Nature Challenge... Making a Parrot Toy

by Susanne

7 Materials

3 Hours

Medium

Anyone who has a parrot knows that they love to play. Sometimes need to be distracted from naughty behavior. Plus they are so smart they get bored and need to have their toys switched out occasionally.

Our bird is Aurthor. He is an African Grey Parrot. About 12 years old. We are his third home. We have had him almost two years.

I started by first collecting all of the items I was going to use for the toy, and all of my tools for building it.

I started by cutting all the sticks I was using to about 6 inches.

I first made a plus sign with two of the heaviest sticks using twine to hold them together.

I continued to add sticks and wrapping the twine as tightly as I could. I was constantly turning the shape in my hand and adding sticks in empty spots to eventually get the form of a ball.

I then used the twine 2 strings to a time for added durability. I used a large Crafters needle to thread some of the pieces. To complete the toy I used recycled pieces from Author's old toys. Strips of cloth, and canning lids.

The final steps were knotting the twine in a large enough knot so Author couldn't easily pull everything apart. Installing it into the cage. And seeing if Aurthor liked it.

Which he does. He loves it actually. Which makes me very happy too

The final steps were knotting the twine in a large enough knot so Author couldn't easily pull everything apart. Installing it into the cage. And seeing if Aurthor liked it.

Which he does. He loves it actually. Which makes me very happy too

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The sticks I used are from a marijuana plant. We legally can grow. These sticks are wonderful. The don't really snap like most sticks. They are very fibrous. So the bird spends hours shreading them into like fine hair.
I also used pieces from two old bird toys. One with several natural items and one with a plastic ball and bells.
I also used cut strips of fabric and canning lids.
The tools I used were wire cutters (I used for cutting the sticks). And scissors for the twine and fabric. And a large Crafters needle. (I had everything except the needle. I got that at Michael's.)

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4 of 7 comments

Lauren on Nov 15, 2017

love the idea, maybe go back and edit though... you repeat the paragraph about Aurthor loving it.. I know about this from experience... lol good luck with the challenge..

1 Reply
- Susanne on Nov 15, 2017
  I saw that too. Thank you
  
  Like
Nadine Hartman Bourne on Nov 15, 2017

Wow! It's like a bird sculpture .

1 Reply
- Susanne on Nov 15, 2017
  A toy this size would cost about $30 to buy. Much better to make. Parrots destroy them so quickly. Lol
  
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