stuff for your birds to do

[Dragonlady2]

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[The Pinkertons]

Good Article :th_smile:

[Blancaej]

That was a great article. It had many things on there that I do already but gave me some great new ideas as well! Thanks for sharing! :)

[Lady]

I like this information and bookmarked it as I'm sure it will come in handy. :highfive::thanks4sharingthumb

[mdg1109]

Thank you for posting this Helena. I feel that Charlie will benefit from this as he has taken to screaming lately when he is bored.

I am going to try some of these on the list.

[Dragonlady2]

I keep looking for things for my Eclectus to do. He is in a double macaw cage, but gets bored easily. Ekkies have a reputation of being perch potatoes, but Willy is busy most of the day. He seldom, if ever, naps like my other birds. He is unable to eat pellets due to toe tapping and wing flipping. He is fine when he just has a fresh food and a little seed treat at the end of the day. He is too interested in preening his feathers right now so I am constantly on the look out for innovative things to give him.

[Mare]

Great article, Helena, thanks for sharing! I needed some new ideas for our Sassy girl :). You mention that Willy's unable to eat pellets because of toe tapping and wing flipping..what does that mean..?.. If left up to my imagination, I can think of many things that probably aren't the truth.

[Dragonlady2]

Mare, I feed Willy a fresh food diet only with a few seeds at the end of the day. The digestive tract of an Eclectus is longer than most birds so they are able to extract more of the nutrients from their food. They really should not need any pellet as they are usually fortified. For Ekkies, they react to that extra fortification. Toe tapping and wing flipping are two of those ways, as well as plucking etc. Toe tapping....the toe(s) will involuntarily stick out straight and contract. As it contracts, you can hear the nail click against the perch. He has no control over it. Same as wing flipping. People always think their bird is wing flipping, but in an Ekkie, it is involuntary. The wings snap back against the body, it's not a rearranging of feathers. The sound is like a hollow clap. So, I can imagine you thinking he's doing a jig on his perch....lol.
I have tried TOPS, my favourite unfortified pellet, but he just does not like them, so I put everything but the kitchen sink into his chop and add dried herbs to cover nutritional needs.

[Mare]

Ok! Thanks for the explanation, I had never heard of such a thing..interesting!

[Lady]

4919
I think Lady has the egg carton idea down.

[luckyandjenn]

Great read thanks for posting it

[Casper's 2nd best friend]

Tony put up a suggestion about giving birds empty plastic water bottles to play with and what a success it has been with Casper. He chases it around the floor and is getting lots of excercise. Once he has trapped it in a corner and given it a good bruising he just wanders off.
Thanks Tony, all the expensive toys we buy just get ignored, this is brilliant and free.
I'll post some photos or video soon, they will probably be blurred because it is all quite frantic. :)

[PlaxMacaws]

Tony put up a suggestion about giving birds empty plastic water bottles to play with and what a success it has been with Casper. He chases it around the floor and is getting lots of excercise. Once he has trapped it in a corner and given it a good bruising he just wanders off.
Thanks Tony, all the expensive toys we buy just get ignored, this is brilliant and free.
I'll post some photos or video soon, they will probably be blurred because it is all quite frantic. :)You're welcome, Jean-Pierre. I'm happy to know Casper has discovered a new channel of enjoyment :D

[Casper's 2nd best friend]

Here is a picture of Casper playing with his bottle. It seems tapatalk won’t upload videos so i will have to do it via Onedrive. Stay tuned [emoji3]
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1st clip uploaded
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[Dragonlady2]

Casper is on a mission...lol. I use measuring cups and spoons from the dollar store and holy roller balls from the dog toy section.

[PlaxMacaws]

Nice to see Casper enjoying his new object of amusement :). The bottle seems about the right size for him. My macaws, of course, get the large 1-gallon jugs. Zaf loves to grab and hold on to the handle part with his foot as he carries the jug up the side of his cage. He uses his other foot in conjunction with his beak to climb, and he flaps his wings for good measure on the way up :D

[Lady]

How cute he is! Did he manage to get the treat out of it? I have been drinking from half size water bottles so I can see if Lady would be interested as well. Haven't had the chance to try it yet. It takes her some time to get use to new objects so she has to be desensitized first.

[Lisa]

Oh wow this was a really useful article and resource. Do check out the initial pages of esp chapter 43 of Biology: The Unity and Diversity of Life ([Users must be registered and logged in to view attached photos or hyperlinks]) for some very interesting facts on birds, especially parrots.

[Lisa]

Oh wow this was a really useful article and resource. Do check out the initial pages of esp chapter 43 of Biology: The Unity and Diversity of Life ([Users must be registered and logged in to view attached photos or hyperlinks]) for some very interesting facts on birds, especially parrots.

I have also began reading about various anthologies containing creative writing and bird- related sample science questions. They have been wonderfully enriching and helping me maintain a journal. Yesterday's prompt was bird's wings ([Users must be registered and logged in to view attached photos or hyperlinks]).