BACKGROUND

Hard to Tell from Photo.  It's sometimes difficult to judge the durability of a toy from a picture and a description.  

No Bird Toy Industry Standard.  There is no standard definition of durability for toy parts.  What might be a "durable" toy for one bird is quickly chewed to pieces by another.

Multiple Factors Affect Durability.  There are many factors in the durability of a toy part.  Material and thickness are two important factors. A hard but thin plastic item may be less durable than a softer but thick plastic item.

Important to Bird's Enjoyment and Play.  Durability has a large impact on how much a bird likes a toy.  Many owners tell us their birds won't play with indestructible toys such as acrylic toys because they can't tear them up.

TOY MATERIALS                        

Most bird toy parts are wood, metal, or plastic.  Other materials are plant fibers (cotton, sisal, or jute rope) and tanned animal hides (leather).

WOOD.  Wood is usually described as soft or hard wood.  Manzanita is one of the hardest woods.  It is often used for perches because of its durability.  An example of softwood is pine.  Paper and cardboard toys are included with wood.

The thinner the wood, the less durable.  Even hardwoods can be interesting for play and chewing if there are parts that are thinner (such as drawer pulls and chess piece shapes) or have interesting shaped edges (such as wood craft shapes). 

METAL.  Most metals are indestructible but there are some exceptions.  Thin pieces of metal or poor quality metal plating can be chewed off.

Metal keys are a safety problem for mid-sized and large birds.  Aluminum car key blanks are used on many bird toys.  The top edge of the key has a guiding groove; the metal beside this is thin enough that mid-sized and large birds can chew pieces of metal off the key blank.  

Another potential metal problem is poor quality metal plating.  Inspect plated metal for any flaking or peeling.

PLASTIC.  Plastic has more variation in durability than other toy parts.  At one end is soft "rubber" toys and the other is highly durable acrylic items.  Durability depends on both the type of plastic and the shape and thickness.

-- SAFETY -- By the way, all plastics are toxic to birds and humans when burned.  Teflon® is just one plastic with a high melting temperature.  (My sister and her husband lost all their birds and they both nearly died because of a Teflon® pan they left on the stove with the heat on low.)

OTHER.  Durability of toy parts made from plant fibers or animal hides depends on the quality and thickness of the material. 

DURABILITY SCALE

We have developed a 5-point scale to help our customers select plastic toys and toy parts which are the durability they want for their bird.

Our "test bird" is a Goffin's Cockatoo.  This should be a fair representation of most mid-sized bird such as small cockatoos and African greys.  Big birds will generally be more destructive and small birds will be less destructive.  Just because a bird can destroy something doesn't mean they will.  For example, many blue and gold macaws play very gently with small toys.

Durability Scale:  We use a scale of 1-5 where items rated 1 are destroyed quickly to small pieces and items rated 5 are undamaged (indestructible).

• Rating 1, Easily Destructible: Toy part is quickly and easily chewed or broken into small pieces.  These items or either soft or brittle (thin).  Examples: Tiny or small pacifier (7/8 or 1¼ inch) and soft plastic "rubber" toys.
• Rating 2, Destructible: Completely or almost completely destructible but takes more time.  Pieces can be recycled.  Examples: alphabet letters, whiffle balls, and Fantasy Ball.
• Rating 3, Durable: Pieces can be chewed off.  Item is chewed on but not chewed up.  Example: interlinking plastic stars and solid color cones.
• Rating 4, Very Durable:  Item is played with but not damaged.  Examples: medium pacifiers, marbella style beads and rings, clear color cones.
• Rating 5, Indestructible:  More durable than Rating 4 (for our test bird).  Example: Bell Plastic acrylic donuts.