Completely non-sequitur fact, but maybe fun from a "hacker" perspective: Most parakeet cages I've seen in bird stores have a bell-in-a-ball type toy. Try picki

Completely non-sequitur fact, but maybe fun from a "hacker" perspective: Most parakeet cages I've seen in bird stores have a bell-in-a-ball type toy. Try picking it up and ringing it sometime. For some reason, all the parakeets will stop chattering as long as the bell is ringing.