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Bradley, a painter and paper hanger by trade, had for some time been trying various hobbies as a sideline in his spare time in hopes of finding something that he could turn to as a means of support. His health and eyesight had been failing in recent years, and he knew that sooner or later he would have to give up his trade.

After the customer was satisfied and had left the pet shop, Bradley questioned the shop owner about the bird accessories and found that he bought his supplies from a large out-of-town jobber, was not satisfied with the material he received, but had no other source of supply for those particular items. Bradley examined the nesting boxes and play toys, then told the owner of the shop he believed he could make better ones. Being assured that the local pet shops and probably pet shops all over the country would be interested in a new line of bird accessories, Bradley was launched on a new hobby.

IN LESS than three years the Bradleys have developed a hobby in their home which now furnishes their full support. Their hobby is a family affair since Mrs. Bradley helps with the assembling of the nest boxes and play toys and assists in their correspondence from mail order business. A small building on the back of their lot which was originally used for a hamster house has been turned into a workshop where the nesting boxes and play yard parts are cut to shape and dyed. A spare room in their home has been revamped into an assembly and packing room.

Bradley's first concern was finding a supply of panel board, plywood, dowel pin stock, vegetable coloring dyes, and many other small items used in making the bird accessories. He found a supply of birch and gum panel board and plywood factory ends at trailer and airplane factories around Tulsa. These short pieces of material serve his purpose very well, and they can be bought much cheaper than the large uncut sheets. Dowel pin stock in ½, and ⁵/16-inch diameters is purchased in wholesale lots from lumber supply stores. Nails, screw eyes, cup hooks, wood screws, and the like are bought from wholesale hardware supply houses. Vegetable coloring dyes for coloring the play yard parts are purchased from wholesale soda fountain supply stores. Metal parakeet mirrors and miniature Liberty Bells are obtained from novelty supply stores.

"To make any hobby product sell on a profitable basis," says Bradley, "the raw material and overhead costs must be your first consideration. If you are making and selling an item, you are in business and therefore eligible to buy your materials direct from the wholesaler. This eliminates the retailer's profit which in turn permits the hobbyist to make his product cheaper thereby realizing more profit from his sales."

BEFORE PLACING any parakeet toy on the market, the Bradleys try out the accessories with their own pet parakeets. From these tests they have selected the patterns and colors used in making their bird accessories.

Now for the actual dimensions and construction details of Bradley's parakeet toys, nesting boxes, and breeding cages. In his shop Bradley uses a bench saw, wood lathe, and drill press to cut and shape the parts for the bird accessories. The parts of the play yards and cage toys are dip dyed in vegetable food coloring dyes and then dried on shelves in the shop before being taken to the assembly room.

The Senior Play Yard has an 11-inch-by-14-inch base made from ½-inch birch or gum plywood with a retaining wall about 1½ inches high nailed around the base. The perch posts are made from ½-inch diameter dowel pin stock and are 10 inches high. The diagonal main perch of ⁵/16-inch diameter dowel pin stock is held in holes near the top of the perch posts. A ladder 10 inches in length and a swing hang from the perch. A 1-inch diameter Liberty Bell hangs above one perch post, and a 2¼-by-3-inch metal parakeet mirror is attached to the other post just above the perch. Senior Play Yards are most suitable for parakeets that can be turned loose in the room. The Senior Play Yards wholesale at six for $14 or twelve for $24.

The Junior Play Yard has a base of ½-inch birch or gum plywood 7 inches by 12 inches in size. The perch posts are of ½-inch diameter dowel pin stock and are attached at the rear of the base. A main perch of ⁵/16-inch dowel pin stock is held in holes near the top of the perch posts. A 10-inch long ladder and a swing hang from the perch. As on the Senior Play Yard, a tiny Liberty Bell hangs above one perch post; and a 2¼-by-3-inch metal parakeet mirror is attached to the top of the other post. Since a standard bid cage can be placed over a Junior Play Yard, they are valuable in training young birds. Junior Play Yards are priced at six for $7 or twelve for $12.50.

A Cage Porch that can be hooked to the standard bird cage outside the door opening or placed on a flat surface is made with a ¼-inch birch or gum plywood base about 5 inches by 10 inches in size. The perch posts are made from ½-inch diameter dowel pin stock and are about 6 inches high. A ⁵/16-inch dowel pin perch is held in holes near the bottom of the perch posts. A Liberty Bell and a metal parakeet mirror are attached to the top of the perch posts. Cage Porches sell at six for $5.50 or $10 a dozen.

A smaller play yard, the Budgie Delite, that can be placed inside the standard bird cage has a ½-inch plywood base 3 inches by 5 inches in size. The 5-inch high perch post of ½-inch dowel pin stock has a bell and mirror attached to the post directly over a perch of ⁵/16-inch dowel pin stock which is held in a hole near the bottom of the post. These toys are priced at six for $2.25 or twelve for $4.50.

The Vanity Swing made to replace the simple swing furnished in standard bird cages is 5½ inches tall and 4 inches wide with a bell hung from the top cross piece and a mirror attached to one of the side pieces. Vanity Swings sell at six for $2.25 or $4.50 a dozen.

WHEN PARAKEET play toys were first placed in pet shops, the wood parts were left in their natural colors. Now toy makers have found that by dyeing the bird accessories they have more attraction to the parakeets, and the toys assembled in contrasting colors make a more pleasing display on the pet shop shelves.

Bradley's parakeet toys are assembled in various colors of red, green, yellow, and blue. Pure vegetable coloring dyes are used so that there can be no injury to the bird's feet. These toys are shipped each in a separate cardboard container and can be assembled easily by the purchaser.

Bradley's parakeet nesting boxes are made from ¼-inch birch panel board. The box is 6½ inches by 6½ inches and 10 inches high. A bottom board made from ⁵/8-inch birch plywood has a well rounded out concave nest to hold the eggs. This inside bottom board is removable for convenient cleaning. The nest box will hang on the side of the standard bird cage or can better be used with the special breeding cages used by parakeet breeders. Nesting boxes are not dyed and are fully assembled before shipping. They sell at six for $5.50 or $10.50 a dozen.

Parakeet breeding cages, the last item the Bradleys have added to their line of accessories, are made from ½-inch mesh hardware wire attached to a wooden framework. A removable tray for convenient cleaning is a feature of Bradley's breeding cages. The front, back, bottom, top, and ends of the cages are made in separate sections so that the cage can be shipped knocked down. They can easily be assembled by the purchaser, using a screwdriver and the wood screws provided with the cage. Overall size of the cage is 14 inches by 14 inches and 21 inches long. For breeding and raising parakeets this type cage is more convenient than the standard bird cage, because they can be stacked in tiers thereby saving space in the aviary. Breeding cages sell for $6.50 each or $7.50 with nest box included.

All the dimensions and sizes as given for the different toys, nesting boxes, and breeding cages are Bradley's standard patterns. Many pet shops order special sizes or patterns of bird accessories, however, and the Bradleys are prepared to fill any order of this kind.

DURING THE last year Bradley has done very little painting or paper hanging. Once in a while an old customer will not be satisfied unless Bradley redecorates a room or so in his home. Usually this puts the Bradleys, behind on their orders, and they have to work at night to catch up.

The Bradleys have turned a hobby into a profitable home business, and when asked to what they attribute most of their success, their reply is "mail order business." Since marketing of their hobby products is the greatest problem of hobbyists in general, let Bradley explain how he and his wife established their mail order business. He says:

"After you have perfected a hobby product so that you know it will be a good saleable item, and that can be proved by sales to local firms, you are ready to advertise in the proper magazines for mail order business. In our case we advertise in bird and pet magazines.

"The adage, 'It pays to advertise,' is true; but, when you first start paying for classified or display advertisements, you will think that it is a losing game. From the first month's advertisement you may not even get a nibble, the second month you may get an order or two, by the third month you should be getting enough mail orders to pay for your advertising. From then on business should pick up and you will realize the value of advertising. Too many hobbyists make the mistake of dropping their advertisements after two or three months. They are just getting to a place where advertising will pay.

"As we see it, when a reader notices our advertisement in a pet magazine for the first month, he might say, 'I see a new outfit, the Bradleys in Tulsa, are making parakeet toys.' The second month he might say, 'Well, I see the Bradleys are still in business.' But, when reading the advertisement for the third month, the reader could say, 'The Bradleys are still advertising, they must be a reliable firm, maybe we should try an order, their stuff looks pretty good'."

"And don't let a single inquiry go unanswered," Mrs. Bradley adds. "Many times a letter asking about our products if promptly answered will lead to good orders in the future. When answering each inquiry, we enclose an illustrated folder describing our parakeet accessories and a printed price list."

"Now, after you begin getting mail orders, packaging the items for shipment is very important," Bradley says. "Don't make the mistake we did at first, trying to find cardboard boxes at grocery and clothing stores in which to pack our orders. You can't find boxes of the right size in the first place, and time wasted in looking can just as well be used in production. Cardboard box manufacturers can supply boxes of any size, so we have individual boxes made for each size play yard and larger boxes made to hold six and twelve of each item. Then, if you have extra space in the box after packing the order, wad up old newspapers and fill all spaces so that items can't move in the box during shipment."

THE BRADLEYS have been contacted by large jobbers to take their entire output of parakeet accessories. They would have to enlarge their shop and assembly room and hire a number of people to help them meet the demands of the jobber. As yet the Bradleys have not considered this expansion of their home business. As Bradley puts it:

"The personal contact with local pet shop owners has made us many friends, and it seems we personally know each of our mail order customers even though they may live many hundreds of miles from here. Through a jobber these personal contacts would be lost, and we would just be another cog in a machine."