Homemade Parrot Toys

[Hasuki]

School has started getting busy again with no long holidays in sight, so I am looking for suggestions for toys I could make on a budget.

I need toy ideas for a cockatiel and a princess parrot (and if possible ideas for button/king quails and German Nuns (pigeons))

I would especially like toys for my princess, he has been developing a few behavior problems due to my slowly decreasing one on one time. He is screaming and biting, so ideas for homemade destructible toys would be much appreciated.

[PhoenixK]

I don't know too much about princess parrots, but you can make some great tiel toys with just plain inkjet paper. A thick stack of paper on a stick = lots of chewing fun. You can weave it or curl it or crimp it. You can crumple it around a treat as a foraging toy. Whatever I give my tiel as a toy, he always prefers to chew my mail - so paper is a big hit with him! ^_^

Balsa wood chunks are also great.

[MaxwellHelp]

Hi. Dollar Store? WalMart? Thrift Stores? The garden? Tell your friends?

Maxwell loooves wiffle balls. He'll go through the little ones in about three chomps and a toss. When I'm making a string of toys to hang in the cage, I'll include the bigger wiffle balls with blocks of wood, cuttle bones (99 cents at Walmart) and plastic pvc pipe pieces (left over from his new shower stand). The variety of chew textures entertains him.

Do you remember making paper balloons as a kid? http://www.instructables.com/id/Make...8-Easy-Steps!/ My local book store had a clearance rack of 2011 jumbo calendars for 50 cents. I cut apart the pages, and use that paper balloon method to make colorful boxes to hold toys and fruit bites. Maxwell likes tearing apart the paper and finding what goodies are inside to eat or play with.

Maxwell likes breaking apart plastics. Pens (without the ink or metal pieces), kids party favors, and plastic bottles/bottle caps are good recyclables that he seems to like.

I'm new to birds, so I'm a bit leery of rope, knots, and that kind of thing. I've read that if you can find a fleecy blanket at the thrift store, that strips of that can be used to make a plushy hang toy for your birds to snuggle with.

My local Goodwill store has LOTS of stuff for Maxwell. Willow baskets. Plastic kids toys. Wooden pieces. Napkin rings. Stuffed animals. I've even found a couple of bird toys on sale there, mixed in with the wind chimes. Wind chimes: Maxwell likes things that make noise. (again, I watch him pretty carefully with anything "stringy" to be sure he won't play with it in a way that would get him entangled.) The other day I walked out with a couple of bags of toy-makin's for 3 bucks.

I've tried making him vegetable shishkabobs, but he ignores them. He will spend a lot of time eating fresh corn-on-the-cob, though. He likes those little pumpkins you can get this time of the year, both raw and cooked. My brother just sent home a sunflower head for Maxwell to harvest from, but we haven't given it to him, yet.

My friends think it's pretty cool that I've got a parrot. If i tell them I'm collecting (i.e.) shredded paper for surprise boxes, or plastic bottle caps for a chew chain, or whatever, it doesn't take long to store up enough "junk" to make some pretty decent free toys.

Frankly, I think Maxwell gets as much entertainment out of watching me make his toys as he gets out of playing with them. It's fun to watch him get all excited when I have something "new" for him.

[AmberMuffinz]

I would be careful with wood you get from a thrift store. Make sure when you do get wood it's untreated and safe for the bird. I don't remember the link but I'm sure it's here somewhere that has the types of safe woods for birds.

At the dollar store, or anywhere else really, you can buy finger traps in a package. All my birds love those. I get them at the dollar store and sometimes I'll cut them in half when I string them. As the others said, paper is always a big hit.

You can also try pony beads. And if you buy a 2x4 piece of untreated pine or something you can cut it and drill holes into it. If your bird likes colored wood you can color it with simple food coloring. If you do buy some kind of string make sure it's natural. Even if it says natural, smell it to make sure it doesn't have an oily smell. I found some "natural" jute rope that smelled awfully oily. At craft stores they usually have some natural jute or hemp rope in various sizes that is just fine to use to make bird toys with. If your birds like to climb on the toys I would just be wary that they don't get their toes stuck in it.

Neelix also LOVES the plastic water bottle caps. At least he did for a week. You can also put holes in those and hang them, maybe put two together so there's a bit of a space inbetween them to put treats. Straws are also a big hit here. I tie them together and just let the kids have them and they like to chew them. Unbleached coffee filters are good for toys too, someone here gave me that idea but I haven't used it yet. I have a bag of stuff waiting upstairs to make bird toys out of. We also have those wiffle balls, our african grey loves them. I've also heard that those cat balls with bells on them are alright for small birds.

[victoria stiles]

Thanks for sharing. This information is areally very helpful.