Of course you know how to make the pinecone-dipped-in-peanut-butter-feeder, but do you know how to make a bird diaper? An automatic bird training system? A fake plant that grows back when your bird bites it's flowers off?
Share your great ideas and how to make them to make your life with birds easier!
Alyssa & Goldie, bird who bite flowers

Wow! i wish my bird hadn't just died because that would have been great to make one!

Start making things now it will keep you occupied while you are greiving then when you bring a new baby home in time think of all the ready made stuff you'll have.

I know i sure would like to know more about this kind of tree... awesome...

No, I don't know about the pinecone dipped in peanut butter or any of the others. But, I would love to learn about them.

My biggest discovery was the popcorn popped inside wiffle balls.

Now thats a Great idea popcorn popped inside the wiffle balls!

So how do you pop the popcorn INSIDE the wiffle balls??

I use the smaller, golf sized wiffle balls that you get at the dollar store. Sometimes I have to make one of the holes a little bigger by using a paring knife and just wiggling it around in the hole a bit. Then, I put about 7 or 8 plain unpopped kernels in the hole. I get a paper towel get it just a little wet then wrap the ball in the paper towel and put it in the microwave and turn it on high for about 2 minutes or until I don't hear the kernels pop anymore. Be careful when you take it out of the microwave because the ball will be HOT! The kernels that don't pop make it rattle.

My greys love this for a foot toy! Sometimes the ball will crack a little from the popped corn and I give those to my quaker so they're easier for him to open. I've even tied some to toys I've made.

It's really simple and my 9 year old can even do it - I use the knife to make the hole bigger for him, other than that he does pretty good on his own.

What a neat idea I will have to try that with the QP and nanday.I think the GWs would make short work of the wiffle ball though

Sorry guys!
Ok, I have no idea on how to make the ever-lasting plant, but I can make the diaper and the pinecone feeder! Sorry! Don't get your hopes up about the plant!

P.S Amey, I'm gonna try to do that, if I could only find some of those wiffle balls!
Alyssa & Goldie

You can find the wiffle balls at the dollar store sometimes, I like them the best because they're not very strong. Also, you can get them at Walmart back in the sporting goods dept with the golf stuff. I guess people use them to practice putting.

Oh, tristate pets has them too. www.tristatepets.com

One word of caution about using pinecones...its best if they are picked straight off the tree, not picked up off the ground...mold and bacterias can start on them...also bake them in the oven before you use them...150 to 200 degree's for at least 20 minutes...

WOW that wiffleball pine cone thing is a fab idea.

So cool.

I'm courious about this diaper thingy can you tell us how you do it

Oh it's really simple.
Just use tape, like paper tape, and a towel, tissue, or napkin.
Strap to your birds back, not wings. Maybe It won't work for big birds, But it works for some.
-Alyssa & Goldie

My bird LOVES popcorn... the wiffle ball would be great! But... would a quaker be strong enough to get INTO it? If not what would be a good idea to weaken it a bit so it is easier to get into?

Ekko loves popcorn too....but he is terrified of wiffle balls. This could actually be a great way to get him to LIKE the wiffle balls! I think I'm gonna have to try this one!!!

Amey,
What a great idea that is, thank you for sharing..........

No problem! I'm glad I could share something, I learn so much from all of you.

I'm trying to learn how to make toys, trying being the operative word here. I've bought all this stuff to make toys, and I've even tried to actually make a few, but I feel like the 3rd grader making Thanksgiving turkeys by tracing his hand. I'm trying to paint like Monet and ending up with stick people LOL!

I've signed up to take some on-line toy making classes through a yahoo group - they're free and I've sat in on one and it was a lot of fun. So, hopefully, I'll have some cute Christmas toys here in a few weeks.

The only thing I've tried that was really a hit is the popcorn wiffle balls. They can't get enough of them. Ralph couldn't care less for wiffles either until I put popcorn in them. Now, I hide them at the bottom of his toy dish and he'll throw everything else out to find them. LOL. Aries doesn't even play with his anymore, he finds it, cracks it and picks the popcorn out. When the popcorn's gone he drops the ball and looks for the next one. Gus tries eating the popcorn through the holes. He can't quite bite one to break it open, so on his I'll put a few extra popcorn kernels in and when they pop they will break open the ball a little, kinda give it a good start with a crack, then he can get it the rest of the way.

Let me know how your guys like them. I'm interested to hear if it's a hit all around or if I just have weird birds LOL.

Ah, homemade christmas presents.
Those were a lot of fun. I remember when I wove a santa claus for my parents. That was fun. Are any of you making things for christmas?
Alyssa & Goldie

Here's a link I found for making a pinecone feeder.

Click Here!

I just got back from the store with wiffle balls and popcorn. I put one in the microwave and 5 minutes later Pooder has fallen in love with this particular foraging toy! He wouldn't touch popcorn earlier, but, watching him now, you would never know it!

Thanks for the great idea.

Tari

Are you all using the golf ball size wiffle balls? My guys love popcorn, this would be great for them!

Yes, the golf size wiffle balls. That way they can hold them in their feet. I've also seen the soft-ball sized ones used with popcorn in them and then 2 of them strung together to make a snowman, with little pinecones for coal, they used a snowman-head sippy cup for the head and put nuts and nutriberries in the cup to be 'foraged' out. I haven't tried that one yet, I'm not brave enough to get THAT creative yet LOL.

How many kernels of popcorn do you put in the wiffle ball to crack it for your quaker?

her post on page 1 of this thread said about 7 to 8 kernels...

Sometimes 8 will crack it if all the kernels pop and the balls aren't too strong, sometimes it takes more. I usually try it with just one ball and see how many kernels I put in and use that to judge how many for the next ball. The ones I get from the dollar store are pretty weak so they crack easier than the ones I get from Walmart. You could also cut the ball about 1/4 of the way around and then put it in the microwave to pop it so that the kernels would push it open more when it pops.

Thanks... sorry if I missed where you posted it the first time