home made bird toys

[TheNzJessie]

hey i hate seeing birds a left in a tiny cage with no toys or anything because they simply *destory them*
as we all know bird toys can get VERY expensive to buy.

so i decided to create a thread so everyone can post there toys they make for there birds to give other people some ideas that u can entertain your bird without a massive cost

can you please post what you make and most importantly what type of bird you make it for if you so its more helpful as someone who owns a budgie wouldn't necessarily want a great big toy designed for a cockatoo..

for me i dont put anything in my birds cage i dont want destroyed what ever goes in there i dont care its now his he can do what he wants to them

sme toys i make for my budgies are

i find a pinecone (and treat it so there are no bugs or mites etc) drill a hole through the top and hang it in his cage with bits if home dried fruits and other yummy snacks

get blocks of wood cut them to shape (lucky dad is builder and has all the fancy tools) i drill a hole through a middle and can die them different colours with vegetable dies u can drill a hole big enough for a perch to fit through ot just a rope

i go to the craft store and buy wooden beeds (bigger than my budgies beak) i thread them though a peice of rope and hang them up with a bell on the end (also from the craft store)

while i was working at the pet store we used to have a cockatoo and a african grey and they used to get bord and find there way to the food section and complety destory $100s worth of supplies....so this is what i did....

every week before saturday (thats the day i volunteers there) i would go to the crafts store and my local park (there were fruit trees and tea trees there) i would gather branches (treat them so there ar eno mites or bugs) i would buy form the craft store wooden beads, wooden blocks, bells, rope and some vegtable oils...all would cost me more more than $7 and i would sit in the garage for hourse trying to figure out new toys (as african greys are highly intelligent) what i ends up going was making something i called *a shaker* its when i got a thick branch and drilled the inner out of it do it looked like a holow log i would then place about 5 wooden beads inside with some dried fruits and seeds put a couple of bells on the outside for extra noise and file down the wooden blocks so they could act as plug to block up each end of the hollow log without needs glue or metals...so now we have the thing that looks like a normal stick but has wooden beads and yummy stuff inside and the african grey called billy LOVED THEM it was sooo cheap to make i ended up using about $3 supplies and he would spend all day trying to find the course of the noise and ones he got inside he had a wonderfull time eating all the yummys for his hard work....every saturday he would be super exited when he saw me coming with a fresh new *shaker* if i get time ill post a video on youtube on how to make it its very simple

so everyone post your ideas on your home made bird toys

[TheNzJessie]

i forgot to add i treat the woods i find at parks by baking them in the oven at 160 degrees celcius for 10-15 min that kills anything living in there

[TheNzJessie]

this is a quick drawing on paint of one of the toys i made for Quil (my budgie)

[bmsweb]

Nice Post, we've just purchased some supplies from ebay and some local stores and plan on making heaps of toys in the coming weeks. I might post some pics here

[TheNzJessie]

that ill be awesome

[skeetersunconure]

i bought a box from jungletalk and it is filled with wood chews with holes drilled in it i got it from petsmart but i out string trough them and attached paper and put little treats kinda like enrichment inside or ontop and he plays with it all the time! (it was like 10 dollars)

[MandyG]

Great post, thanks for the diagram! I'll have to try it. I'd love to make my own toys but I'm really not creative enough (or have enough time) to come up with new things to make!

[TheNzJessie]

the diagram is for a budgie toy but u can always upsize it to larger matarials and use the same concept

[xXMissEuphoriaXx]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tDDX9r_uixw&feature=related check this lady out

[TheNzJessie]

shes got some great idea but im always worried about giving my birds plastic like straws and bottles just in case they swallow bits of it. i like the paper bag one!