How to Make Your Own Forging Toys

Forging toys, also known as foraging toys, are one type of enrichment toy important to pet birds. Chirp n Squawk advises, "Forging enrichment is perhaps the most important thing that you can provide your parrot to reduce behavior problems." Research has found that these toys "led to a significant decrease in the incidence of feather-picking, obesity, pacing, bar chewing and other health and behavioral problems seen by vets." Color, size and material of an enrichment toy will determine whether a parrot will play with it, so experiment making different toys to see what your bird likes.

Things You'll Need

  • Jewelry gift box, long and thin
  • Scissors
  • Paper
  • Glue
  • Paper punches (optional)
  • Tissue paper
  • Bird treats, variety
  • Sisal string
  • Wiffle ball
  • Jigsaw (optional)
  • Tin snips (optional)
  • Fresh vegetables
  • Bathroom tissue roll
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Instructions

    • 1

      Cut four small rectangles of paper and glue them in the jewelry box as walls to create five compartments. Make the paper rectangles ¼-inch taller than the open box and ½-inch wider, so you can fold tabs to glue to the box. Cut five different shapes out of the box lid, such as a circle, square, triangle, rectangle and heart, spacing them so that each shape matches up with a corresponding compartment. Puncture the top of the box using a scrapbooking paper punch and insert the scissors to cut the shape. Cut a piece of bright tissue paper to size and glue inside the perimeter of the box lid, covering the shape cut-outs. According to veterinarians, Doctors Foster and Smith, "Hand-crafted cardboard forging boxes provide birds with an outlet for natural chewing and foraging behaviors. Clever cut out windows pique bird curiosity with glimpses of tempting toy pieces." Fill each compartment with a different type of bird treat, such as seeds, millet, pine nuts, berries or corn. Tie a sisal string around the box and hang it from the top of the cage.

    • 2

      Cut a Wiffle ball in half with a jigsaw or tin snips to make a homemade buffet ball. Fill it with fresh vegetables, like broccoli, zucchini, cucumber and carrot slices. Glue the ball back together with quick-drying glue, but avoid getting any glue on the food. Place the ball on the floor of the cage, so the bird can roll it and peck at the food inside.

    • 3

      Fill an empty bathroom tissue roll with a variety of bird treats to make your own fun barrel. Place the filled roll horizontally on top of a sheet of tissue paper. Gather the tissue paper to the center of the top and tie a sisal string around it. Wrap the string around the fun barrel a few times, tie it around the top of the tissue paper again, and hang it from the top of the cage.