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Do you know?
Birds are on their feet 24/7 except in flight!
A bird uses its feet to forage, climb, swing, and eat. Therefore, maintaining optimal foot health is crucial for your pet birds, and a key to maintaining healthy feet is to challenge your bird’s feet through bird perches.
There are different types of bird perches available in the market, and if you own a pet bird, chances are you already have a bird cage with at least one dowel perch installed in it. However, the pre-installed dowel bird perch is never recommended for the long-term health of your feathered friends.
In this article, I will walk you through some of the best bird perches to overcome your bird’s chewing and maintain healthy feet by constantly stimulating them.
Bird Perches – A Quick Comparison
Here is a quick list of the bird perch candidates
In a hurry? I recommend Java Wood Branches!
| Picture | Name | Type | Link |
|---|---|---|---|
Editor’s Choice  | A&E Java Natural Wood Multi Brand Bird Perch |
| Buy On AmazonBuy On Petco |
Best Value | JW Comfy Perch |
| Buy On ChewyBuy On Amazon |
Budget Option  | Manzanita Natural Wood Bird Perch |
| Buy On AmazonBuy On Petco |
 | Grape Wood Perch |
| Buy On Amazon |
 | Niteangel Parrot Cage Perch |
| Buy On Amazon |
 | Polly’s Hardwood Bird Perch |
| Buy On Amazon |
 | Sweet Feet Pumice Pedicure Perch |
| Buy On Amazon |
The Top 7 Best Bird Perches – 2023 Reviews
While choosing the best bird perches, the quality, persistence, and variety of the perches matter the most.
To make things easier for you and your birdies, I’ve compiled a list of the 7 best bird perches to keep your birds happy and healthy.
1. A&E Java Natural Wood Multi Branch Perch
Best Value
Editor's Choice
A study natural wood perch that is designed for the strongest bird beaks. A long lasting natural choice for all bird!
A&E multi-branch bird perches are ideal for people who have multiple birds or large birds.
The best thing about A&E Cage Co. is they use natural, untreated wood for their bird perches, which are completely safe to use for your pet birdies.
This bird perch is made of non-fruit-bearing Javan coffee trees, which are sturdy wood suitable for large parrots with powerful beaks. It comes with a metal attachment that connects to any standard bird cage without fancy tools.
The only disadvantage one could find in Java Bird Perches is the Java wood is naturally very smooth, which doesn’t allow your bird’s nails and claws to groom. To workaround that limitation,I recommend keeping different variants of bird perches in the cage.
Remember, the shape and size of these perches may vary as they are directly coming from genuine tree parts.
Pros and Cons
Pros
- Multiple branches provide more perching space
- Made of 100% real, untreated, non-toxic wood
- Stainless steel metal attachment for easy installation
- Promotes healthy bird feet
Cons
- Pricey
2. JW Rope Perch
Best Value
JW Comfy Perch
Best Value
This rope perch is flexible and offers a relaxing surface for your bird's feet. It can be shaped in many ways to provide variety
Buy On Chewy Buy On Amazon
I would always love a colorful, bendable rope perch with a firm grip to alleviate boredom in my feathered friends.
The best part about this bird perch is that it’s a vividly colored simple rope perch that you can twist and tweak to create lots of fun shapes to entice your pet birds. The rope perch has plastic screw-off caps that ensure easy attachment to the walls of the cage and create a stimulating cage environment.
All in all, rope perches are proven to overcome over-preening in pet birds and promote healthy beaks. It also soothes your birds’ feet and relieves pressures on the joints, promoting long-term health.
If your pet birds are fond of gaudy colors and patterns, they are going to love this rope perch.
Pros and Cons
Pros
- Suitable for birds of all sizes
- Bright colors to attract birds
- Easy installation
- Relives pressure on the joints
- Easy to clean
Cons
- Not suitable for all birds
3. Manzanita Natural Wood Perch
Budget Option
Budget Option
Manzanita offers great value and variety as a bird perch. A best buy!
In order to keep your pet birds happy and healthy, you need to keep challenging their feet. So, to cater to this, natural wood bird perches are an ideal investment.
The Manzanita natural wood perch not only provides a great leisure time activity for your pets, but its raw, bumpy surface brings a serious challenge to your parrot’s feet.
This Manzanita natural wood perch comes with multiple branches of varying sizes to accommodate over two or more birds at a time. The sturdy cage mounting hardware comes with the packaging for easy installation and durability.
The Manzanita natural wood bird’s perch is easy to clean and lasts a long time, and the rugged texture of this natural wood perch allows healthy exercise for your feathered friend’s feet.
Pros and Cons
Pros
- Made of 100% natural wood
- Great for feet exercise
- Sturdy and long-lasting
Cons
- Diameters may vary
4. Grape Wood Perch
A natural wood bird perch that offers a softer surface over Java and Manzanita. Great for smaller birds
If you own parakeets, conures, and other small birds, you should know that bird perches are one of the best investments you could ever make for your curious little birdies.
The Wendysy wood perch is made from natural grapevines that are non-toxic and safe to use for your avian friends. Grapewood is softer and smoother than java and manzanita, so it won’t provide as much stimulation for your pet birds. This grape wood perch comes with nuts and bolts for easy installation in the cage and should last a long time.
If you’re aiming for something light on the pocket but high-quality, The Wendysy grape wood perch is one of the best bird perches available in the market.
Pros and Cons
Pros
- Lightweight and smooth
- Easy installation
- 100% natural and non-toxic
Cons
- Not for large birds
- The smooth surface means less foot exercise
5. Niteangel Flat Perch
Flat wood perches offer a resting spot for your bird's feet. Every bird cage should have one of these!
Flat bird perches are as crucial as any other bird accessory. They are great for bird’s feet and provide a platform to serve as a place to offer treats, food, and toys.
The Niteangel flat bird perches are made of Douglas-fir branches that are safe to use for birds. Their flat surface encourages gnawing and chewing. Hence prevents beak overgrowth and promotes healthy feet.
This flat bird perch is equipped with stainless steel wing nuts, making it super easy to install and remove for proper cleaning.
Your avian friends would love satisfying their natural instincts with night angel flat bird perch.
Pros and Cons
Pros
- Excellent for chewing and filing nails
- Easy to install
- Helps prevents Bumblefoot
Cons
- Limited use
6. Polly’s Hardwood Perch
A natural wood bird perch that is designed and approved by a veterinarian. Each perch is hand picked by the Polly's Pet Products' staff
Trimming your feathered pet’s nails sounds like a struggle, right?
Well, not with Polly’s hardwood bird perch.
The hardwood perch is crafted with natural wood that’s hand-picked by experts for maintaining the quality. The perch features an easy-grip surface with a rope tied to the wood that ensures hours of entertainment to your beaked buddies.
Pros and Cons
Pros
- Made from all-natural wood
- Easy-grip surface
- Recommended by veterinarian
Cons
- Since it’s an all-natural wood perch, the dimensions might vary
7. Sweet Feet and Beak Manzanita Pedicure Perch
Sweet Feet Manzanita Pumice Perch
Part Manzanita, part pumice stone. This perch offers a great combo of comfort and nail grooming.
Bird spa, anyone?
Yes, please!
This Manzanita pedicure perch by sweet feet and beak is setting records with innovation and creativity. It features the unique combination of Manzanita, along with patented pedicure pumice grips to groom your birdies’ nails.
Manzanita, as I mentioned before, is the hardest wood for your feathered friend that works in combination with 100% natural cosmetic grade pumice for added grip and nail health — a great combo!
This wood perch is safe to use and comes with mounting hardware to ensure easy installation.
I highly recommended this perch for co*ckatoos, Mini Macaws, Lories, and Pionus.
Pros and Cons
Pros
- Easy to install
- Sturdy, long-lasting
- Rough sides for nail trimming
Cons
- Expensive
- Just a single branch
Are Dowel Perches Bad for Birds? (What You Need To Know)
The first thing you should do after buying a birdcage is to remove the pre-installed dowel perches immediately. Yes, they might be easy to install, easy to clean, and a perfect fit for any cage. However, I cannot overlook the disadvantages they possess to your parrots.
First of all, they are made from the cheapest quality wood any cage manufacturer would find.
But that’s not all.
They are inherently dangerous for your pet birds because if you notice closely, parrots are graced with zygodactyl feet -meaning two toes pointing forward and two backward.
To keep their feet in the best of their health, the front and back toes should never meet to avoid potential injuries. And that’s where dowel perches fail miserably.
The diameter of dowel perches is too narrow, immensely pressuring the wrong part of the foot, which in turn results in bumblefoot and other nasty foot complications. Therefore, I always recommend variety in perch diameter.
Avoid dowel perches entirely. If you are dead set on using one, make sure to add a variety of other natural bird perches, especially wood and rope ones, to compensate!
FAQS
What perches are good for birds?
Perches installed in the cages are not meant to last forever. Therefore, to let your birdie enjoy its free time, provide it with plenty of stimulating toys and perches it could easily destroy.
The best perches for birds are wooden, natural branches and Ropes.
What is FAQ?
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What is FAQ?
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Wooden
Wooden bird perch can either be store-bought or collected from your own backyard. Just make sure the wood should be untreated and non-toxic to use for birds.
Natural branches
While choosing the best bird perches, always consider using natural branches from non-toxic trees. They are affordable and provide your feathered friends with the closest natural environment to satisfy their instincts. Also, the non-stop gnawing and chewing promotes healthy beak and feet.
Ropes
You can also use ropes as an exquisite bird perch. The only thing is, the material should be hemp or untreated cotton that provides flexible grip and is incredible to gnaw on. It’s also convenient to clean and dry ropes.
What natural wood is safe for bird perches?
The market is flooded with bird perches of all variants. Since wood is generally considered safe to use for birds, owners are inclined towards buying wood bird perches.
However, not every wood is appropriate for your avian friends.
Here’s a list of natural wood that is safe for bird perches.
| Almond | Hickory |
| Apple | Hickory |
| Ash | Larch |
| Bamboo | Lemon |
| Beech | Lilac |
| Birch | Lime |
| Cottonwood | Maple |
| Crab apple | Mountain ash (rowan) |
| Date | Mulberry |
| Douglas fir | Palm |
| Dracaena | Poplar |
| Elm | Rose |
| Eucalyptus | Rubber plant |
| Fig | Spruce |
| Ginkgo | Sycamore |
| Grapevines | Tree fern |
| Hawthorn | Willow |
| Hibiscus | Yucca |
What perches are bad for birds?
Many bird owners make the mistake of not researching their desired product properly. The products that are usually considered safe for your pets might end up harming them, for example, ceramic or cement perches, sandpaper perches, and plastic perches.
The ceramic or cement perches, if abused, can wear and tear the beaks and nails of your curious creatures. Similarly, the sandpaper causes severe sores on the bottom of your birds’ feet.
The plastic ones are the worst of their kind. They may be sturdy and easy to clean but provide less texture and hazardous if swallowed.
Therefore, I highly recommend avoiding such perches that might be harmful to your birdies in one way or another.
Are sand perches good for birds?
No! Sand perches are a big no-no for your birds because of the following reasons:
1) Sand perches irritate your bird’s feet and affect their overall health.
2) When you introduce your birds to the sand perches, it can cause a bacterial infection on the feet known as Bumblefoot.
They are extremely uncomfortable with your birds because of their hard and cold texture that can dry out their feet.
3) causing them long-term stress and discomfort.
Are ropes safe for birds?
After wood, I only recommend rope perches in the bird cage, as they are an excellent investment and feel wonderful on your bird’s feet. You can also bend and twist the ropes to make fun shapes and stimulate your pets. Also, it’s easy to clean them in a washing machine or by hand.
Just make sure to provide your bird with the highest quality of rope perch, such asJW Comfy bird perch, so it lasts for months and doesn’t pose major entanglement and strangulation risks.
How do you clean perches?
Cleaning is crucial to keep your pets healthy and happy. In the case of bird perches, droppings may stick to the surface.
To clean your bird perch:
1. Wash and rinse the perches with plain water.
2. To remove droppings, soak the perches in a dishwashing agent.
3. If the stains are stubborn, sandpaper can help to get rid of them.
4. Ropes can be washed in the washing machine following a proper procedure.
5. Rinse everything again so no disinfectant residues are remaining.
6. Let it air dry and place the perches back into the bird cage.
How many perches should I place in my bird’s cage?
You can keep as many as you want, but we don’t want to overpopulate the cage. Therefore, I recommend at least2or3perches of different sizes at varying heights to keep your feathered friends entertained for hours. Also, don’t forget about bird toys!
Final Thoughts
Your birds are on their feet 24/7, which might put a lot of stress on their feet. Thus, you should always provide comfort and relief to their feet when they need it the most with the best bird perches tailored for your pet’s needs and body types. Just like bird toys, perches provide enrichment to your pet’s feet and beaks. Therefore, you should invest wisely in this product.
Remember, every bird cage should have three types of bird perches: hardwood for grooming, softwood for chewing, and soft rope perch for sleeping.
In this article, I’ve curated a list of the 7 best bird perches to promote healthy feet and resist your bird’s chewing. These products are veterinarian approved and ensure a healthy lifestyle for your pet birdies.
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Mark Valderrama
I’m thrilled that you found Aquarium Store Depot! Here you’ll find information on fish, aquariums, and all things aquatics related. I’m a hobbyist (being doing this since I was 11) and here to help other hobbyists thrive with their aquariums! I adhere to a high quality Editorial Process and Review products with real life field usage and practical analysis.
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