The Coollapet Chewie Swing is a wooden swing bar hung from two columns of stacked wood, rattan balls and woven fibre, so the bird gets a perch and a chew toy in one fitting.

Key Features

• Swings teach balance, and a bird that has one usually uses it more than a fixed perch.
• The sides are the toy: each column is wood, rattan and fibre the bird works through while standing on the bar.
• Flat bar rather than a round dowel, which is easier to stand on while chewing.
• Hangs from two clips so it swings rather than spins.
• Medium size for conures, cockatiels, senegals and similar birds.

Available in: Also in a smaller size built from natural palm, loofah and undyed wood.

Good To Know

• A swing needs clearance. Hang it where the bird can sit upright on the bar without its head touching the cage top, and where it will not knock into a bowl as it swings.
• Rope and woven fibre fray. Trim loose strands as they appear and retire the toy once it goes stringy - a thread wrapped round a toe cuts off the blood supply, and a swallowed one can knot in the gut.
• Chain, quick-links and bells are the usual route to zinc and lead poisoning in parrots. Watch for a bird that strips the coating off metal, and if you ever replace the clip, use stainless steel rather than galvanised hardware from a hardware shop.
• The colours are dye on wood. Expect them to fade, and to stain a wet beak and the cage tray - that is the dye, not blood.
• Match the toy to the bird. Hardware built for a macaw will trap a budgie's foot, and a toy built for a budgie is destroyed in minutes by a large parrot, leaving pieces small enough to swallow.
• A bird that stops playing, sits fluffed on the cage floor or goes quiet is showing the first signs of illness - birds hide sickness until they can no longer manage it. That is an urgent avian vet visit, not a wait-and-see.