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Bird safe woods and food colors?

Atomiklan

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Recommendations on bird safe woods and food color dyes for home made toys?
 

BlueAbyss

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Sarahmoluccan

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Wilson food dye is another thing people use too :)
 

Atomiklan

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Thanks for the suggestions. I want to try (if possible) to stay away from the bird specific products if I can and instead go straight to the source of those products to buy more bulk and avoid the middle man. ie, buy the bird safe stuff, just not buy it in the bird repackaged bottle with all the markup.
 

schnitzle

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I agree with @Sarahmoluccan about the Wilton's dye. I use their gel food coloring for acid dyeing protein fibers ( using vinegar for the fixative)and it's great. A little goes a LONG way! But that's different than dyeing a cellulose product. In that case you usually need some type of fixative like soda ash. But it appears that mixing the dye with alcohol works How to food color toys? ☺ | Avian Avenue Parrot Forum
And there is a bird toy colorant sold by many vendors named VitaCritter. I've never used it so I don't know how it compares to food dye.

I wonder if a salad bowl finish would be safe to use to seal bird toys after dyeing...
Ok I looked it up and no, do not use salad bowl finishes on bird toys!
 
Last edited:

karen256

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Untreated pine is generally the best wood to use for making your own toys. Cheap, safe and good for almost any size bird depending on how you cut it. Get the cheapest grade, your birds won't care if it is a little warped or has knots - in fact, they might add some extra chewing interest.
What my GCC likes (but she is a lighter chewer than a caique) is pine sliced into 1/4" slices across the grain. Cutting thin slices across the grain makes it very easy to chew. So you would take a piece of 2x2 or 2x4, drill a hole through it, and then just slice it off into 1/4" slices (or maybe thicker depending on how much your birds chew).
Bird-safe tree branches can also be cut into slices that birds love to chew - but be careful! If you are slicing them on a band saw be aware the branch will want to roll into the blade as you start cutting so be sure to hold the branch very securely and keep fingers away from the blade.

I don't dye wood myself. The birds don't care, and I use some colored beads between the wood slices to add interest. I've heard that the dye sold for cake decorating works very well.
 
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