Who... doesn't offer foraging?

I'm just curious, is there anyone here who doesn't make their birds forage at all?

I don't MAKE them forage for their basic meals, at least not in the classical sense. They both have food that contains things they like and things they don't like so they forage through that. I also offer treats for forage to various degrees.

I do a similar thing.

I feed a moist meal twice a day, and any seed/millet must be foraged. Because they still don't like pellets, I just left a dish of them around... but they barely touch it at all!

It's hard to "make" a bird forage, something I found out with Caesar. When I've stopped providing her food in the places she expected it to be and tried making her look for it or work for it in any way, she just stopped eating. In my mind it's not worth it.

Her "foraging," as it were, comes from placing different foods in different dishes all around her roaming area. There are some in her cage, some on the outside, some on top of Allie's cage, etc. She has to move around to get to whatever she's in the mood to eat - and I change things up on occasion just to keep it "exciting." (Yeah, right.) This is the best way I've found to keep things varied while still managing to keep her eating.

I guess I don't. Definitely not with the breeders. They have better things to do. . . Even when the bowl only goes half empty they sometimes stop feeding babies. They get whatever they want to eat all the time. I have 2 or 3 bowls of different foods in there at all times in addition to any whole items thrown in.

i don't put anything in for them to forage...like roz i keep the bowls full all the time


dusty

Dusty, have a look at these sites for some easy homemade foraging devices. You have so many intelligent birds, and I bet they'd love some puzzles for treats!
http://foragingforparrots.com/
http://frombeakstobarks.wordpress.com/2009/04/04/how-to-make-cheap-and-easy-foraging-toys-at-home/

I say this because I absolutely know for a fact that my birds, especially my Cockatiel are a lot more sedentary and 'boring' when I don't leave out foraging devices. They are a lot more active, vocal and happier when they can forage

CB is too stupid to forage, I'm convinced. I try and try and he just has no interest and will stop eating if I don't give him food in dishes. The budgies also don't.

A shallow bowl with newspaper bits and seed to rummage through? That and millet wrapped in super thin tissue paper have worked right away.

GlassOnion wrote:

A shallow bowl with newspaper bits and seed to rummage through? That and millet wrapped in super thin tissue paper have worked right away.

They all shred newspapers but ignore the food and treats left in them. Unless they can get the food easily, they ignore it all together. They will rip apart anything to get a toy though, so that may count!

thanks GO i have them bookmarked....there are some good ideas on them


dusty

Rosco & Merlin have foraging cups (Animal Crackers), and I stick things into Yucca for Merlin & Stryder (Rosco will nibble through anything, so he gets hard wood pieces to last longer for foraging goodies from!).

I also have toys with nuts in weird places, which encourages them to nibble on the toy parts before realizing there's a prize for them within Then the toys get dismantled in a frenzy while they search for other hidden gems!

I have fun being creative with it

Hey Dusty, fill a LEGO with treats and I'm sure Mango will have a blast. Lol!

Ducky's the same way as CB. He loves peanuts, so I thought "hey I'll put it inside this toy here so he has to go get it..." and of course I looked in the toy the next day and it was still there. I even showed it to him and showed him me putting the peanut there, and tried having the top of the peanut sticking out so he could see it. He still didn't get it.
Foraging stuff on top of the food... It doesn't seem to make a difference to my birds. They poke a hole in one part and dig out the food, but seem more annoyed at it for getting in the way. I'll have to try the millet thing though. Sam & Eric love them some millet.

Do foraging toys count? I really don't have that many foraging food toys, but PLENTY of foraging toys, which they love and shred to pieces.

I guess they do! Try shoving millet in finger traps and those vine balls

I've been wrapping treats in thicker and thicker layers of tissue paper and I can definitely tell that Spice often gets frustrated and just starts violently attacking the wrapped balls... but in the end, both of mine still get their reward.

I do with all of mine. Tiki lets Sparrow do the work then enjoys the spoils. Cracks me up! Toogie demands to be kept busy, so I am always figuring out new ways to stump her and keep her engaged!

marty prefers to just eat when he pleases and destroy toys all day and watch tv lol mikko is afraid of anything new i put on her cage so shes still kind of exploring whats already in her cage ill try foraging with her eventually

I offer a bit of foraging opportunities, most commonly it's branches out of the gum tree covered with tiny gum nutty things, Tim LOVES them, I fill the top of their cage with them and they love getting in it and shredding the leaves and such, I've made a piñata with treats inside, bought little finch nests and filled them with treats then block up the end with a piece of cardboard, ummm, wrapped things in paper, fill a paper cup and block the end with cardboard, poke some holes in with bits of paper sticking out, the Tiel's love it. Tim's a boring old man when he's in the cage, just likes to sit there and eat/bathe/beg for out so it's nice to see him so happy when he has his gum tree branches we also have a plastic foraging ball, thy don't touch it

I don't hide treats for foraging, because I use them as rewards for a good behavior, to socialize etc.

What I do is I hide their favorite shredding parts everywhere it's possible, including toys: bamboo shredders, craft wood sticks, wicker elements, vine twists, paper pieces etc.
Each of my Monsters have something favorite to chew