc plastic perch since they are cheap and abundant. But these types of perches are not the best for your bird.

Just like a human can develop repetitive stress injuries from doing the same motion over and over in the same position or in the wrong position, a birds feet can do the same. To maintain the health of your birds feet it is important to give them the right diameter of surfaces to perch on and preferably a variety of surfaces to perch on.

Choosing the right diameter for your birds perch is very important. The birds foot should be able to wrap around the top half of the perch. If the bird can wrap its feet all the way around a perch, it is too small.

The best perches have a variable diameter so the bird can choose the spot that is the most comfortable. In nature the birds would have an endless selection of natural places to perch. In a cage they are only given what a human decides is best for them. With a natural branches like manzanita, the bird has the ability to choose.

Giving your bird a variety of surfaces to perch on is best. Make sure the highest perch has a varied diameter. This is where the bird will most likely want to sleep so it is important to give it something like a manzanita bird perch where it can choose the most comfortable place to sleep.