November Beak Box haul

Here is another order that I received a little while ago, but didn't get to take picture of and post about until tonight (but at least this time, I had opened the box before).

Beak Box...what is that? It is a monthly bird toy subscription. It's been around for a few months but I didn't join in until either late in October or earlier this month.

Danita from Things for Wings is behind it, and given how much the flock likes her toys, I figured why not give this a try for a few months. It is rather convenient, describe likes and dislikes of the flock and see what will happen. I generally like surprises (if they are pleasant in nature) and was happy with my first Beak Box.

 (This is the inside view of the pouch posted in the previous picture)

 

For anyone who is interested in subscribing, the link is below. Note that if you do not wish to continue, you need to ensure you cancel. We went with the second package, given the number of birds that live here and their sizes.

beakboxes.com/

Oliver's Garden 2015 Fall SWS order

About two weeks ago, I received my box containing toys purchased from Oliver's Garden during the Fall 2015 Sidewalk Sale. Uncharacteristically, I kept the box closed up until tonight - I guess we can blame the addition of a new kitten to the family, as well as things picking up at work giving me things to think about.

This wasn't a particularly large order, and it was mostly of items that are favorites around here. I stocked up on Chunky Monkeys (in medium size) and got a couple of Rainbow Trouts.

These items are meant for the smaller Pois and should keep them busy for a while.

Thing for Wings 2015 SWS order

My second of two Sidewalk Sale (SWS) orders arrived this week (on Tuesday I think?)

I took many pictures the day the box showed up, but because there were many pictures, it took me a while to go through processing them (mostly brightening and cropping, depending on how each picture came out originally) and I did a few each day. After I had started taking a few pictures, and realizing the volume of toys I had, I did start grouping some of the toys in one shot, when they were small enough to allow it, but I started that too late and was left with bigger toys soon enough, that needed their own picture.

There were two aspects to Thing for Wings (T4W) SWS; a percentage off the order, which varied with how much the order amounted to, and the Red light specials (RLS). I didn't partake in the first part of the sale (having ordered the toys I wanted a few weeks prior to the sale), but did partake in the RLS. Specific deals would be posted, up for a certain (disclosed) amount of time or until they ran out. I've gotten pretty good at "sniping" deals, although there might have been one or two that I've missed.

In any case, in no particular order, here are the toys that I did get.

Oliver's Garden 2015 SWS order

The first of two of my Sidewalk Sale (SWS) orders arrived last week.

These type of deliveries generally get me pretty excited, but it was such a long week (with long days), that I didn't even open the box on the day we received it! When I did though, I was very happy with what I found inside!

Tommy Cods (for the smaller Pois)

More Tommy Cods!

Rainbow Trouts - a favourite of the smaller guys!

Starfish (likely for Léa)

Medium Chunky Monkeys (Shade and Joey love these)

More medium Chunky Monkeys! (I believe in always having a few on hand)

Finally, a toy that I will have a very hard time hanging up to be destroyed, as it is far too cute and is meant for Léa who has been ravenous with her toys of late - Kingpin.

It is a really large toy! (The width from claw to claw when placed like it is in the picture below is about the same as those three Chunky Monkey's side to side and the body/tail portion is taller than one Chunky Monkey.


I am very happy with this order!

Pre-Sidewlk Sale Things for Wings order

I placed this order with Things for Wings because our supply of TOP pellets was starting to get low and I wanted to ensure I received it before I ran out. Therefore, even though I was made aware of the dates for the Sidewalk Sale over at Avian Avenue, I didn't wait. In fact, the sale might have prompted me to actually go forward with the order there and then, as I knew the volume of orders made during the sale would make the wait longer. And because I was going to pay the ridiculous Canada Post shipping charges anyway, I thought I may as well add toys - I did still have a 15% off T4W toys coupon, which I got at a previous sale, so why not use it?

The box showed up earlier this week, but given it was a rather crazy time at work, I didn't get around to taking pictures until today.

When I opened the box, there were a few items I didn't recognize - more so, because it I apparently had no recollection of what I ordered, other than for five items (and two of those were food related and one was some cleaning solution we were in need of).

So with the help of my invoice, here is what was in the box!

Watermelon Picnic basket

This is the toy that puzzled me the most. I absolutely had no recollection of having ordered something with a basket. To be fair, I thought I might as well try some toys that I hadn't ordered before and this one would be appreciated by a number of the birds so it made sense that I added it to my shopping basket. But makes no sense that I couldn't even remember that.


Catching Flies

While I didn't remember that I had ordered it, I wasn't nearly as surprised to see this in the box. I had an "oh yeah" moment when I saw it. Léa will also be very happy.


Léa's toy

I had to take all the other toys out before being 100% convinced of what this toy was. I remembered I had ordered one, but it never looks exactly the same from one order to the next, which I have no problem with, as it always looks awesome and always includes materials that fit the requirements I had given when I first ordered the custom made toy. This is one of my favourite renditions of it, and I'm sure Ms. Big Beak will love it too.


Sunflower Woods

Another toy I didn't remember ordering, one that didn't leave me as puzzled as the Watermelon Picnic Basket but more so than the Catching Flies. Again, a toy that quite a few birds will enjoy, and might actually be shared by one of the smaller Pois (for initial destruction) and Léa (for the harder pieces of wood). I believe this also fell under the "let's try a toy I haven't ordered before" category, although I'm not sure I didn't get it once before...


Cork Barkunkle

I remember looking at these and debating about possibly ordering some, but didn't remember if I had gone through with it. Apparently I did! And I'm happy I did!


Cork Pick and Chip Stack

I knew I ordered these, as they were a success with all of the smaller Pois. They don't last too long, but the toy is very reasonably priced, if you consider the cork and the time it takes to cut the wood, so well worth it.


Wild Tulips

This is another one that falls clearly under the category of toys I thought I should give a try...then to forget about ordering it. This toy has Shade written all over it!


Just a Watermelon Toy

I look at this, and it makes sense that I ordered it. But like it's fellow watermelon toy, I don't recall having done so. I apparently loved the watermelon collection (I will have one or two more items coming thanks to the Sidewalk Sale) but I'm bad at remembering them. And I don't know why, some of these are so well suited for my guys!

That was it for the toys. Here is the "miscellaneous" stuff -

Mango Ginger Minis

Yes, that is some Avian Organics food! While T4W has been carrying some AO products for some time, I believe for the most part, they were products that were designed solely to be distributed by T4W (I could be wrong). However, as earlier this month, AO is no longer handling retails sails and T4W is now carrying a larger selection of the AO products, including a flock favourite, Mango Ginger Minis! While I was sad to see one of my favourite parrot-related business "close" in a way, I'm happy that I can still get AO food from T4W, which also will allow me to maximize shipping (include the food with a toy order and just have the one shipment coming my way!)


TOPs (10lbs bag)

Given the size of my flock, it makes sense to buy the largest bag available, and the only place I've seen it in Canada is at T4W. It lasts about three months (we replace pellets in the cages every second day) and keep the rest in the freezer.

Finally, the last thing that was part of this order was some AviClean concentrate solution. I didn't take a picture, as I had taken it out of the box when I opened it and asked the Boy to put it away before I took pictures.

And that is it!

A "recent" order from Things for Wings

Recent being very loosely used here - it is the most recent order I made for parrot related items and it did arrive in December, but I've definively had the things for a couple of weeks now!

The order included some Christmas themed toys for the birds (which they got on Christmas) and a 10lbs of TOPs pellets. Given the bag of food is not that interesting to look at (and is extremely reflective and doesn't photograph that well), I didn't snap a picture, but here are the toys:

Elf - Shade and Joey each got one of these -

Hats Off to Tookie - Zuri, Petey and Pixel got these -

Christmas Baby Buttons - for Piper
 

Country Santa - for Léa

Not much is left of the toys given to the smaller Pois; after all, they were mostly made of easy to destroy materials, but were also thoroughly enjoy. I don't always buy stuff with mostly balsa or cork, because of how quickly the toys will get decimated (pine gets destroyed but takes a little longer), but once in a while, it is a nice treat for them.

All in a day's work

Typical for Shade (especially over the past few weeks) -

Not so typical for Zuri, but making me very happy!

Out of the small guys, I generally see lots of destruction from Shade and Joey. I've mentioned before though, that there are times over the course of the year where they are being more destructive with the toys. It has been nice to see that Zuri has started to be more playful. And although we had nothing to show for it from yesterday, I've seen that same progress with Petey!

A toy order: Avian Stainless

I think it's been a while since I posted about toys for the birds, and mostly purchased toys. After this year's Sidewalk Sale, I thought I could take a little breather from purchasing toys, as my "reserve" bins were quite full. However, a little while ago Avian Stainless was having a sale, a specific toy was on sale and if you purchased for a certain amount ($60 I think?) shipping was free. This latter part was the most tempting aspect of the sale (as stainless steel toys can add up in weight) so I put in a small order, which showed up just before Christmas.

What I ordered:

The toy that was on sale - "Pandemonium" (in the "Feelin' Feisty" section).

I ordered the smaller version (4 cups instead of 5) and since this one has plastic pieces and isn't welded shut, it will go to one of the smaller birds who can't destroy hard plastics nor undo hoops that are shut pretty tightly.

The second toy is the "Major Mayhem" (in the Major 'Tude" section).

This one does have welded shut parts and is fairly large so will go to Léa.

Finally, the last toy - "Mini Mayhem" (in the "Bit' o Sass" section).

I believe this one will be Piper's and if he doesn't really show any interest in it, it'll go to one of the smaller Pois.

All in all, very happy with the order, of very lovely and shiny (and likely noisy) toys!

Quick and easy skewer toys

In the past I've always shared skewer toys when I showed some of the toys I made myself. They were always an easy thing to do, but they just got easier.

A while ago, I received orders I've made at Things for Wings and Crystal's Bird Toys during Avian Avenue's Sidewalk Sale.

From Things for Wings, I got a large bag filled with odd shapes of wood that were already pre-drilled. Well, given the pieces can be on the thicker side, I've used them on Léa's skewer (it's larger than the others I have). I've also used large wooden beads and some Mother Pluckin' blocks she hadn't quite finished destroying from the previous time I filled the skewer up.



For the Littles, I used pre-made skewer toys from Crystal Bird Toys, as well as a few pine slats and beads that had been included the previous time I filled the skewer but not yet destroyed. However, most of what is on them is the skewer toys and I only needed a few to make the skewers look nice and full! I'm sure Joey, Shade and Pixel will love! (I also have some of these for Petey and Zuri, however their skewers were still quite full when I filled these up).

One toy...

...fits all sizes (of birds).

 From the tiny Lovebird...







...to a "large" Cape parrot!







It's fun for everyone!

SWS 2013, Delivery #3 - Things for Wings

As I pointed out in an earlier post, the box from my Sidewalk Sale Things for Wings order arrived sometime last week. But, life being in the way, I really only got to take pictures yesterday and process them this morning. Lots and lots of pictures...

This order, when I initially submitted it, was very reasonable. I had told myself I wouldn't look at the "daily deals" (more like hourly deals), and keep my order simple. But I didn't listen to myself and got roped into the daily deal fun, although I think I did show restraint on some items and wasn't glued as much as I could have been on the Things for Wings website - the order could have easily gone out of control.

Oh and one last note, for the first time in a long time, I only ordered one copy of each individual toy - something that goes against how I normally order, ensuring birds have similar toys (if they have similar likings).

So here is what I ordered.

The "original" order (i.e. no daily deal items)

"Tahiti Chipper" - most likely will go to Joey, as he's the biggest fan of the shreddable material and is going through pine like crazy lately.



"Fall Shenanigans" - could go to just about any of the Littles.



"Big Juicy Strawberries" - I'm thinking will probably go to Léa given the chunky branch pieces and hardwood shapes.



"Pirate Boy" - another toy that could go to any of the Littles, but I'll probably give it to Petey as it's an adorable toy and it has a better chance to last a little longer with Petey.



"Léa's Toy" - the toy's name does say who this will be destined to.



"Hardwood Teddy Trio" - will go to one of the Littles, thinking Shade.



"Teddy Crunch" - will go to Piper.



That was it for the "toy" aspect of the original order. But since T4W has recently expanded to include perches, cleaning supplies and food, well I got a little of each in this order.

Rope perches - because I never have enough on hand it seems.



AviClean - does work rather well on my cages (this is the concentrated stuff, will need to be diluted).



10lbs worth of TOPs (the pellets).



Now we get to the extra items I didn't originally plan for...

"Daily Deals"

"Bag of drilled pine scraps" - first thing I purchased, it was cheap, plentiful (I was expecting less wood) and it will make for great skewer fillers.



"Very nice wood coin toy" - I think, before it went up, Danita had personally told me that it would be one right up my "alley". She was right and in the basket it went...



"Vault - Willow, Hardwood shape, 3/8" pine" - one of Danita's "vault" toys (either discontinued or some T4W designs that never really were put up for sale as far as I can gather) and something that I think Shade will love!



"Yucca and pine" - looked neat on the screen, was even nicer (and bigger) in person. Will be going in one of the Littles' cage.



"Willow coins" - the last item I purchased. She had the coins up for a very short period of time and, when I saw them up, I freaked out a little and ordered 20, since I didn't know if there was a limit and it seemed reasonable. But then, before the time was up, I made a second order for another 20. In retrospect, I should have just put a larger number from the get-go, but what can you do...



I'm very pleased with everything and even more surprised that Danita managed to make everything fit in the box it came in. There was no way I would have been capable of putting it all back in there neatly.

Thanks Danita!