How to Make a Bird Perch Tent

Although pet birds, most of which belong to the parrot species, seem hands-off to many people because of their sharp beaks and claws, devoted bird owners know that birds, especially parrots, love cuddling. You can save money by making your own bird perch tent -- a perch covered by a soft fabric tent. Vary the size of fabric depending on the bird: 8 square inches for a medium-sized bird like a conure, 6 square inches for a parakeet and 3 to 4 feet for a macaw. Vary the size of the perch, too. Your bird will love sleeping in its new cuddly hiding spot.

Things You'll Need

  • 8-inch square piece of fleece fabric
  • 4 straight pins
  • Sewing needle
  • 2 feet cotton thread
  • Scissors
  • PVA water-soluble glue
  • 1-inch-x-6-inch wooden dowel
  • 6 inches of rope or hemp
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Instructions

    • 1

      Arrange the cloth on a flat surface with the patterned side facing up. Pick up the right edge of the square and bring it to meet the left edge to fold the cloth in half. The top and bottom edges should now each be 4 inches, and the left and right edges should be 8 inches long. The patterned side should be on the inside.

    • 2

      Insert a pin in each corner of the doubled cloth so that it stays folded while you work. Push the end of the pin through the fabric and then back through it again, so that it holds both sides of the folded fabric together.

    • 3
      A running stitch looks like this.

      Thread your needle and knot the end of the thread. Sew the top edge of the rectangle shut using the running stitch. Push the needle and thread through the fabric at the corner where the top edge begins, then pull it back through, going in the opposite direction about a centimeter away from the first insertion. Repeat this until you have sewn the entire top edge closed.

    • 4

      Pull the needle and thread through the nearest stitch three times, cut the thread off the needle with your scissors, and tie a knot in it near the fabric. Trim the remaining thread to a length of an approximate inch.

    • 5

      Remove the four pins. Turn the fabric inside-out, so that the pattern is on the outside. The fabric should now look like a tent, with the stitched edge as the top of the tent, and the folded edge as the back of the tent.

    • 6

      Place a generous amount of glue on each end of the wooden dowel. Glue one end of the dowel to the front left open corner of the tent (to the inside, un-patterned surface), and the other end of the dowel to the right left open corner of the tent (again to the inside surface). You should now have a fabric tent that has a perch placed across the front bottom opening. Look face-on at the bird perch tent and you should see a triangle. The wooden dowel should make up the bottom of the triangle.

    • 7

      Wipe off any excess glue with your damp towel or rag. Hold your palms against the bird perch tent to press the fabric securely to the ends of the dowel. Do this for at least three minutes to make sure the glue forms a bond.

    • 8

      Allow the glue to dry completely for at least one hour.

    • 9

      Cut a small hole in the top of the bird perch tent, about halfway between the front and the back of it. Thread the rope or hemp through the hole and tie it securely to one of the rungs at the top of your bird's cage, so that the bird perch tent hangs down into the cage from the top. The bird perch tent should swing freely.