The toys for the birds on this page are for budgies "parakeets "

For more ideas click on image.This is a picture of Frosty and Sunny, two bonded males.

Allie�Caet wrote:

I have a silk tree for my birds that I hang bells and millet and toys on. The budgies love this tree more then anything else. Put a ladder up to the bottom of the pot and other silk vines around the base of the tree for them to climb up on.

Allie Caet wrote:

I also stuffed in newspaper at the bottom of the trunk where the moss is. This way when I throw it away I don't really care, and the birds don't feel like they are sinking. But I do not use the silk plant cleaner on the tree, or anything that my birds can get too.

Bahar Jaberi wrote:

The only thing I have found my babies like is untreated wicker basket I get for them from trader Joes. They chew the thing until it's all gone. The wicker basket that they make to put wine in and give as a gift.

Carol Palmore wrote:

Since wild birds spend much more time in their day foraging than our tame pets do, I like to come up with "food toys" that make the birds work for their food a bit. It is easier to come up with these "toys" for my parrot - e.g. give him an almond in the shell rather than an unshelled almond so that it is a "chew toy" for him to get to the almond, hang a whole carrot with tops or a brocolli stalk with some floret left on a "bird food skewer" and let him tear it up (and eat some). With budgies, I have a harder time figuring out food toys. All three budgies have now figured out how to be "mini food processors" with baby carrot sticks (ok - I'm lazy - I just buy the package of already peeled baby carrots at the grocery). I put the baby carrot in a clip, and it is soon transformed into grated carrot ( And hopefully some of the carrot goes into the budgie along the way.) April and Nick just figured out that this is fun to do. Keet and Nick have figured out how to be neat about it, but April always transforms herself in the rare "orange masked" budgie mutation! Greens seem to be a bit of a toy too - when they finish with what they want to eat, they just start tearing them up. Nick and April were playing with a brocolli floret for the first time today too. I think I've mentioned this game before with carrots ... I put the floret in a clip near their Boingg swing (a spiral rope swing). The budgie game is to get the swing going so that it swings up next to the floret, and they take a bite. This game is more fun with multiple players, since then the swing swings in more unpredictable patterns, plus it takes more skill to get a bite of brocolli when someone else's beak is in the way! Make the brocolli all that much more desirable too when someone else wants it!

Last but not least, is an empty sewing thread spool...preferably wood but they are hard to find. Plastic ones are OK but Budgies love to chew the ends of wooden ones. Craft stores carry wooden shapes. I get the Lara's brand from Michael's Crafts, which I think is a nationwide chain in the US. 1) their wood shapes are made in the US, which means they have less chance of being treated with something nasty and 2) that their wood shapes are completely untreated and unfinished with anything. They have lots of shapes, including all different size spools. They also have bags of the "doll pins" - the solid wood clothespins that you mention.

Eddie Sola wrote:

I have found a great, cheap way for making budgie ladders. The materials you need are as follows. 1 36-48 inch long by 1/2 inch in diameter dowel rod 1 24-36 inch long by 1/4 inch in diameter dowel rod wood glue (very little) 1/4 drill bit drill hand saw clamp (optional) String Start by wetting a piece of string and laying it completely straight and flat on a hard surface. Make sure that the string is pulled taut. Carefully roll the 1/2 inch dowel over the string just once. This will give you a guideline to drill the holes in a strait line. Before the water evaporates, make small dots along the line spacing approx. 2 inches apart. Next, drill the holes in the 1/2 inch dowel half way through (approx 1/4 down). Kind of "eye" the straitness of the holes and adjust if needed. Next cut the 1/2 inch dowel in half. Depending on the size of dowel you have, you will be varying the amount of steps needed from the 1/4 dowel. For example, if you have a 48 inch dowel and cut it in half, that gives you two 24 inch dowels. The proper spacing between each step is approx. 2 inches. So you would want to cut 12 1/4 inch dowel steps. After that use a SMALL amount of wood glue inside each of the holes that were drilled. Make sure that it is only a SMALL amount, you do not want any excess glue seeping out when you place the steps into the holes. Next place the 1/4 dowel steps into one of the 1/2 inch dowel's holes. After that place the other dowel on the steps. Lastly, but not necessary, clamp the ladder together for at least 3 hours. If you want, you can also purchase hooks to hang the ladder from some place. All this should cost you less than 5 bucks and you can reuse the glue for other ladders or even "bird trees" that can be made in a similar fashion except you drill the holes completely through the 1/2 inch dowel and put the 1/4 inch dowels in there alternating sides. Making it look like a tree! Have fun and I hope that your budgie likes all the new little toys that you are making him, I know mine are!

Hjelm wrote:

My birds love to climb on those stackable plastic crates. The ones I have have holes big enough to fit my hand through. They use their little beaks to pull up and hand upside down in them and there are lots of places to hang bells and treats. The crates are easy to rearrange and don't take up much space.

I have a kitchen gadget that slices, cores and peels apples and the peels come out in one long ribbon. My kids always grab some of them, but I hung some in the flight cages and the birds must have thought they were snakes or something. After a brave soul tried them, everybirdy wanted some. They had a ball . Susy

james lichard wrote:

Here's Daylight favorite toy;1-towel paper card board insert..Cut in half...Cut 1/4"strips up half way..The other half twist and insert into wires on cage so it won't come out..I flare out the strips,so it looks like a pom pom.....With all the feather she's been pulling out of the others,I'am thinking of attaching them to this,maybe she'll mistake it for a bird,and leave the other alone;) Tweets,Violet

I don't know how many of you know what Nylon Ties are,but their long strips made of plastic and come in different lengths and diameters..I use these to make rings,string beads,wooden blocks that I drilled out to 1/4" I string on the ties,even put the longest feathers,that I've collected together and tight it tight with the nylon ties,then used another tie to hang it from and then attached to their cage,and they love pulling at it:)These ties when one end is put thru the other automatically lock,and can't be pulled apart,all you do is cut off the excess with a scissors:)I have mirrors that Daylight alway knocks down,so I use these nylon ties to secure the mirror....There are endless things you can attach to these ties and they can be fastened to the cage anywhere you want them....If you change your mind on something you've strung just slide a scissors thru it and cut it..... I took a hard rubber ball with a bell inside and made a small opening about 1/4" and ran the nylon thru it and hung it fron the cage top and the birdies love attacking it;)You can even use these to hang food from..Hope this helps some..... Tweet,Violet

JUST A quick tip: Watch for those Garage Sales coming up.....I always head to the toys and baby idems and always come home with great ideas for birdie toys...Baby rattles,keys,things I attach with nylon ties and nothing that can be broken or small enough to cuz problem with my babies.... Tweet,VIOLET

Use 2 bathrm.PAPER dixie cups,poke two holes in bottom of each cup(sharp pencil works good for this)Use one nylon tie about 5" long and go thru holes on each cup,and attach to cage were wanted... These cups last my guys about 3 days, you can also substitute garbage ties,but would have to cut back to one dixie cup.... Tweet,Violet

Janet Levy wrote:

I have two swings that are made with a center thick dowel (1/2") which hangs down vertically from a hook screwed into the center of one end. There are three holes drilled all the way through for the smaller dowels - perches. I drill these at a 60 degree angle from each other and about four inches apart. Then you insert the perching dowels so that an equal amount sticks out on each side and use a little glue. When you are done, up to six budgies can sit on this swing at three levels and not poop on each other! My budgies simply love sitting on these swings. If you have more budgies than places to sit - you can have fights! Also they can hop up them like going up a spiral staircase. I teach my babies to use them before they can even fly.

Jerry Newcomb wrote:

I have 3 contributions for the Budgie toy list...the first one is one I've used for years...an old fashioned wooden clothes pin...one that is made completely of wood (sometimes craft shops turn them into little dolls)...the next is a smooth beach pebble about the size of a book of matches...small enough that a Budgie can push it around and chew on it if he/she desires and last but not least, is an empty sewing thread spool...preferably wood but they are hard to find. Plastic ones are OK but Budgies love to chew the ends of wooden ones. Speaking of wood chewing, I give bunny/hamsters wood chews to both my Cockatiels and Budgies and they love to destroy them to little bits. I used to buy them for my house bunnies and since Budgies are defoliators I tried giving them one once. It often takes a day or two for my little ones to decide to investigate something new...when they did check the wood chew out they gnawed it to little bits. These chews come in all sizes, some colored, some fruit flavored. They are touted as being non-toxic and safe at least for bunnies/hamsters. It's been my experience they seem to be safe for Budgies too. Liela

Karmen Taylor wrote:

I took 3 pieces of ribbing about 25 cm each bright red dark bright blue and forest green. You tie a knot at the top to join them together. Then you braid them all together. Before you tie them together at the top you make a little loop to hang on a hook. After you braid them you tie a big knot at the bottom. Leave the pieces after the knot their that aren't braided they love to unravel it. My budgies have one each in their cage. They spend hours and hours knawing at it. They really like the bright colors. These colors are best. It attracts them to the toy more. I also read that birds love the colors red, blue, and green; That's why I picked those colors. Karmen Taylor

Marsha Callahan wrote:

One thing I've done is make toys from the grape vine wreaths they sell at craft stores. I hang them up like swings, which is how the birds use them, and then they also pick them apart. Marti C. & Crew

McKay family wrote:

One of the best things I have is a wine rack that I found 2nd hand for $5. It is rigid, wooden and can be stood horizontally and vertically. The birds have voted with their feet - this is their favourite playground/perch/sleeping area. Also a packet of interlocking baby rings (oval) are just so good for all sorts of things - a new toy/perch/swing every day and I've even used them to keep a tray from falling out from a hanging cage. NOT original - got the idea from someone on the list last year. joan

Mommy Birdy wrote:

Dakota (now deceased) used to LOVE a toy that came from the drug store. It was a green see-thru plastic cellular phone that came with candy in it. It played different sounds when the rubber buttons were pushed. SHE LOVED IT! One of her favorite toys. She would sit on it and I would push the buttons and she would peck them. It had a little plastic antennae that went up and down. Really cheap and lasted forever. Mommy Birdy

Windy wrote: I will assume anyone who contributes will not mind the ideas being put on a webpage for all to refer to. So here is my idea for a toy I cut off the legs of jeans about a ten inch length. With two dowels, or old bird perches I use it to slide them into the pants legs and then make a grove to attach a thick string to it and the top of the cage. I have thought of the string instead of the picture wire that I use in the rats cage because I think the budgies might gnaw on the wire and hurt themselves. The rats do not bother the wire, but birds like to chew things. I used an old parrot ladder once for this instead of a dowel and it worked pretty well. But with two dowels you can stretch them further apart and give the budgies more room to walk around.This makes a sort of tunnel for the birds to walk into like a "cheap" Happy hut of sorts.

Toy two: Also I had some sort of rings like shower curtain rings and I cut narrow strips of this jeans material and then tied them onto the ring. I used grey and green and it sort of looked like stiff feathers when I put it in the cage. The budgies ran right over to it and started playing with it. They like to tug on the loose threads and generally destroy it.

If there is anyone else who would like their contribution published here let me know by e-mailing me.

email Windy

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