Enrichment?

[henpecked]

What does that mean? Is it a measure of the value that you place on your companion's well being? Is it the fact that you agree they aren't that much different than you and me? Enrichment can be the little things you do to include your bird in your every day life. They need a flock and interaction. Just as we do. Enrichment ,,, it's just what it says. Socialize ,socialize,socialize the best form of enrichment.

[Honesty]

Very well said Richard :)

[keepsmiling]

I look at enrichment as being a lot of things. It can be simply measured by the environment you provide as well. A bird kept in a small cage with one or no toys, who doesn't get out much or not often, lacks enrichment. Providing opportunities for foraging, a bounty of healthy foods, an environment rich in stimulating fun things to do, and yes having others to interact with, are all a part of enrichment.

[aliray]

I agree

[jtbirds]

richard i agree and with everyone else to it is what we do daily to make there lives better, and i love when you say socialize socialize socialize because thats exactly what i say to people if they want to have a happy content parrot! Great way of putting it in writing. Have you seen the pictures of my guys out at the educational events this weekend?

[mrgoogls]

I agree. enrightment is sort of how your parrot lives. a combonationof there time alone in the cage with toys and foraging, and time spent with you and your family.

[spiritbird]

Enrichment is a broad meaning word.

How I see it is any changes you make to a companion animal’s environment that gives it an outlet to display its natural behaviors and keep it happy. It can include foods, housing, toys and social activities. When I was a kid all one did with their birds was to put them in a cage and feed them seed. We have come a long way from those days. :th_heart:

[Turquoise]

Hmmm, very well said by everyone. I think my birds enrich my life way more than I enrich theirs.:th_hug8:

I mean I provide the largest enclosure I can afford to fit into the space I allow for my feathered kids. Even to the point of removing furniture I rarely use causes 'That cage' will look oh so nice in the spot. Terrie will relate to this one! :th_LOL: I buy quality foods, shelled & unshelled nuts, treats, cook special concoctions some like & others don't, so on the cage floor it goes most of the time. Store bought toys occasionally so they don't get tired of the bland ones I make. I Try to create an environment within their homes that will satisfy them & keep them preoccupied when I can't allow them out time. I let them out & interact with them as my time allows. They have their own play perches designed especially for each one as I think they would like it if they could be free in the rainforest. I am always trying to think of new ways to make life not so boring for them.

But to really say I enrich their lives~~I think I fall way short of that goal. To truly enrich my bird's lives would be to set them free in a completely safe Bio-Sphere large enough that they could live out their lives as they were meant to be.

So I truly feel they enrich my life way more than I enrich theirs. My enrichment is a selfish one tho, because I could never let them go to live in that Bio-Sphere unless I could no longer give them proper care here in my home.

Enrichment to me means I get to enjoy, photograph, listen to & live with a part of our beautiful world (mostly the rainforest for my flock) I will never get to visit or live in outside my home!

[coltfire]

now that was well put De'Andrea. and more to the point of our fids.

[Turquoise]

Thank you Steve. It came from my heart and how I feel about my feathered kids. How they enrich my life.:th_hug8:

Well, maybe not so much how I feel about Roscoe right now. Or should I say, how he feels about me. He just had a bad temper tantrum over me moving his pellet bowl after he so unceremoniously threw it to the floor. I moved it closer to where I can reach it since rearranging his limbs last week. He was so mad he was raking the pellets out of it as fast as he could while cussing me in macaw language with a few people words thrown in here & there.:th_LOL: By tonight I have no doubt he will get it loose again & throw it down in a huff as to say, "There, now leave it where it lies woman!!"

[spiritbird]

De'Andrea I could not have said it any better than you.