This month's meeting will focus on avian toys and toy making.   Anyone can make companion parrot toys that are bird-friendly, inexpensive and can be made while you watch the evening news or your favorite programs.

If you can tie a knot, thread a bead, and stack items together, you can make bird toys for a fraction of what you pay for them in the stores.   Weekly, my flock goes through the equivalent of two, eight-foot lengths of 2" X 4" lumber.   We saw the lumber to the desired lengths, color some of it, drill in holes and then start making the toys using beads, pieces of soft cloth, cleaned toddler toys from local thrift stores, and whatever else will keep our flock busy.  

There are three main groups of companion parrot toys:

Preening toys

Generally made from soft, fibrous materials that simulate the feel of feathers

Companion parrots may exhibit compensating, repetitive behaviors, such as a continual preening and cleaning of there feathers.   When taken to the extreme, these behaviors result in feather destructive behaviors.   One of the best ways to minimize such behaviors in my flock is to provide preening toys that allow repetitive preening without damaging feathers.   I much prefer to replace a frazzled piece of cotton rope than worrying about the amount of feathers someone has lost.

Destruction toys

Generally made from paper, cardboard, palm fronds, lightweight woods

These toys allow your companion parrot to release pent up energy and frustrations.   Better to have shredded palm fronds to clean up than having a visit to the local emergency room for stitches!   Many of my flock members seem to relish receiving a new destructive toy, which they proceed to bang against walls or attempt to remove from the hanger.   A great impromptu destruction toy is a piece of newsprint (use only the soy-based black inked sections) that I fold into a long 'stick' and we have tug-o-wars with; one of military macaw Glory's favorite out of cage activities.

Mentally-stimulating toys

Puzzles, foraging boxes and the like

You already know that your companion parrot is an intelligent animal.   If you have cockatoos, you know they are the engineers of the bird world and can pick most cage door locks.   They aren't trying to be the Great Houdini, they just want something to do if they need to stay in their cages for any length of time.   For my flock, I've found the 'peanut' toys are good for about two days before the novelty wears off.   The split coconut, or plastic pot and lid hanging toys that can have hidden treats are also exciting for a few days.   By then, the cockatoos and African grey 'know' the secret and I need to rotate toys again.

Some of the best mentally stimulating toys for our cockatoos have been the stainless steel puzzle cubes and some carriage bolts with wing nuts that the 'toos love to unscrew and sometimes put the nut back on and cinch it down so tight I need to use a vise and pliers to open it up again.

This month, we'll look at toy components and even build some during the meeting!   Come prepared to have fun and make some good things for your birds.