foraging

The Forage Set Up

Foraging also comes in handy when you need to keep your birds busy so you can do chores, such as preparing dinner.

Find a safe large area where your bird can walk around, such as a kitchen table or island. Move chairs back so your bird can't climb off. Cover the table with a sheet or big towel to keep your bird's feet comfortable. Next, randomly toss some fresh produce on the table. You can be creative and hide apples under a plastic bowl or shove a pear into a plastic tumbler. Do you have a head of lettuce that's down to the last few bitter leaves? Toss that on the table for shredding. Your bird will enjoy foraging as he runs from food to food, keeping busy as you are prepare dinner!

Encouraging Our Birds to Forage

Have you ever seen a squirrel foraging for nuts? It's no wonder we never see fat squirrels! Foraging is hard work. Parrots are no different than other wild animals, if they want to eat they have to forage. Not only does foraging provide food it also provides great physical and mental stimulation!

In the wild, Macaws spend hours flying and climbing as they search for food. After spotting a meal they have to fly down and manipulate complex tree branches, twigs and leaves before they even reach the food. Next, they use their beaks and feet to break through hard shells or pods just to reach one nut or seed.

But in captivity, foraging becomes nearly obsolete. Our birds find their food conveniently dumped into small bowls and placed in cages everyday. Hmm, that even sounds boring, doesn't it? Our birds are missing out and we are missing a great opportunity to help expand our bird's world.

Don't have a birdie Kabob? Use safe fresh tree branches such as Mesquite to skewer fresh fruit. Give your bird as large a branch as possible, with the fruit skewered on the twigs.

Put nuts in clean dry plastic water bottles of various sizes and screw the lid on tightly.

Fill stainless steal buckets with treats and tie to a rope. Your bird will have to pull the rope up in order to get to the bucket of treats.

Fill any size brown paper bag with treats and twist the bag shut. Your bird will have to tear into the bag to get to the treats.

"Planting" Food For Foraging

We don't really mean planting as in putting seeds in dirt. We mean more placing treats in inconspicuous places! In an effort to help our birds exercise their natural ability to forage, we can mimic a few of the complexities they would encounter in the rain forest such as hanging whole fruits or hiding nuts and seeds. All it takes is a little creativity on our part.

Planting food so that my birds must forage keeps them very busy during the day. Searching for food becomes part of their play time and prevents them from being bored.

I once read that we shouldn't set up obstacles in order for our birds to eat because they could become too frustrated. Whomever came up with that idea obviously never lived with a Macaw. The more challenging the puzzle the more determined the Macaw!

You can buy toys that are actually made for foraging or you can make your own. It really doesn't have to be complex, again just be creative and make it fun.

This is a favorite. It's a large stalk of Brussels sprouts, available in the fall. I drill a hole through the tough stalk and hang with an eye hook. The birds climb all over it, even swinging on it as they eat.

In addition to planting food there is another foraging method I provide my birds with every single day. It comes in the form of a basic dry food mix we refer to as the "Macaw Dreams Foraging Mix". The mix includes each of my bird's favorite nuts. My GW favors walnuts while my B&G loves pistachios. My Eclectus is just happy finding a nut in her foraging mix.

Now, I could easily just fill a small bowl with walnuts and pistachios which would be gobbled up in a matter of minutes. Instead, I make them hunt for their favorite treats! By mixing the nuts in their foraging mix, they are forced to dig around for their favorites. First, they will scan the bowl to see if they are lucky enough to spot a walnut on top then it's time to start digging around with those big beaks!

Here, I was actually making a birdie salad so I thought this would be a good time to let Scarlet forage as she helped! She ran from the tomatoes to the cucumbers to the spinach, taking bites out of everything.