Foraging

Reb Davis RVN APVN (avian) 2024

The Importance of Foraging for Parrots

In the wild, parrots dedicate a significant portion of their day, up to 70%, to the pursuit of sustenance through foraging. They travel great distances to find their preferred and most nutritious food and, once located, they need to identify the ripest fruits and crack open shells before eating their meal.

When captive parrots don’t have this challenge, they can become less engaged, leading to unwanted behaviours. To combat this, you can offer foraging opportunities for your companion parrot, stimulating their natural food-seeking behaviours in the wild.

Foraging enrichment is considered one of the most effective strategies to improve welfare and reduce stereotypies and other abnormal repetitive behaviours in captive animals, including parrots.

Changing Our Behaviour to Improve Their Behaviour

Presenting parrot food in a convenient bowl may seem logical to us- it’s tidy, easy and allows us to monitor their intake. But for parrots, serving pre-chopped food on a platter is like stripping them of their natural foraging instincts and purpose.

Instead, try to incorporate foraging opportunities into their daily feeding routine.

This does not need to be complicated or super expensive:

Cardboard boxes, small or large, or boxes within boxes- food can be hidden inside and this will also satisfy their behavioural need to chew/shred.

Used egg boxes containing treats or a portion of their meal.

Food inside food- smaller items of food can be stuffed into larger items, such as stuffed peppers, hollowed out squash, items hidden inside banana flesh.

Wooden block (parrot safe) with holes drilled in where food items can be hidden.

Forage boxes filled with shredded paper, herbal mixes, treats and food items.

Kebab sticks (parrot safe)- skewered with food items can be offered, or alternatively food can be skewered onto tree branches (parrot safe).

Commercial forage feeders are available in different designs and sizes that create different methods and opportunities of foraging.

The options are limitless with the goal being to encourage your parrot to actively seek their food.

Enrichment can also be provided in the variation of what food you offer, not just how you offer it:

Different textures- mashed, pureed, liquid ‘smoothies’ (caution with hormonal parrots)

Different sizes- coarsely chopped, finely blitzed, whole fruit/vegetable items. Oversized food items encourage your parrot to hold on to food with their feet whilst manipulating it with their beak.

Baking/creating your own healthy treats or meals- there are many recipes online or on social media.

Unshelled nuts- walnuts, Brazil nuts, pecans, hazelnuts, almonds, macadamias, pine nuts. All present a challenge for your parrot to crack open to get to the nut inside.

Implementing these easy and interesting opportunities into your parrot’s daily routine will be very beneficial to their mental wellbeing and may improve the parrot/owner bond whilst you encourage them to forage and seek out hidden treats.

Enrichment can also be provided in the variation of what food you offer, not just how you offer it:

Different textures- mashed, pureed, liquid ‘smoothies’ (caution with hormonal parrots)

Different sizes- coarsely chopped, finely blitzed, whole fruit/vegetable items. Oversized food items encourage your parrot to hold on to food with their feet whilst manipulating it with their beak.

Baking/creating your own healthy treats or meals- there are many recipes online or on social media.

Unshelled nuts- walnuts, Brazil nuts, pecans, hazelnuts, almonds, macadamias, pine nuts. All present a challenge for your parrot to crack open to get to the nut inside.

Personal Experiences

As a parrot owner and an avian veterinary nurse, I have found exposing my parrots to many different foraging methods very fun and imagainative to do!

I tend to apply the same approach to providing enrichment to my parrots as one would to a toddler (they are basically toddlers that will never grow up!) – I get really excited about the item (be it a new toy, a training tool or foraging opportunity)-play and iteract with it myself. This builds interest for them too, and is very helpful with those slightly anxious birds, who are wary of new things- if you can show them its safe and not dangerous, they will be more keen to try out what you are offering.

You might try various different foraging options and your parrot may not be interested – this does not mean you are doing anything wrong. The more frequently you offer and the more interest you show in the item, the better your chances are of encouraging them to show the desired foraging behaviors. You know your parrot best- if you know they prefer wood to cardboard, then opt for foraging methods that incorporate this.

From a veterinary perspective and from my experiences with my own flock, the more exposure your parrot has to foreign/new objects, they tend to cope better with change i.e. vet visits or hospitalisations. If you communicate with your vet/nurse your parrots preferred foraging techniques, we can perhaps use this to our advantage and incorporate it into their medication schedule or, for long hospital stays, we know how to keep them entertained during their time with us.

In Summary

There really is no limit to how you can provide foraging enrichment for your parrot, as long as it is safe, and you have desensitized them if necessary.

It is a crucial part of making sure your parrot’s behavioural needs are met and preventing boredom and other negative expressions.

Go forth and CREATE!

Reb Davis RVN APVN (avian) 2024