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A small weekend Project
The wood I use is a standard soft wood, most wood stockists will have in stock 2" x 1" planed timber
The finished size after planing is 1 ¾" by ¾". First you need to cut your wood into square
blocks 1 ¾" by 1 ¾" if you are making a large number of blocks, then it's best to make a
small template out of card board for marking the three holes you will need to drill
the center hole I use is ½" this size hole will fit any twig from ½" to ¼" as twigs are not
a standard size some will fit snug and others will be lose, but don't worry if they are
lose because when you tighten up the forth screw in the block this will fix the twig in place.
Make sure when you drill out the fourth hole it is in line with the center of the ½" hole (see photo) use
a screw which will pass through the ½" hole and just into the wood on the other side.
The two other holes are to fix the block to your cage, make sure the holes are the right size for
your screws to go thorough if these holes are to small for the screw the wood will just split, also
countersink both holes this helps to stop the wood from splitting when you tight the fixing screws

The Forth Screw
When you drill the hole
for this screw make
sure the hole is just
smaller than the screw
so the screw has
something to bite on.
Tip! don't over tighten
this screw, as you will
need to undo it from
time to time
Now all the holes are drilled it's time to give the block a good sanding to smooth all the edges, I like to round off all the corners,
just makes that finishing touch. Now just push your twig in and tighten up the fourth screw, it's now ready for your cage.
Now the block is fixed into your cage, next time you need to change the twig just undo the fourth screw pull out the old twig pop in
the new twig and tighten up the screw, it's as simple as that!!
 
 

Now that all the blocks are finished I like to make up a few bundles of spare twigs cut to size ready to replace the old one's when necessary, why wash and scrub old parches when you can just pop a new one in. as you can see on the photo showing the ends of the twigs they come in different sizes, but the will fit into the block. The photo on the right is showing how I find hazel twigs it in the woods, see all the shoots coming up, these are the twigs I cut (nice and straight) You can use fruit tree twigs e.g. (apple) also you can use bamboo, but I find this gets very polished after some time, making it slippery for the hens to hold onto when mating, again if you go to your wood stockist you can buy moulded round wood, I like hazel because it comes free.

 
 

Here is a happy Java sitting on his
new parch. Using natural twigs
with variant thickness',
will help exercise their feet,
also they like to strip the
bits of soft bark off the twigs as well,
also natural twigs look good
in the cages as well

 Photo: Light/Silver Java.

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2003