Enrichment Toys

Parrots are intelligent, curious, social creatures. Small, lonely and empty cages do not allow these animals to exhibit their natural behaviours.

Enrichment can help encourage your birds to display some of these normal natural behaviours, while in the process reduce abnormal behaviours (e.g. feather plucking or excessive screaming). Enrichment can take numerous forms:

Foraging

Foraging is a natural behaviour for many species. Wild parrots spend around 4 to 6 hours daily searching for food, while captive birds only spend an hour or less. Foraging is a major portion of the daily activity of a wild bird, but this is not available to pet birds. Foraging enrichments are an effort to give back this primary physical and mental activity. Many pet birds have limited foraging skills, therefore programs should start with very simple challenges that the bird easily complete.

The foraging methods should be similar to the natural feeding behaviour of the particular avian species. Ground feeding birds such as cockatiels can be offered a foraging tray; a large, flat area filled with shredded paper or other inedible material with food sprinkled among this material. The birds can then walk around and find food as would occur in the wild. Birds that feed in trees can have foraging items hung around the cage and play areas.