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Pictures Rain stick forging toys (Paper towel tubes)

rocky'smom

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I go thru scads of paper towels for my 2, the clinic goes thru 5 times as much. What do you do with all those tubes? Make forging toys with them.

What you will need:
Paper towel tubes (for medium sized birds)
Scissors
A long large eyed needle
Jute or hemp rope
Some newspaper pieces for wadding
1 tbsp of larger seeds (like sunflower)/ pellets
Some flour paste( see instructions below)
A piece of tissue paper or paper bag with no ink on it. Enough to wrap the tube like package.
Embellishment if desired

Here is how you start:
Semi flatten the tube length wise, cut notches half way thru along the length, one on alternating sides (see picture), up to 5 to one side, 4 to other side. Make the tube round again, push each of those cut pieces inward to make the rain stick (see picture). On the ends you are going either stuff with crunched up paper wadding. Make sure the wadding fills the entire end. You will a single half sheet of newsprint to wrap around the tube. This is where the flour paste will come in. (I do not trust a lot of the glues out there) 1 to 2 tbsp of white flour ( you could use almond flour also) and enough very warm water to make thick paste. You will know when the stickiness is right, put your finger in the paste and pull out. It should stick to your finger and string out a little bit, when you lift your finger.

Wrap one end of the newspaper around the outside of the tube and dot with some flour paste to hold it on to the tube. Let dry for a 10 minutes. Wrap newspaper tightly around the tube in several layers until you reach the end of the paper. Dot in several places with flour paste to glue down the ends. Allow to dry over night. Remove wadding from one end and add your seeds/ pellets. They should rattle down to the bottom like rain falling on the roof. Replace wadding in the open end tightly. You may want to dot some paste on the wadding to make sure it’s stays tight. Allow to dry if you dotted with paste. Wrap like package, using paste to seal the ends, on the length. Tie the ends with jute or hemp rope, just keeps the bows small and double knotted, so your bird does not hang themselves in them. You could also tuck those ends into the tube also (see picture). But the tucking in doesn’t make your bird have to forge, all they have to do in pullout the end.
You can do this with toilet paper tubes for smaller birds (see picture). For the big guys, gift wrap tubes will work also.
Any Questions??
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WeasleyLover

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Thanks for this idea! I started making 4 of them and now have them drying until tomorrow. I think Jester will like them! :)
 

rocky'smom

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when I make them for the clinic, I do it production line style, cut the tubes, put the wadding in, paste the newspaper and let everything dry overnight, fill and wrap the next day.
 

janicedyh

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Was it on this forum that I read of the danger of paper towl and toilet paper tube? I've been trying to find the link.
 

faislaq

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I'm sure that any minute material that becomes airborne would land on the paper & as long as the empty rolls are not left near a flushing toilet, there wouldn't be a problem? I think an easy solution might be to remove the roll while there are a couple of sheets on it, dispose of the sheets and continue using the clean roll.

I am glad to read that there is no zinc in the glue used or the paper of the cardboard. :) That is a relief seeing how many of our birds have been shredding cardboard tubes -so many for so long.
 

janicedyh

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I know what you mean. I don't know if I saw the warning posted here or not but it scared me and I stopped using them for the birdies. I think I will start again because they LOVE their rolls
 

WeasleyLover

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Well, it was totally destroyed when I got home. So I would consider it a hit! :D Gave him another one and he destroyed that one too. I think it will be a repeat toy! :)
 

rocky'smom

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you can wrap more newspaper around the tube to make it tougher, even a paper bag from grocery store would do.
 
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