I will make you brooches and toys for your delight
Of birdsong at morning and starshine at night
--Robert Louis Stevenson

Home-made toys such as this shish kebab can keep pet birds happily distracted for hours.

Even if he was born in captivity, your bird inherited many of the foraging, nesting and mating instincts of his wild ancestors. Toys are tools for him, practical necessities that mimic his natural environment and satisfy his instincts. The number and kinds of toys he's capable of enjoying is limited only by the needs he would have in the wild.

Some birds may seem to ignore or even fear toys at first. But you should still provide a selection of toys and periodically rotate them for interest. Without the mental simulation toys provide, your bird can become neurotic or depressed.

Do it yourself
It's usually easy enough to find at least a couple of toys your bird likes, but when you get into the medium-to-large sizes, they can be prohibitively expensive, costing from $20 to $50 or more apiece. If you've ever doled out that much for a toy only to see it destroyed in one afternoon, you begin thinking about the alternative - making your own!

It's fun making your own bird toys and can save you a lot of money. Once you've located some reasonably priced sources of material - and there are lots of companies selling beads, blocks, leather, rope and other bird toy parts for not much dough (see Toy-making resources, farther down on this page, in the left column) - you can become your own toy-making workshop, turning out a new toy whenever the mood strikes. Your toys can be as simple or as elaborate as you think your bird might enjoy. And when they break, you can repair them yourself.

By Rhonda Olsen THE INTERNET offers hundreds of diagrams and photos of toys, play gyms, and shower perches that you can make yourself. With a hack saw, drill, food coloring, and untreated pine, you can create just about anything. But what if you're crafts-challenged, or just don't have the time or inclination to make your own bird toys right now? You can still provide your bird with plenty of objects d'fun without taxing your creative skills. You just have to know where to look. Here are a few ideas: Many birds go bonkers for baby toys, which you can often find three for a dollar at garage sales or the local thrift store. Avoid the real soft rubbery or brittle plastic kind. Wash them with a bleach solution and air dry before giving them to your birds. Ask for the baby toy (instead of the regular one) in Burger Kings' kid's meal. The hamburger chain's Sassy toys are fun and colorful. Key rings, rattles, stacking cups or "busy boxes" - especially the ones that play music when you push a button - appeal to most birds. My red-lored Amazon has one with flashing lights, big beads and dials that beeps and plays four different songs. She selects a song and sings along. It not only entertains her, but us, too! Wisk brooms and natural wicker baskets will keep birds munching happily for hours. Offer your bird Legos, a psittacine as well as kid favorite. Here are a few super-easy projects for the mechanically uninclined: Braid a sisal rope very tightly for a rope swing. (Variation: make a tire swing by suspending a large rubber dog ring from a sisal rope.) Wash and tie a stuffed animal (the kind covered in fabric that looks like lamb's wool) to the cage bars near a perch. It will become a grooming, perching and bed-time buddy. Cut a phone book in half, drill a hole in the middle by the spine and suspend it on a sisal rope. (The soy ink print is safe.)

Recently, an avian veterinarian who was tired of spending over $20 on each toy for his macaw asked me to make some toys for him. Now I get to make some money doing something that is a great deal of fun! But before I tell you how to knock together some of my favorites, here are some tips on what to aim for.

Individual tastes
The first rule in choosing or making toys for your bird is remembering that he is an individual. Regardless of what types of toys his species is supposed to like, he may have his own ideas about what tickles his fancy.

Among five African greys, four might love piñatas (those cylindrical toys made of paper) and the fifth may like only bells. A trio of Senegals may have as many completely different sets of preferences.

In fact, your bird might change his mind about his favorite toys from one week, day - or even hour - to the next. Or, as he grows older and has less energy, he may prefer fewer toys. The younger the bird, the greater variety it usually likes. However, very young parrots will be more cautious of new items and should be given small toys, with size and complexity increased over time.

Sometimes it's difficult to predict what will be a hit and what will hang ignored in the corner of the cage. Most birds love mirrors; Merlin, my cockatiel, sits in front of hers for hours at a time. However, others - for instance, my Senegal and Timneh African grey - could not care less about admiring their own reflections. Many species adore "foot toys" - ones they can move around with or hold in a foot, while others prefer preening toys (see Spider Man at the end of this article).

So they can choose depending on their mood, I keep a toy box (actually a large plastic Lock Crock food bowl) in each of my birds' cages chockful of every kind of toy imaginable. Sometimes a bird will empty the entire box in order to get to an item at the bottom.

By species
Individual quirks aside, knowing how your species of parrot behaves in the wild can help you make toys he likes. To bone up on your bird, consider investing in a species-specific book from Baron's Publishing or www.avianpublications.com. Then you won't have to depend entirely upon the sometimes erroneous descriptions in bird-supply catalogs of which kinds of toys you should buy your bird.

A heavy plastic container makes a fine see-through toychest your bird can rummage through to find what he wants.

For example, in the wild, your macaw would be working at cracking open the tough shells of various types of nuts. The process of obtaining food keeps him mentally stimulated and his beak strong and worn to a proper length. To keep a captive bird in the same peak condition, you need to provide him with puzzles containing nuts and large wooden toys he can dismantle.

Cockatoos, African greys, eclectus, Poicephalus parrots (Senegal, Meyer's, Jardine's and red-bellies) and even cockatiels also enjoy chewing. Although they are extremely affectionate and love to spend time with their humans, cockatoos in particular love to destroy things, especially wooden toys and branches. Often a raucous bird, the cockatoo also seems to enjoy noisy toys, such as bells and music boxes. They also love brightly colored acrylics.

Like macaws, cockatoos also like to play with mechanical toys such as stainless steel cages with moving parts they have to figure out in order to get food (acrylic puzzles may not be able to stand up to these species' beaks). Lories seem to favor noisy toys, ladders, bells, rattles, and swings. Conures love to demolish paper products and wood of medium density. Poicephalus love to chew on wood, paper products, leather, play with beads, talon toys, and untie leather knots. Quakers love knots as well, and really enjoy music boxes.

Cockatiels love to preen very slim strands of material such as leather, cotton, string, jute, even those new latex strands, and they love to tear up soft pieces of wood such as balsa, or cactus wood such as Yucca. I tie slim lengths of balsa together for Merlin, my cockatiel, to rip apart. Cockatiels are primarily ground feeders in the wild, so leaving items at the cage bottom or on the floor of a gym is a good idea.

Lattice cut into sections and strapped to the cage with nylon ties provides an instant chew toy for large parrots who need to destroy wood.

Budgies like to chew and preen sisal and very thin natural string materials. Many small birds prefer munching on millet than playing with toys, and some may like mirrors or small bells, but most also enjoy having a little swing or ladder with munchies attached to it.

Feathered Tarzans
Some birds like to climb, swing, and hang from vines and branches in the wild. These breeds - macaws, Amazons, African greys, eclectus, lories, Poicephalus and caiques - like climbing ropes, strands of leather, jute and cotton hammocks. Intellectual types - Amazons and African greys - like to manipulate and study the objects they take apart.

Birds with strong nesting instincts, including cockatiels, Poicephalus, lovebirds, African greys and budgies, enjoy shredding and tearing paper, cardboard and string. And birds that love nestling against and preening buddies in the wild, such as budgies, usually like "birdie buddies," those soft, brightly colored and triangle-shaped toys you attach to the side of the cage near a perch so the bird can sit next to it and cuddle with it.

Many birds enjoy having a hut, tube or even a tissue box to scratch and tear at and hide in. Huts are roundish or squarish tents covered in brightly colored fuzzy or cotton materials with two quick links at the top for hanging. I've torn many of these apart in order for them to have just the right amount of slack inside for a picky bird. (The only caveat with toys like these is that they might encourage egg laying, which can lead to health problems, so you'll want to keep an eye on your bird's behavior.)

Size counts
In any case, don't waste your money on a large toy for a small bird - it will have no interest in it. And never give a small-bird item to a large parrot. The ease with which big birds can dismantle small toys can result in injuries - swallowing the clangor of a small bell, for instance.

The cagetop can be a fun place to hang out when it's equipped with a "toy box" and toothpick holder.

Safety is an important consideration. View bird toys as you would toys for children. Examine the materials and handle each toy to make sure there are no sharp edges.

Avoid varnished or urethane woods, coated metals, and hard, brittle plastics that could be broken apart and swallowed. Beware metal bottle caps with sharp uneven edges, and toys made with fuzzy, loose soft materials that could be ingested. Bargain toys with inferior designs or materials accidentally injure or kill many birds each year.

Metal attachments should be made from stainless steel or aluminum. Only stainless steel is deemed completely safe for birds. Zinc and lead are toxic. (Note: the dietary zinc found in many brands of pelleted bird food and vitamin, mineral and amino acid supplements manufactured for pet birds are controlled and appropriate. The excessive amount of zinc a bird may absorb by mouthing or licking various toy parts can cause poisoning and even death.)

Whip up a hanging chew-toy by stringing wood shapes on a length of chain.

Stainless steel test
Items capable of attracting a magnet are not pure stainless steel and likely have an undercoating of zinc or some other potentially dangerous metal. Keys, for instance, don't make good bird toys (although most birds love playing with them) because their composite metals usually include zinc and lead.

Most parrots love to chew on wood. Fortunately, there are many safe woods with which you can work, including hard or soft white pine, balsa, manzanita, ribbon wood, yucca cactus wood, kiote, agave, citrus wood and driftwood.

You may have other kinds in your area that would be safe to use for bird toys. (For instance, branches from weeping willows indigenous to the Northeast, where I live, make great raw toy materials.) Before using any wood you're unsure of, check with your avian veterinarian, poison control center or an avian toxin list such as ParrotChronicles.com's Plants page. (You can also e-mail me at byrdwise@aol.com.)

Use only fresh, unscented and untreated wood that has not been sprayed with pesticides and be sure to remove all leaves and blossoms, which may be toxic.

How to clean wood
Clean wood before using by soaking for an hour in a shallow tub of water with a cap of household bleach.

Rinse well in plain water and allow to dry thoroughly, ideally in the sun. Rinse driftwood especially well to remove salt residue (test by placing a wet finger on the wood and then tasting your finger).

Another quick-and-dirty creation: String shapes on a nylon cable tie. Just add a quick link and you're done!

Coconut shells make terrific toy parts. To prepare, drill small holes in the eyes and drain the milk. Rinse well, cut into pieces, and let dry overnight. Planning on stringing plastic or wood beads? Make them large enough that your bird won't choke on them if they come loose.

Use fabrics in your toys with care. Most are blends of materials that may not be safe for birds because of undetectable coatings of dyes or fabric protectors. If you're certain your bird doesn't swallow material or string, you may use 100 percent pure cotton. Cotton rope should be fine, too, as long as you're vigilant about maintenance.

My Timneh African grey, Gwenavere, constantly plays with the home-made string toys I make him, so I'm always having to trim them. Make sure you, too, clean up the unraveled edges of cotton, rope or string toys, including perches, on a regular basis to prevent entanglement - many birds lose nails or toes or even strangle themselves in frayed toys.

Ding-a-lings
Is there a bird alive that doesn't love to give a bell a good ringing? The type and size of bell you choose is very important. Lovebird size and larger parrots should always be given cowbells, which can be purchased at your local hardware store and at some avian supply catalogs. ("Jingle" bells - the small round bells with loose balls inside - can catch in larger beaks.)

Cowbells should measure at least an inch and a half to two inches long and increase in size proportionate to the species. If you can’t get stainless steel, copper is okay.

If you plan on making or repairing any wooden toys, use Elmer’s Wood Glue, the only type that's safe for birds. If your bird likes to climb through wooden, rope or other hoops, be sure their diameter exceeds his body's at its largest point.

Toys to dye for
While some toy makers follow a strict no-dyes policy, believing that all-natural is always best, you can safely dye your bird's wooden toys to make them more interesting to him. Birds not only can see and appreciate vibrant colors, research suggests they can see some parts of the spectrum we can't (which might explain why mine sometimes seem to be mesmerized by nothing there).

"Perpetual blocks," simple blocks of wood drilled with holes for inserting goodies, last a long time.

I like to use pastels on my toys so the colors won't bleed as much when the toy gets dunked in water. Safe dyes include Wilton’s and Cookie Baker’s food colorings, both available at your local craft or baker supply stores. Ask your avian veterinarian about the safety of other brands.

Bird toys don't have to be fancy. They can be something as simple as food hidden inside scrunched-up wads of paper, so your bird has to work for it. If you don't want to, you don't even have to be as creative as that - for readymade toys, see Tricks of the Trade on the first page of this article.

But when you're ready to roll up your sleeves, read on. While these aren't the elaborate bead, wood and rope concoctions you'll see sold for $20 or $30 in some bird-toy venues, these simple toys I make for my own birds will get your feet wet and point the way to more elaborate creations. You'll need a cordless drill, handheld or table saw, and Elmer's glue.

Perpetual Block
No, it's not what I encountered writing this article! Depending on the type of wood you choose and how voracious a chewer your bird is, what I like to call the Perpetual Block is a toy that can last a very long time - always a nice benefit for the busy owner. Cockatiels to macaws can enjoy the Perpetual Block. Just scale it to your bird's size. Use hard wood such as pine or citrus or soft such as balsa.

Look, ma, no feet! The author's African grey carries his beloved "spiderman," cotton string knotted with a few beads, everywhere he goes.

For mid-size birds, cut a block four to five inches square and drill one-inch-diameter holes in each side, all the way through.

Fill the holes with things your bird might enjoy extracting, such as nuts or wadded up paper. Camelot, my Senegal, gets a small red, 100 percent rubber Kong toy in the hole every few weeks because he loves chewing on these dog toys.

This is a real money-saver: A similar 4-inch-square block of pine costs over $4 in the avian supply catalogs.

Spider Man
The Spider Man is another extremely flexible, easy-to-make toy. As described here, it's appropriate for a Senegal or Timneh-size bird, but you can adjust the diameter and length of the strings and the size of the beads for smaller or larger birds. My Timneh, Gwenavere, loves the Spider Man plain, sans beads, and carries it everywhere in this beak.

Cut five strands of 1/8" pure white cotton string and three strands of jute, each approximately 7 inches long. Place several beads on a few of the strands. If your bird enjoys untying knots, knot all the strands at both ends, whether they have beads or not. Gather the strands and tie them together tightly in the middle with a 6-inch-long string. Voila! You can make dozens of these while watching TV and stockpile them for quick replacements.

Create a simple "foot toy" using a clothespin, leather laces and beads.

Foot toys
A simple foot or talon toy - so called because the bird can manipulate it with its feet - can be made with a plain wooden clothespin (the kind without the metal hinge).

For small birds, saw off the two top pieces and where the remaining piece indents, wrap several strands of jute, sisal, or cotton string. If you like, make the pieces long enough to add beads to, and knot the ends.

Alternatively, you can purchase boxes of brightly colored wood of varying lengths and sizes and use those alone as foot toys, or wrapped with strings.

Toys au natural
By now you've probably gotten the right idea that toys don't have to complicated. You can even use some safe-to-chew items as is. For instance, your bird may enjoy playing with a simple wooden spoon you'd like to retire from stirring the batter.

Another ready-made toy you may not have thought of is the pine cone, sure to please most birds. Use the medium-size round type of cone (approximately 4½” long by 2½” around), such as we have in New England, not the long sappy ones. Harvest in the fall when they are still fresh with seeds!

I gather pine cones once a year and keep a slew of them in a large, tightly-covered tin can. Gather cones only from a clean area that looks clear of dirt and animal droppings. Remove any pine needles or other debris from the cones and dry them in the sun before bringing indoors.

By CaroleSue Hess Old socks tied on a ring make a nifty chew toy. The author's creation before trimming. IF I CAN MAKE something for my birds, rather than buy it, I will. I think bird-toy prices are outrageous, considering how quickly toys can be destroyed. You are getting more colorful wood in exchange for your money, but as my formerly-pink Goffin's cockatoo will attest, the colors run when the the wood gets wet, so why pay extra? Birds are more into chewing than oohing and ahhing over the colors anyway. Keep fabric and rope trimmed short like this to prevent injuries. Wood for the taking I get the wood for my toy-making projects for free from building sites, sign shops, and other businesses that use untreated lumber. Often these people are grateful to have you haul it away for them. For perches, I measure the cage, cut a branch to the right size, drill holes in both ends (easier than notching) and use washers and a screw to attach them to the bars of the cage. Yesterday I was out of large washers, so I put a hole through a baby food jar lid and used that instead. If my birds chew their perches up, that's fine with me. It keeps their beaks in good shape. Busy boxes for busy birds I make my own wooden "busy boxes," with a variety of toys screwed onto them, including children's wooden alphabet blocks, puzzle pieces, beads and leather strips. The boxes have doors that remain open so the birds can go in and out or perch on top. A toy-making bench keeps everything in one place. The author's work area in her basement. I also sometimes drill holes through the wooden puzzle pieces and string them along with beads, dried apple rings, dried sweet potatoes, and blocks. Use your imagination - it's therapeutic for you and the birds love the results. (I dry the apples in the fall, slicing them into round thin pieces. When the dehydrator has done its job, I transfer the apple pieces to glass jars and grab a handful for making edible toys.) Sock it to 'em Another cheap chew toy can be fashioned out of old white socks cut into strips and tied into knots. Hang these from a cut PVC pipe with the strips inserted through drilled holes, or tie the sock pieces on a metal ring. See the accompanying pictures of the latter - I call this my sun toy. My plucking Timneh African grey chews on this sock ring instead of her feathers. An alternative PVC toy that's great for birds who like to take things apart is a length of pipe drilled with holes. Thread screws through the holes and secure them with wingnuts. You can make your own portable stand using a food tray and PVC. I've even made my own portable bird stand out of PVC pipe. I made one for my umbrella cockatoo, who has to be with me almost constantly. The stand moves about the house easily and fits next to my desk, kitchen counter and recliner. I don't use a pattern, just materials loosely based on the following: Start with a 12" X 16" tray (available at restaurant supply stores). Set this in a rectangle made of pipe and four PVC elbows. I constructed the rest out of three 8-foot pieces of 1.5-inch PVC and 13 "T" connections. I periodically change the stand - kind of like a Lego project - so the bird doesn't get bored. It's the thought that counts I sometimes end up with some strange-looking toys, but the birds aren't too judgmental. They just chew them into little pieces anyway. And I save a load of money. CaroleSue Hess lives in northern Michigan with Loco, her umbrella cockatoo; Nicky, a Moluccan cockatoo; Spooky and Cracker, Timneh African greys; Chloe, a red-lored Amazon; Chuckie Cheet and Chirp, the cockatiels; and Peekoh, a lovebird.

When he just doesn’t wanna have fun
Can't get your bird interested in toys? If he refuses to play with it, the toy may be inappropriate - too large or not interesting enough to him. If your bird seems afraid, try introducing the toy slowly by placing it on a table near the cage. Once he seems comfortable, move it closer until you can place it in or on the cage. Try playing with the toy yourself to show him what it's for.

If your older birder is not responding, it may be because of poor eyesight. Reassure him and try introducing a favorite toy from the past. Remember, too, that your bird may need a break from certain toys. Rearranging them can help.

Finally, you may have to face the fact that your bird considers you irreplaceable. Although I've provided him with an endless variety of toys over the years, I remain Gwenavere's favorite plaything!