Safe Wood Blocks & Paint

A month ago, I purchased a "Parrot Toy". It consisted of a bider ring, chain and a bell with various sizes of painted wooden blocks on the chain. Skittles DESTROYED it! Now, all I have is a hook, chain and bell.

I would love to just restring it.

What is the cheapest, easiest source of wooden blocks and a recommended source of edible paint.

I have all the tools I need to cut my own blocks; however, if there is a convenient source of pre-made replacement blocks, that would work, too.

Thanks,

Forbey

Refills, ready to hang or string: Wood Blocks for Bird, Chinchilla, Ferret Toy Making - Discounted

Or you can get an untreated piece of pine and/or poplar, like a 2X4, cut it into chunks, pre-drill holes and dye with either food color or this stuff Nine 1oz Bottles ~ Combo Pack

JerseyWendy said:

Refills, ready to hang or string: Wood Blocks for Bird, Chinchilla, Ferret Toy Making - Discounted

Or you can get an untreated piece of pine and/or poplar, like a 2X4, cut it into chunks, pre-drill holes and dye with either food color or this stuff Nine 1oz Bottles ~ Combo Pack

Click to expand...

SWEET! A one-stop source for everything parrot.

JerseyWendy ... Yer da MAN!

Thanks,

Forbey

JerseyWendy said:

Refills, ready to hang or string: Wood Blocks for Bird, Chinchilla, Ferret Toy Making - Discounted

Or you can get an untreated piece of pine and/or poplar, like a 2X4, cut it into chunks, pre-drill holes and dye with either food color or this stuff Nine 1oz Bottles ~ Combo Pack

Click to expand...

OK, going with the food coloring idea (which my wife ALWAYS has handy). If, like the paint in the ad, I mix regular food coloring with alcohol, instead of painting the blocks, I should be able to dunk them and then put them out to drip/dry?

I have two specialy wood stores with shops attached. I should be able to get bags of untreated pine and poplar scraps inexpensively. I could end up making enough wood blocks at one time to store up for a year at a time. Hanging them in the garage in an old mesh bag should keep the dry, available and easy to locate!

I'm thinking "saving big bucks" so I can buy other stuff!

GREAT idea about doing it yourself.

Yes, mix the food coloring with rubbing alcohol. I don't know how brilliantly colored the wood will be, I think it will depend on the food color and the concentration you use.

But all the rubbing alcohol will evaporate once it's dry.

I use the Wilton cake decorating food coloring. You can find this at Walmart of Hobby Lobby. It comes in little jars. You'll need 2 of those per 32 oz of alcohol for good coloring. Let the wood soak in them for at least 20-30 minutes and then place on a wire grate to dry.

When you're done coloring, pour the liquid back into the alcohol container to use again.

I make a lot of my toys. Couple of things I've found to be helpful:

Dyes - I've used Wilton's Cake Dye as previous mentioned. BUT, ..... really when it comes down to it, it's an extra step and expense. Birds toys are dyed for one purpose .... to look pretty for the bird owner. Sorry, but the bright colors do nothing for the bird. So, why take the extra time and expense if it really doesn't benefit?

Wood - For those without a "wood source" go to Lowes or Home Depot and ask them if they have any "White - Cull Wood" for sale. NOt all the wood that comes into these big box stores is quality wood. Each day the employees go from rack to rack on the sale floor pulling off the wood that is severely warps, splits, twisted, etc... hence, "culling". They usually make small piles of the various shapes and sizes, bundle it up, and price it for sale as "cull wood". Cull wood can run from $25-$100+ for a bundle, depending on how big the bundle is and it varies daily. A $75 bundle will last me MONTHS and I a number of chainsaw birds like Macaws and 'Toos. The "white" cull wood will be mostly pine or poplar. Do NOT take anything not marked "white otherwise it will most likely be pressure treated and that's NOT a good thing for birds.

Alternative - If wood is scarce or the wallet is thin on $$ that week then find an old phone book and drill it an inch off the binder edeg, string your chain through, connect off with a ring, quick link, ..... Polly has a REAL CHEAP toy that'll keep him/her busy for awhile.

Tips - ALWAYS, but ALWAYS keep the chains, rings, quick links, etc from the toys you buy. They can be used and reused many times. You should do an inspection each time you reuse them to make sure they are still sturdy and safe. MAke sure you use stainless steel or nickel plated.

WeimerHeimer said:

I make a lot of my toys. Couple of things I've found to be helpful:

Dyes - I've used Wilton's Cake Dye as previous mentioned. BUT, ..... really when it comes down to it, it's an extra step and expense. Birds toys are dyed for one purpose .... to look pretty for the bird owner. Sorry, but the bright colors do nothing for the bird. So, why take the extra time and expense if it really doesn't benefit?

Click to expand...

I respectfully disagree with you on this. If given 2 identical toys, one with colorful blocks, and the other plain, I guarantee that all my birds will "play" with the colorful ones first.

My Ripley was quite shy around colorful toys in the beginning. So much so I made toys out of natural wood and started incorporating colorful fabric and such. He transformed really quickly.

If I place 6 blocks on the kitchen counter, all but one colored, I know exactly in which order he will come and get them. The "plain" one will always be last.

Birds DO respond to color more then what most people would realize. For those that don't believe should watch the world's smartest bird named Alex, a African Grey! You tell him the color to pick, he'll go to it. They see color differently from us but they can still tell the difference.

I even dye my ropes that I use to make my own toys. Soaking them in the alcohol laiden dye is an added benefit that I'm killing off anything that may be on or in them and it makes them colorful.

My last macaw wouldn't play with anything that was plain. I guess if your bird will, that's a step you get to skip.

I agree about not using dyed wood. If you don't feed your bird food with dyes in it because you think it's bad for them, then don't color the wood. I think the different colors look great in the cage, but in the wild, trees all are in the same shades - browns or green. If a bird needs to chew, he will take whatever is available. To spend all the effort into coloring blocks of wood that will be shredded in minutes or hours is not worth it to me, but to each their own.

Yep, that's been my experience too, Wendy. The Beaks have a definite preference for anything yellow (first fave) or red (second fave). In fact, I've been thinking of ways I could discover if they can discern different colours of beads. In my recent DIY frenzy, I decided to jazz up some recycled wooden beads by re-dyeing them in food colouring.

People: do not do what I did and paint on full-strength food dyes!

The first thing that happens is, the item will dry to be nearly black. The next thing is that your bird will become bright red/blue/green/purple/yellow on all the unfeathered parts of his body as the food dye rubs off on him. At first, I thought Barney and Madge had some fowl disease - then I realised they'd been playing with my dyed beads and were spreading the rainbow around the cage. I had to remove the beads and wash the excess colour off. Duh!

WeimerHeimer said:

Tips - ALWAYS, but ALWAYS keep the chains, rings, quick links, etc from the toys you buy. They can be used and reused many times. You should do an inspection each time you reuse them to make sure they are still sturdy and safe. MAke sure you use stainless steel or nickel plated.

Click to expand...

I have learned to be careful with quick links. Skittles has taken the one with a screw tight fastener and unscrewed it ... while he was hanging on it ... was funny, until I figured he could have hurt himself in the drop. Now when I fasten the links to the cage, I have to make sure it is screwed on tight and checked periodically.

I just spoke to a lovely lady at a local hardwood specialty store that makes custom cabinets. ALL of their wood is untreated, kiln-dried lumber. She said they don't use much pine, but they use lots of poplar. They keep smaller scraps inside and larger ones on a pallet outside. ALL FREE FOR THE TAKING!

I thought that might be a useful lead in looking for sources of wood in your areas.

Some might charge, but if someone doesn't take it, they have to pay someone else to haul it away, so you might just be doing them a SERVICE!

Made a quick run over lunch and picked up a bundle of poplar "sticks":





I got there just as they were emptying the dumpster. Next time the bike stays home and the pick up goes for the wood.