Captive Foraging for Parrots

I wanted to make a fun foraging toy for my recently inherited cockatiels, but i'm broke. haha. So i looked in my recycling bin and craft room and came up with something ugly but works! :)



x-posted to craftyrecycling and captiveforaging  :)

 

The wonderful Squawk Store is closing, and everything in stock (not including items shipped directly from the manufacturer) is 25% off. If you order over $100 of merchandise, shipping is free. This place has the BEST selection of foraging toys I've ever seen, plus lots of other really great stuff. Get it while you can!

( More info )

x-posted.

I've found that grey striped sunflower seeds fit perfectly into a large wiffle ball... slide in pretty easy but are hard to get out. I stuffed a bunch into a wiffle ball and Tara is going nuts. I got my seeds at Parrot Island, they are cheap and organic.

http://parrotisland.mainsecureserver.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=85&products_id=462

One problem I noticed with this toy is that I highly doubt Static's ability to open it when it's free-swinging. I suspect that just adds far too much difficulty. Luckily, it has some little dood-dads on the bottom that make it so you can stand this toy up on the bottom of the cage, on the cage grate. Which is what I will do for now. Maybe in a few weeks when she's more used to the toy I'll try hanging it and see if she can master that.

This is another one of those Nature's Instincts/Foragewise toys.

Edit: Okay, it doesn't stand up so great on the bottom of the. Cage we're experimenting to try to get it to work.

With two flighted caiques, sometimes I just need a way to get them to settle down and be quiet for a few minutes! I've come up with a nifty trick to do just that: Give them a nut.

I buy bulk mixed nuts in the shell, then use a flat-head screwdriver and a hammer to punch a small hole in the shell of each walnut, Brazil nut, pecan, and hazelnut. (The almonds they can open by themselves!)

When I need to occupy the birds for a while, I'll pull out a nut for each of them, call them over, and give them the nuts. Walnuts only take about 5 minutes for them to crack open and pull out, but a Brazil nut can keep them occupied for a long time!

(The usual disclaimer applies: nuts are a high-fat food, so they should be given sparingly, particularly to small birds.)

I know some people have trouble finding foraging toys for their smaller birds. There are more toys out there that work than you think! I got one recently that's working out pretty well, with a little modification.



Note: seeds are not a common food item in this house. I used them this time to encourage the birds to explore the toy, which they saw for the first time today. I'll probably fill this one with veggies and/or sprouts (since it's so easily washed), or their usual pellet and dry foraging mix most of the time.

Further ideas for modifying this toy: Since one row of balsa is so easy to break through, two rows is a better idea. Leafy greens, paper, or shredders can be woven through the balsa. The inside could be stuffed with shredded paper mixed with treats, to make finding the goodies even more difficult.

(Crossposted to captiveforaging, parrot_lovers and cockatiels)

This weekend while traveling I stopped by Parrots and Company (in Connecticut) and picked up a whole bunch of new foraging toys for my two caiques.

So far the only one I've tried out on my birds is the Barrel of Fun, made by Nature's Instinct. It's a durable, well-made, inexpensive toy (although not suited for bigger birds). My guys are pretty good at other manipulation toys, so they figured this one out very quickly. Still, it's a good toy to swap into their cage and occasionally fill with a treat to keep them guessing.



I'd recommend this toy for small to medium-sized foragers who are good at basic foraging (chewing through paper, looking inside things for treats, etc) and are ready to move to the next level, or for mid-level foragers for whom manipulating things is still a bit of a challenge.

Hey guys,
Do you think (or has anyone) made a foraging toy out of paper masher? I was thinking about why it wouldn't be such a good idea and decided just to ask here. The newspaper (providing it's black and white) won't hurt them and I don't think the floury water mix would hurt them either. And you can make all sorts of variations of shapes pretty easily. I also thought since you can put many layers to make it stronger, it would probably work well for many types of parrots and foraging levels alike. The only thing I would be careful with is making sure every layer is completely dry, or it may be a question of mouldy paper.  Any thoughts?
TIA :o)

The new version of the Parrot Enrichment Activity Book is now out! (It's in PDF format)

This book is a great collection of articles and resources for parrot owners, covering topics such as enrichment, foraging, toy making, and training. It also features photos and ideas from several members of this community and parrot_lovers. :)

Download and enjoy!

(x-posted to captiveforaging and parrot_lovers)

Hi everyone! I'm new here :) I recently got a new parrot and have decided to start him/her out right away with the captive foraging. Daiquiri is a Major Mitchell's Cockatoo. I'm sure I'll be asking advice pretty often, but I also hope to contrtibute some ideas!

Daiquiri is only 14 weeks old, and is also in the process of converting from seed to pellet. The only captive foraging we've done so far has worked pretty well! I used a cardboard tube from the inside of a cash register reciept roll and showed him/her that I put a peanut inside it. He's spent a couple of days shredding into it (I give it to him when he has time ouside of the cage)and has only just made enough of a hole it get to the peanut. To be honest s/he seemed more interested in chomping up the tube than in the peanut, but it's still fun!

I'm sure I'll get many more ideas from all you parronts out there :)

( Foraging routine )

ltdead posted a link to this article in parrot_lovers, but it was buried in a comment thread. It is really interesting, so I wanted to re-post it here.

A More Beautiful Life: Research proves that toys, attention, and avian pals can change your bird's behavior for the better

I'm about halfway settled into the new house so I figured there were no more excuses to be lazy about feeding the birds. I'm getting back into the fulltime foraging routine very slowly, but surely.

( Read more... )

x-posted from eterri

My two caiques usually stay at home all day while I'm at work, so I use foraging to help keep them entertained and occupied.

However, they're such good foragers that they buzz through foraging enrichments pretty fast. Lately I've been trying to think up ways to make their foraging last longer.

One thing I've done is divided their food among several different foraging toys - e.g. a hanging skewer, a carousel, and a hanging coffee filter bundle. I also wrap dry food/treats in newspaper and stuff those into nooks and crannies in their toys.

That's worked pretty well, but I am scouting for more ideas, preferably more challenging ones. They're not big wood chewers, so those wooden "treat cages" for them to chew through don't work. They'll gnaw on balsa and other soft woods, but haven't really learned to chew and chew and chew it yet.

One good challenge is to put a small (but not teeny-tiny) ceramic flowerpot on their hanging skewer, put some food in it, and then skewer some slices of root veggies on top as a "lid." They have to chew through the hard veggies to get to the good stuff. It's much harder still if I thread the flowerpot upside-down over their fruits and veggies, or over a smaller container holding their main diet. Another good challenge might be threading two same-sized flowerpots so that the openings faced each other, with food in between. The bird would have to slide the top pot up to get at the food.

Does anyone have any other ideas for more challenging enrichments for experienced foragers?

This week I took my caiques to the farm through which I get my CSA to do some u-picking. When picking basil, I discovered that they really love holding the flowery tops of the plants and eating off all of the flowers and buds. This might just be because caiques are flower-eaters in the wild, but it's a quick and easy natural foraging toy, so I figured I'd share it with you all. (Plus it makes their breath smell nice!)

So far my birds have been ignoring the sunflowers I've put in their cage, but they do love pulling all of the kernels off of dried ears of corn (I get them as popcorn through my CSA). It ranks right up there on the fun-o-meter with pulling all of the foot toys out of the foot toy bowl and tossing them on the floor, one by one. ;)

I just made one of these for Lucy and one for the lovies. It's basially three paper cup thingies strung on a piece of rafia separated by beads. Then I put some Harrison's pellets and a few seeds in the cups:

Just wanted to introduce myself (hi) and mention that I was very pleased to find this group.  I have a number of birds, including a Congo African Grey, a yellow-collared macaw, a Hahn's macaw, two budgies, and six Gouldian finches.  (And the chickens would be insulted if I didn't mention them; however, they don't live in the house with me.)

My three bigger parrots have all been with me since weaning, and they are about ten years old each.  I  have never had a problem with feather picking, except that my YCM has a beak issue that doesn't allow him to preen correctly, so he has a tendency to snip feathers off as opposed to running them through his beak.  As a result, my Hahn's typically looked pretty ratty, because my YCM grooms him.

When I moved from southern California to northern California, in 2003, however, my Hahn's started feather plucking about six months after we moved in.  I am not sure what caused him to start, as we have moved before (three times) with no ill effects, and he has never had a tendency to pluck.  I suspect part of the reason was that he is no longer in the main part of the house, so he gets less attention from humans, and the main source of lighting is full-spectrum, rather than natural daylight.  I have all the birds on the first floor (the only part of the house that I can keep cool in the summer and that isn't carpeted), but the room they are in is a converted garage, so other than a pair of French doors, there are no windows.  I have read, since starting to research his plucking, that artificial lighting can be a culprit.

After trying some other fixes, with negative results, I started experimenting with setting up foraging stations, and eventually ran into this group, which has been great.  Fingers crossed, but as of this morning, my Hahn's has little pin feathers all over his chest and the tops of his wings (where he was formerly Butterball bare).  I keep walking in holding my breath, expecting to see him plucked again, but have been pleasantly proven wrong thus far!

Any advice as to how to help a bird who is missing his upper beak (my YCM) forage would be greatly appreciated.  All the foraging toys are meant for birds who can "hook" things out of holes, or who can tear up paper and wood, and he can't do any of these things.  He can tear up wet paper towels, but that is about the limit of his ability.

Recently, instead of giving my CAG water in her water dish, I've been using a newly-bought small litter box on the bottom of the cage (her cage is large enough for this without getting feces in it from her perching above). There are two reasons for this:

1) I've wanted to see if it would increase her foraging activities, especially when eating pellets as she now has to take them down to the litter pan to dunk them (note: I am not trying to stop the dunking as that seems very cruel to do to an animal that does not produce saliva when eating dry food)

2) I wanted her to have a larger container to attempt to take baths in. She has always hated bathing and it isn't even force-able as she'll keep her feathers flat and moisture never fully penetrates. She tries to take baths in her water dish all the time but with little success because of the size. I hope she'll become comfortable enough with the litter box to try to bathe in it.

So far it's been working pretty decently from the water and pellet aspect. As far as I am aware she has not tried to bathe in it. I was also considering getting another box to allow her to dig for food as I've seen her using her feet to dig in her food dish... but what to have her dig through?

Has anyone else tried either of these before?

Also, for cockatiels what would anyone here suggest as good starter reusable foraging toys?

I finally uploaded pictures of some of the veggies-as-food-dishes that I've been making. Here they are:

Green pepper foraging dish:
Before:


( And after! Plus other veggies. )

Today when I did my weekly cage cleaning and rearranging, I decided to try a new foraging enrichment.

My upstairs neighbors have a garden in our front yard, and I found a small ear of corn whose stalk had broken. I finished breaking it off and wedged the stalk in a corner of the birds' cage.

Sure enough, they've already been chewing on the stalk and have chewed away some of the husk to reveal part of the corn cob! They seem to like it, and it gives their cage a bit of a "jungle-y" feel, with the big corn leaf sticking out.

I'll definitely be pulling other odds and ends from the garden to liven up their cage!