Homemade Toys

Last weekend I spent my "free" time in the country making toys for Chris.  Parrots love toys, and need them to keep from getting bored.  Toys made for parrots can be wood, plastic, leather, rawhide or a combination and, of course, they have to be non-toxic.  Unfortunately bird toys can be very expensive.  Cockatoos are like woodchippers and Chris can whittle his way through new wood toys in a flash.   He goes through them at an alarming rate, so when a couple of our pine trees fell during a storm a few years ago I gathered up the small pieces and decided I'd try making some.  I also had the guys who came to remove the trees saw off some wood disks that I saved for when the small pieces ran out.  Every once in a while I make a fresh batch of pine toys for Chris (some moms make chocolate chip cookies for their kids, I make pine wood toys!).  I scrub them clean, boil them to make sure they are sanitized and then dye them with colorful food coloring.  Chris loves them!  He still gets mostly store bought toys, but the ones I make are a nice addition to his toy chest and they smell really good! So, last weekend I took one of the disks to the hardware store and they cut it into small blocks for me and I went to work.  Below are the photos:

The wood boiling

The finished product--ready for Cockatoo consumption