Think these are safe?

I've just discovered the oriental trading ipad app and I've put together a list of things I'm going to get Jenga for belated Christmas. However, a few things I'm not 100% on and was wondering if anyone could shed some light on the following:

Pheasant Feathers (100% natural), I was going to put pony beads on them and hopefully it will help Jenga's need to preen!

Bottle Corks - I believe they are plastic, but either way, cork or plastic safe not safe? I think plastic would be better than cork.

Thanks in Advance!

Someone hopefully will pipe up soon, but I just wanted to say I get my bird toys from mysafebirdstore.com so I don't have to think about these things

personally I hate plastic, I think it just as dangerous as metal.
they can chew it, and swallow it, causing harm.
I would think the bottle corks are fine, but depending on what they are made from.

feathers are fine, as long as they don't contain any dyes.

I avoid places like oriental trading company because the products are manufactured so cheaply. One cannot be certain of what they are made with to be able to ascertain the safety of the item. I always purchase from MSBS also for safety's sake.

I think it's important to explain why some toys are not potentially safe for future reference.

some people find things locally or 'think outside the box' for their bird toys.

I just wish we had a MSBS here in Canada

I buy lots and lots of my toy items from China through ebay. I know it's a risk I take, but the cost of toys here is ridiculous and my Beaks are what the books call 'hard chewers', so they go through a lot of toys!

I buy baby toys for about a tenth the price they're sold here in Oz. Also, plastic beads and curtain rings, stainless steel parts (barbecue skewers are good for stringing fruit) and various pear links and hardware bits.

I wanted to get a foraging toy for my birds. The cheapest one I could find was a slotted acrylic ball threaded on a skewer with a ring at the top. It was priced at $27.50AUS. I found exactly the same ball on ebay (only, this one was coloured and contained a rattly ball with beads inside it). It was priced at two for $6.50. I also got a packet of 12 stainless steel barbecue skewers with rings at the top for a dollar. All I had to do was drill holes at each end of the ball and thread the skewer on! It cost me a quarter of the price of the retail toy! I can't afford not to take opportunities like that.

Rope perches, atoms and boings are also pretty pricey here in Oz. I buy cotton and sisal ropes and make my own by winding the rope onto coathanger wire (sisal first and cotton on top). My homemade versions cost about a tenth what the retail ones do and the Beaks have no appreciation for brand names.

A couple of years ago, the Oz dollar had parity with the US dollar and it was well worth it to buy from the US. Since then, though, the Oz dollar has lost ground and the cost of postage (in both directions) has gone through the roof. Buggerit!

Betrisher said:

I buy lots and lots of my toy items from China through ebay. I know it's a risk I take, but the cost of toys here is ridiculous and my Beaks are what the books call 'hard chewers', so they go through a lot of toys!

I buy baby toys for about a tenth the price they're sold here in Oz. Also, plastic beads and curtain rings, stainless steel parts (barbecue skewers are good for stringing fruit) and various pear links and hardware bits.

I wanted to get a foraging toy for my birds. The cheapest one I could find was a slotted acrylic ball threaded on a skewer with a ring at the top. It was priced at $27.50AUS. I found exactly the same ball on ebay (only, this one was coloured and contained a rattly ball with beads inside it). It was priced at two for $6.50. I also got a packet of 12 stainless steel barbecue skewers with rings at the top for a dollar. All I had to do was drill holes at each end of the ball and thread the skewer on! It cost me a quarter of the price of the retail toy! I can't afford not to take opportunities like that.

Rope perches, atoms and boings are also pretty pricey here in Oz. I buy cotton and sisal ropes and make my own by winding the rope onto coathanger wire (sisal first and cotton on top). My homemade versions cost about a tenth what the retail ones do and the Beaks have no appreciation for brand names.

A couple of years ago, the Oz dollar had parity with the US dollar and it was well worth it to buy from the US. Since then, though, the Oz dollar has lost ground and the cost of postage (in both directions) has gone through the roof. Buggerit!

Click to expand...

postage prices are madness!!!!!!! Love the rope perch idea, i might have to try that way while you try my way =D

Boysmom said:

I avoid places like oriental trading company because the products are manufactured so cheaply. One cannot be certain of what they are made with to be able to ascertain the safety of the item. I always purchase from MSBS also for safety's sake.

Click to expand...

I agree with Boysmom. I do not purchase anything from China that comes in contact with food. Their quality control is nothing like the standards of the USA. I even try not to purchase produce from Mexico for the same reason.

Thank you all for the feedback - I am really looking for feathers. MSBS has some amazing things too, and a toy that includes feathers but I'm not sure they'd be repurpose able. Jenga likes to preen and I'm hoping to trick her into preening a toy. Yeah right.

Betrisher said:

Rope perches, atoms and boings are also pretty pricey here in Oz. I buy cotton and sisal ropes and make my own by winding the rope onto coathanger wire (sisal first and cotton on top). My homemade versions cost about a tenth what the retail ones do and the Beaks have no appreciation for brand names.

Click to expand...

Please give us some more info on this! How do you get the rope to 'stick'? I have the perfect rope and several wire hangers but I don't have an idea of what the next step should be

Well, I always buy three-ply wound rope (not braided). It's easy enough to untwist the rope just enough to allow the wire to make a fourth ply in the winding. You need to try it, as it's easier to feel rather than understand from a description.

If I'm making a round rope swing, say, I'll start with a metal ring (which I buy from my local craft shop). I take my rope and leave about a twelve-inch tail before beginning to wind it around and around the metal. As I wind, I make sure I have the twist of the rope secure in my hand and unwind it a teensy bit at each turn. This allows the metal to sort of sink in among the three plies of rope. It's not hard to juggle the strands and make them look very even as you go. When you get to the end, wind the rope tightly right up to the beginning point and either tie a knot or bind it very tightly with wire. Recently, I've found that threading on a huge wooden bead and then tying the knot works best.

Last time I made one of these, I was only able to get thin cotton cord. Since I worry about metal poisoning, I wound on a length of thick sisal rope first in the way described above and then added the cotton rope on top of it, winding each turn close by its neighbour and not sinking the ring among the plies of the cord. This made a very nice, thick, comfortable rope swing. Starting and ending is always a problem, but a simple knot will do the trick, even if it doesn't look as slick as the store-bought item.

Winding rope onto a straight wire can be a challenge when starting and ending. My preferred way is to first tie a tight knot in each end of the rope. Bend a good turn of wire over the rope and pinch it (the rope) tightly. Then, make another loop of wire and fasten a pear link or quicklink in the loop. Wind your rope over the length of the wire and finish it off as you started. Do the bending and pinching before you cut your rope off and leave enough wire at the end to make a loop for your quicklink to go in. If you want a boing, just turn it into a spiral. Always try to cover the wire completely with rope.

I've had good success with thick upholsterer's piping cord. I buy it from Spotlight (local fabric shop) in thicknesses that vary from 2mm right up to 20mm. Some birds like to worry at cotton rope and pull the strands out to preen. My birds don't do this and so I'm comfortable with them having it in their cage. If your bird is a puller and preener, then think twice before using cotton rope. Sisal might work better for you as the fibres break more easily and are less likely to entangle toes.

Just recently, I bought a long (3m) piece of 1" thick sisal rope with a view to making some kind of climbing toy from it. I haven't decided what I'll do with it yet, but I began by eye-splicing the ends (ie. weaving the rope back into itself to make looped 'handles' - easily learned from YouTube videos).