Foraging for food in the wild is a major activity for birds, and is a process that can consume up to 8 hours of their natural day. Not only does foraging provide them with life sustaining nutrition, but provides activity that keeps them active and entertained throughout the day. Many of the larger birds organize their entire day around foraging for food. Wild parrots will literally dig, tear, rip, and root their way around for food.
Contrasting to the life of a wild parrot, parrots in captivity have food available to them at all times. Most of the time, it's a quantity of food they wouldn't finish in two days, let alone one. What used to be a day long adventure (foraging) has now been replaced with the simple act of navigating to the bottomless food dish. No wonder so many parrots have behavioral problems- we've stripped them of what they have been hard wired to do! As bird owners, we can vastly enrich the lives of our parrots by simply implementing some low cost basic foraging materials that would replicate their natural activities.
Be creative. Mix and match commercially available foraging systems with homemade toys that encourage foraging activity. The following are some ideas to get you started, and are geared towards the beginning forager.
- Use paper. Printer paper, newspaper, or even construction paper works well. You can crumple the paper and hide a treat inside, cover the food dish with a sheet of paper, or learn a few simple origami designs to hide treats. For the beginner forager this is a great activity.
- Small cardboard boxes. The boxes your tea and cereal come in are great for smaller to mid sized birds. In smaller boxes such as tea boxes, you can hide favorite treats and have the bird chew their way through the cardboard to reveal the treat inside. For a larger box, stuff the box with shredded paper, sprinkle with seed, and watch your bird go to town as they root around in the box to find the food.
- Paper cups can be used to crumple and hide a treat within the cup. Or you can string multiple cups up on a length of wire, chain, or sturdy cotton rope, so the two cup open ends are facing each other, and hide a treat inside each cup. Then hang in your birds cage.
- Coffee filters are a favorite in this household. You can purchase these unbleached and organic if you so desire. They are a great and engaging texture.
- Paper towel rolls can be cut into small segments and used to hide treats and other foodstuffs.
- Food bowls. Instead of having one food bowl in the cage as the primary source of food, mix things up a little. Have two or more bowls in the cage, each spaced away from each other and containing a small amount of food. This way your bird will have to work its way to each bowl to eat their fill.
- Whiffle balls, especially the slotted type, are great for stuffing items such as shredded paper, craft sticks, and anything else you can think of that your bird might enjoy. The birds will delight in having to extract the item they want to play with from the ball.
- Nut cages are a great an relatively inexpensive option for the serious forager. You can fill them with toys, nuts, or other food items so your bird has to really work for their treat. Nut cages are refillable and reusable which makes them a great long term investment.
- Popsicle sticks can be used as foraging treats as well. Put them over your birds food dish to provide a challenge to get around when trying to reach their food. You can tape down the sticks using a cloth tape, available in the first aid section of your local store.
If you are serious about foraging, and your bird is too, consider in investing in some foraging systems. There are lots of different types out there now, since the recent popularity and importance of foraging has come to light. Many systems double as toys, so your bird can get foraging and enrichment at the same time.
I hope you find these ideas useful and that they will give way to your creative side to come out and play. Remember no idea is too simple and just because it might not look pretty doesn't mean it won't be an effective tool. Some of the most enriching forms have come from some pretty ugly prototypes!
Emily is very active in the avian community participating in numerous websites and online communities for parrot owners. Emily is also a moderator at http://www.BirdBoard.com She is head writer for http://www.BirdToys.com and online shopping portal for fun and unque bird toys, bird food, cages, and supplies.
Whats On My YouTube Today?
Echo my african grey parrot Tearing it up
Here Are A Few Items From Amazon You Might Be Interested In.
| Account limit of 2177 requests per hour exceeded. |
Items recently purchased on this site:
Thanks for visiting!
