Well then Aiko, let's get started! These super easy to make toys are so much fun for our indoor feathered friends, and are made from such cheap supplies, and are very much a must for distraction during anything like conference calls working from home.
Supplies:
Embroidery thread
Cotton and colorfast, I got this pack for about £3.50 on ebay, packs of mixed colors are a lot cheaper, and although you get random colors, the selections are all still really good.
Bits of shell
You can gather these from the beach for freeee! You want bits that are suitable for putting on a thread. This is my box of 'treasure' shells, I have been collecting these for decades at this point, shells aren't vital, and obviously in lock down, if you don't have bits of shell lying around they may not be the easiest thing to get hold of, but they are very enjoyable to the little birds, Most of the ones sold online are too perfect but most of the ones you can get for jewelry making will do the job. I'm quite certain fragments of cuttlebone with a hole pushed through them would be equally adored. Mia's top tip for selecting shells - the nobblier the better. This is my shell & beach treasure box, so not everything here will go to the birds,but it gives you a good idea of the range of shells you can use. Make sure any shels gathered from the beach have been well rinsed in warm soapy water, and then again in plain warm water.
Beads
Pony beads are the best! They come in lots of good shapes for beaking, and are just a bit too big for conures to swallow so these guys can just play with the loose beads. That said, I wouldn't recommend giving them loose to anything larger than a conure. I got 3 packs in July last year, and have used them in just about every toy I've made these guys. We went for hearts, flowers, and butterflies - and we would all recommend the butterflies, they are a great shape for keep in the beak. As you can see, these bags have been fairly attacked by eager little birds who didn't want to wait for me to finish making them something! They are just so cheap, usually £1.50-£2 for 50 mixed color beads, and so many shops on ebay have multi-buy offers to get three packs. We got one pack of the transparent, and two of the pearlescent, and I would really recommend the pearlescent ones, they are so bright and pretty.
Let's make it!
First, you need to pick your colors, or let your helper pick them ;)
Embroidery thread is normally a few thin threads spun together, you want the full thickness - unlike things like cross stitch where you might only use two strands. Cut three bits of thread to the same length and knot them at one end. If you are making a free to carry toy, you want to aim for shorter, if you want attached it to a perch or inside the cage, you want much longer bits.
Next you need to select your nubbly bits, the shell and or beads. Think about how it will be used, how heavy you want it to be and where the bird will grip it as you select which shells/beads to use. We've gone for a study but light bead, and a small bit of shell that will probably will get destroyed, but it's easy enough to make another one!
And then its just threading the beads and going knot crazy! They love knots, I would recommend learning a few different ones this is one we find very effective but you might need a hitch knot to tie your toy onto a perch and have it stay put.
Add as many knots as you can.
It's really that easy, bits of shell and bead, knotted on thread, and you have a winning design... hopefully... well let's find out..
You can make a whole variety of designs, you might find your parrot/parakeet prefers one over another. Mine seem to switch up which is their favorite, although I am beginning to think they maybe just want which ever the other has.
The Finished Results!
Portable knot toys
There are a few different types of shell here, but it does seem to be the less smooth the shell, the more they like it. I went for fairly different colors for each design to make it easier to figure out which one I was missing, and then find where it had been dropped.
Attachable designs
You might notice in the background, there are similar toys made of leather and beads. These were played with a lot, but toys with beads alone aren't enjoyed as much as toys that also include shells, and the thread is so much more colorful and easy to work with. They do very much enjoy playing with the loose frayed ends of the thread toys, and since the addition of these, only one of the older toys is really still being played with.
To get this thick twisted rope design, cut three threads approx 2.5 times longer than you want the final thing to be, and knot them at the end as shown above. Then either get a family member to hold onto the knot, or tie it to something. You need to be able to pull the thread taut, string your beads/shell on, and then roll the end of the thread in the same direction between your fore finger and thumb to twist it. You will see the separate threads become a spiral of color. Keep twisting until the tension gets fairly strong, and the thread starts to bunch up. If you have a helper, this next part is much easier, you want to find the middle of the thread. Move all your beads/shells to one side of the middle, then while pinching the middle, bring the two ends together. Pinch the two ends in one hand, and let go of where you held the middle. The thread should spin and wrap around it's self. Knot the bits you were holding together, and straighten it out. You will need to add further knots to the end to stop your parrot untying it. You can then untwist the end that was the middle, and create a hoop to allow you to easily affix it to a cage bar, or to a perch. The twisted rope design seems to be preferred for cleaning/drying the beak.
This is a perch with three of these toys attached, as you can see, only one of these is made with the twisted rope design, the other two are bits of thread with knots in. They adore undoing knots in their beak and just playing with the shells, and the middle one is by far the most popular. Must be the shape of the bit of shell.
These guys have been loving the lockdown, having me and my other half around all the time, constant attention, naps in the sun, hours of playing with toys, yep, these two are having a blast, and we very much hope your feathered friends are too!
