u/T1melessGuy

Hi all, odd request but I'm looking for suggestions on a cockatoo resistant wooden tray i can have as a topper for my black shoulder chickens play-gym while i work.

Pictured is the space that I have for him. His lack of head is temporary I have spares on hand whenever he loses one, which is often.

Anyway... I want this tray to simply sit on the top of the folding table. He has taken to waddling around on the table itself lately and chewing on it. The waddling is fine, but the chewing the table is not. Though since its thick and hardened (salvage piece from a former family 4x4) he's struggling with it, but hasn't stopped him from cutting gouges into the sides.

Main criteria:

• Something that is solid enough that it's relatively cockatoo-beak resistant, so hardwoods would be ideal, or smooth metal/stainless steel
• Raised sides to keep the mess contained. Handles optional.
• If wood, thick enough that it can ideally last around 6 months or so before I need to replace it, and cut up the old one into scrap pieces for him to shred further
• Heavy enough that it wont tip over if a 650g (potentially 950g when he's matured) fluffy burnt dumpling stands on the edge of it, but I have means to fix it into place regardless.
• Wide and long enough to entirely cover the table. approx 800mm x 400mm?

Context: I set this up every day for him when I WFH so I have an easy space to put foraging foods and toys to keep him occupied and distracted, allowing him to be near me without actually being on me physically to dull some of the clinginess tendencies.

In particular, to prevent him from reaching to valuable things on my PC desk. A momentary lapse in supervision as I was changing cables under my desk meant his curious exploration bites resulted in him busting one of my OLED panels. I was fast enough to catch him in the act but not fast enough to prevent the damage.

My fault yes, but I have revoked his desk roaming privileges 🫠

Anyone here seen some good candidates out there for what can fulfil this? Doesn't need to be something purpose made for birds, any kind of tray that's a good size and thickness will work and ideally is something fellow cockatoo owners have already used for a bird-related purpose.

Gendo is my first ever cosplay I put together specifically for this event and the trivia event me and my Misato friend were invited to host the following day as part of Mechafest.

There was a contest during the walk; I won 3rd place in it! As a first time cosplayer on this day I was inordinately proud of that, with my much more experienced Misato friend winning 2nd and the Angel Rei being a well deserved first.

Nearly everything in the outfit is closet cosplay or otherwise found in a department store/non-cosplay online stores. The only exception being the jacket, which was a custom commission.

Despite still being my favourite cosplay to wear, he takes the longest to be ready for as I prefer to grow my beard naturally over ~3 weeks and shave it into the correct shape, rather than wear a false beard 😂

This day is one of my life's favourite memories so far, and made me fall in love with cosplaying when I had been terribly intimidated by the concept and the people involved in it.