made some toys

[steptoe91(tozie)]

i made a few toys for the fids today. i was making stuff for caleb's cage to keep him busy but i couldnt neglect the other fids. 

just some plain wood chopped up and  threaded on a chain... and he loves it! 



paper cup and paper plate forraging toy strung on a piece of leather strap





marley went absolutely bonkers til i made him a paper cup forrager too. he just about drove me bonkers!

just some wood for ollie to chew



in case ya didnt see it in the caleb thread, a pool noodle forrager



a coconut forrager



and a boat load of wood strung up to chew

[Sondra]

Nice! Do you put treats in the cups with the paper plates? Like that one, gonna try it here!

Do you find that your birds go after coloured wood over plain wood or vice versa? My guys like thich rope, my old hands have a hard time tying all those knots. LOL

[steptoe91(tozie)]

yup, a small treat. i need to buy some paper to shred in with the cups, any suggestions on the best/cheapest paper?

i think they prefer the colored wood, but its much cheaper to cut it up myself. i can get 24 4 inch chunks outta a piece of 1x2 lumber for $1.20. this time i also go some 1x3 and 1x4, too. i found a quicker way to do it, too. i just measured the strip of lumber and marked the 4 inch sections with a pencil. then i drilled the holes in the the wood before i cut it into chunks. its not as 'pretty' as some of the colored wood toys but a whole heck of a lot cheaper! i tried to color it with egg coloring but the wood just doesnt accept the color very well. so i said to heck with it! 

Caleb just LOVES the pool noodle forrager. skittles and marley arent much interested in the treats in the cups, they consider the cup itself a treat! 

[BPMar]

  great job!  Hopefully a few mins of fun with the way they chew!!
Sometimes you can get comp paper cheap.....wonder if a telephone company would have old books....or if there is a paper shredder at your work?  I used to use ours for packing ceramics in years ago to cushion them.  I need to try the paper plate/cup toy too!  Some of ours would really love that!

I don't recall the site but they had the fid safe dye for wood~  that may be a little tedious to do?  Some of the celestial seasoning teas have a nice color to them (of course no caffeine and not sure what all else is in it)  Speaking of dye, I remember a patient talking about how they used onion skins back in the day to color easter eggs!

[BuffaloParrot]

Hey!  Really cool!  :party:

[Ditty]

Don't you have a paper shreader with a beak?  LOL

My post went to cyber oblivion.   :somad:
Making it a short story, I am stealing!

[Sondra]

Add vinrgar to the water and the colour will stay in the wood better. I'll see if I can find the link to the site for the dye, I have it somewhere.

[Sondra]

Found it!!

http://www.forbirdssaketoys.com/VitaCritter_c_11.html

I get the small bottles, this way I have all the colours and it goes a LONG way! Word of warning, use gloves to protect your hands and cover buckets with lids. I got buckets with lids from the bakery department of a local grocery store - they will save them for you.

[steptoe91(tozie)]

   cool thanks! i appreciate it. i like that. may consider it for the future.

[Sondra]

It's what we use, the colours are bright, vibrant & lasting. Poor Hubs forgot to put gloves on one day when he was doing a bunch of blue blocks. Well he had just pushed all the wood under water, added dye, when he HAD to pee, let's just say he ended up with a blue body part for almost a week!
Nothing like getting in the mood and having your wife start laughing. 

[steptoe91(tozie)]

 

[YoshiMike13]

thats awesome toz!! I love the pool noodle one. can they smell the treats inside of them?

[Nakia]

Those are great looking toys.   

I do the simple wood chunks toys mostly, but my crew likes me to put wood beads in the middles. They go for the beads first. 

As quickly as Roscoe can destroy a toy, I just don't get too elaborate anymore. Angel will make his toy last for quite awhile, but then, he can't use his feet like Roscoe to hold it down. For Angel, I make sure he can lean across a limb to reach it & it is barely hanging above the perch area. When he feels like it tho', he will hang from the top wire by his claws or even a rope. Well, before the vet clipped them too short. I will be glad when he can use them that way again. 

I bought a cheap shredder from Wally World & I use the cheap computer paper to stuff their boxes. They can sure get that shredded paper all over the place! 

Like your noodle foraging toy, I use these hollow plastic balls with big holes all over them I get in a bag from the Dollar Tree store. I stuff wooden round clothes pins (the ones that just push onto a clothes line, no metal spring) in the holes & I also squeeze Popsicle sticks in the holes. Roscoe absolutely loves to rip the wooden things out of it before he destroys the ball completely. It is so funny when he grabs the ball in his foot & all the wooden pins are sticking everywhere & he is shaking it up & down trying to decide which one he wants to tear up first.  

[wishforabird]

as usual tozie, you freaking rock.  SO COOL>.



I wanna come over and play in the elf workshop!!