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Bird safe wooden beads

NelBird

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I've been looking for wooden beads to make Nellie a play toy. I'm looking a smaller beads, around 5mm. I've found some online (unfinished and raw) but many vendors do not list what wood the beads are made out of. Does anyone have any vendor recommendations? I do not want to purchase any beads made out of wood that could be harmful to my feathered friend. Thx!
 

AussieBird

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Mizzely

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You can reach out to the vendors to ask what they are made of :) I've never seen 5mm wood beads; usually they are 4 or 6mm, and my known safe sources discontinued those sizes :( They are also super tiny; only very thin hemp string or paper string will go through the holes.
 

NelBird

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@Mizzely Thanks! I'm actually a jewelry designer by trade. I have a strand of untreated sandalwood that I strung on silk that he's obsessed with. I think he likes the size because he's been moving them up and down the silk with his beak and playing with them with his toes. I thought I'd pose the question here since all of my connections are strictly for jewelry. I'm not super fussy on the 5mm, I can do 4-6mm. Also, I looked up if silk was okay for him and haven't found any negatives, it's not dyed. If this is wrong, I'd love to be better informed! He was so gentle playing with the strand, just nosing them up and down and playing with it with his feet. He was at it for almost an hour.
 
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Mizzely

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8mm and 10mm is a lot easier to find in bird safe woods and are popular with many sizes of birds. Those are what I primarily use in my shop.

I don't know about silk specifically. I couldn't find any positive or negatives, so for me, I wouldn't personally use it just to be sure.
 

calibird

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I've been looking for wooden beads to make Nellie a play toy. I'm looking a smaller beads, around 5mm. I've found some online (unfinished and raw) but many vendors do not list what wood the beads are made out of. Does anyone have any vendor recommendations? I do not want to purchase any beads made out of wood that could be harmful to my feathered friend. Thx!
Sorry for the delay in response. I do have a 3/8" wood bead which is 10mm. This is the smallest size that I carry. I also wouldn't recommend using silk.
 

Toy

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I'd suggest using a SS toy base loaded with acrylic beads in different shapes & allow enough room for movement. CAG's tend to love those. Our CAG prefers plastic stuff compared to wooden. Something like this site has: MakeYourOwnBirdToys.com - Bird Toy Bases Metal I don't kknow if any of the AA vendors here carry something like this, but maybe one of the MODS know.
 
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