Flock Squawk

Captive Foraging

A domestic animal is defined as: a population of animals that have their behavior, life cycle, or physiology systemically altered as a result of being under human control for many generations. Parrots haven't been kept in captivity long enough to be domesticated. Due to their long life spans, many captive parrots are just 2nd and 3rd generation from their wild-caught counterparts.  As a result keeping them in a captive, caged environment can present the bird care-giver with a multitude of challenges.  Though this caged environment provides adequate protection from dangers within the home environment, it simultaneously prevents many natural biological behaviors such as; flocking, flight and foraging.

Of the above mentioned behaviors foraging is the easiest to recreate in the home environment. If you have ever seen you bird picking around on the bottom of its cage your parrot is foraging. I have heard many people say "Well, my bird doesn't forage" or "My bird is too lazy." I guarantee your bird will forage. It is a natural instinct and a goal oriented behavior. Encouraging this type of behavior is good for the overall well being of your companion parrot.  At Foraging Ahead, LLC, our goal is to provide you with products that make it easy for you to provide a more stimulating and challenging environment for your parrots.

Some parrot care-givers get frustrated and give up on trying to introduce new types of things to their parrots.  Birds have a natural aversion to new items introduced to their environments. This natural aversion is also an instinctual behavior that would keep the bird alive in the wild.  Many parrots just need some time to figure things out. If your bird doesn't forage on the first try, don't give up. Try other ideas and move from the easier method to the more difficult method as your birds master each foraging task.

Our Reusable Foraging Feeder-Toy is a quick and effective means to provide your bird with a foraging activity.  It is also very versatile in the types of activities you can provide your parrot with. The Feeder-Toy can be stuffed with just about anything; food items, old toy parts, pellets, millet, bird safe natural stuffings, shredded paper, just to name a few. The plastic tube can be disassembled easily to be washed by hand or in a dishwasher. The product can be mounted in the cage in a multitude of ways by using the stainless-steel bolt, washers and wing nut. The plastic version is virtually indestructible for most parrot species making it reusable and inexpensive. Great care is taken in the manufacturing of the product and each one is carefully inspected to ensure there are no sharp edges that could potentially injure a bird. We only use the highest quality materials and ensure that all metal is stainless steel and safe for a companion parrot.

Feather Plucking

This is an important topic, especially for those who live with a parrot that is prone to plucking or mutilating.  There are many possible causes for this problem.  The first place to start is with your avian certified veterinarian.  Health problems can certainly be one cause and you want to rule these out first as the medical indications can be more easily solved than the potential behavioral causes.  Once you have done this we suggest examining your bird's environment.  Does your bird spend a lot of time alone while you are at work?  What part of the world does your pet come from?  What can you do to provide your bird with things from their natural environment that is still such a large part of it's biological programming?

Foraging can be an easy way to provide your companion parrot with stimulating activities and provide little pieces of ‘home’ from a biological perspective.  For instance, cockatiels and African grey parrots spend much of their time in the wild foraging on the ground in large flocks.  You can’t provide the large flocks for your companion parrot at home but you can easily provide ground foraging opportunities. (See our Reusable Foraging Tray products for ideas)  What kind of fruits or nuts would your Macaw or Amazon  eat in the rainforest?  Doing a little research would provide you a list of food items that you could place in a Foraging Feeder-Toy to simulate eating fruits or nuts off of a tree in the wild.  Cockatoos enjoy shredding and eating various limbs and leaves in the wild.  Using a twiggy trunk with some fresh Eucalyptus leaves and twigs, or another type of locally occurring bird safe foliage, is a great way to encourage natural foraging behavior in your Cockatoo.

While there are many reasons for plucking in companion parrots, trying to keep your bird occupied in a more natural way will provide benefits to your parrot.  It may not stop the problem completely but if you have ruled out medical causes for the problem it will certainly not hurt!  You can visit our Blog for more information about scientific studies that suggest foraging activities do decrease this behavior in companion parrots where an underlying medical reason doesn’t exist.

Parrot Diet

Variety is the spice of life. In the wild parrots eat a wide variety of seasonal and available foods. Some common things parrots have been observed eating are; flower buds, new leaf growth, bugs, fruits, vegetables, insects, seeds, and nuts. At home it is important to mix things up as well.   Providing a well-balanced and varied diet not only provides your bird with the nutritional benefits but eating food is what the parrot would be doing for most of its day in the wild. So also consider how you offer the diet to your bird. Our Foraging Feeder-Toys allow you to feed your bird's entire diet in an easy to use foraging tube. Without a lot of extra effort on your part you can provide your parrot with good nutrition as well as a natural activity.  Of course we highly encourage creativity and time spent in creating captive foraging environments for your companion bird, but some days are busy for the human and this is another important consideration to captive companion care. Make it easy on yourself and your bird and provide superior care by thinking like a bird and forage ahead!