Making toys

[Solvurr]

Hso I've had some wicker balls for my conure and he loves to destroy them. But that means I have to replace them quite often, and it can get kind of expensive. So I've been thinking about trying to make some myself, and I have some willow I'm gonna use, but I have some experience making things (like wreaths and stuff) with birch twigs, and they're very easy to use as they're soft and easy to manage, but I'm not sure if they're safe to use. I've read some places that birch is safe, some places say it's safe if you remove the bark, and some say it's not safe at all.
Has anyone here made bird toys from birch twigs before? Thanks in advance!

 

[Wardy]

@Mizzely

 

[BirdLady13]

Birch is a bird safe wood as long as it hasn't been treated with chemicals or preservatives. Personally I would just buy balls in bulk because I feel like making them would be tedious and they would still get destroyed quickly. I would rather spend $10 for 50 balls, but if you have the time and patience I commend you!

 

[Solvurr]

Birch is a bird safe wood as long as it hasn't been treated with chemicals or preservatives. Personally I would just buy balls in bulk because I feel like making them would be tedious and they would still get destroyed quickly. I would rather spend $10 for 50 balls, but if you have the time and patience I commend you!

If I could find any that cheap, I'd probably just buy them, but I haven't been able to, and shipping to Norway is usually pretty expensive. But I don't really mind spending some time making them to be honest. Anyways, I'd be taking the birch from right outside my house, so I know they haven't been exposed to anything harmful!

 

[Shezbug]

I use the stuff that baskets are made out of to make the odd thing for my bird, balls are time consuming though (and I suck at making them lol) so I just buy them but I have made stars and also completely overed a baffle cage as well as made some mini baskets etc- wicker or cane needs to be completely soaked to soften it so when you bend it the fibres inside it does not break.
I soak mine in a clean tub of water for a minimum of 30 minutes before I sit down to start making anything and when I use it I try to keep the free end in the tub of water as much as I can as it dries out pretty fast sometimes but I do get quite long bits of cane.

 

[Momof3litt]

I use my local birch trees to make perches and playsyands for my birds, they adore peeling the bark! Do clean the branches (I either bake or use bleach/sun depending on the size of the piece and season) but leave the bark on for extra-peely fun.