Table of Contents
- How To Keep Your Bird Entertained When You're Not Home
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My Top 5 Recommendations to Battle Bird Boredom
Do you work away from home and worry about keeping your pet bird entertained and content? If so, you're not alone. Pet birds, especially parrots, need constant stimulation to stay happy and healthy. In this blog post, we'll explore why enriching your bird's life is crucial and provide expert tips to ensure your feathered friend thrives even when you're not around. Read on to discover how to create a vibrant and engaging environment for your bird!
Pet birds are incredibly intelligent and active creatures. With high metabolisms, they play hard and sleep hard both in the wild and in captivity. It’s simply not natural for them to be inactive for long periods. When left unstimulated, birds may resort to destructive behaviors such as screaming, pacing, feather plucking, and anxiety.
At BirdSupplies.com, we’re dedicated to parrot wellness, and enrichment is a key part of that. This post will guide you through essential strategies to keep your bird engaged and entertained while you're at work. Let's dive into some effective bird enrichment techniques that can transform your bird's day!
How To Keep Your Bird Entertained When You're Not Home?
Luckily, there are a lot of ways to keep your bird entertained when you're not at home. Just think about what birds do naturally in the wild.
According to Avian Welfare, “Wild parrots live in flocks and can fly many miles each day. They spend hours foraging for a variety of natural foods, socializing, communicating, bathing, preening, establishing nesting territories, mating, excavating nests, and raising their young.”
Our pet birds are naturally busy, inquisitive, curious, and playful. These are the qualities that make them such endearing pets but also the same qualities that make them challenging to care for.
So, rather than fight nature, nurture your exotic bird’s natural needs to keep it from getting bored both when you're at home and when you're not at home.
If you have the room available you might want to explore making a bird room. I keep my 3 medium to large parrots in their own room. I devised it to be super easy to clean. 🧹 We all know how messy birds can be! So I made it easy on myself by installing tile floors and washable paint.
My birds have their own cage and a few Java tree bird stands. I've got the lights on a timer so that my birds get 10-12 hours of restful sleep each night. And, I've developed a bird care routine that allows me to provide 5 essential ways to keep them entertained while I work all day to pay the bills.
My Top 5 Recommendations for How To Battle Bird Boredom
1. Offer Varied Foods
Think about the diverse range of foods that are available to parrots in the wild. Rain forests and jungles provide a plethora of vegetation, fruits, nuts, grains, herbs, seeds, and so on.
Your pet bird needs a diverse range of food in order to thrive! The old wives tale of feeding your bird seeds is a thing of the past. Ask any avian vet. Your bird needs a foundation of a quality pellet plus a rich range of healthy, uncooked plant-based foods for both its mental and its physical health.
By the way, if your bird hasn't learned how to eat vegetables check out my video in which I outline 9 ways to get your bird to eat a healthier, more diverse diet. After all, wild birds learn what is safe to eat from their mom and dad. If they haven't been shown that a food is not safe to eat they'll avoid it like the plague!
Bird food prep doesn't need to be a full-time job. Develop a routine where you mix up batches of healthy foods and freeze them in daily portions. Not sure what foods are safe and bird friendly, grab a copy of these informative books by Karmen Budai.
Feeding your bird a diverse range of foods is a great way to occupy it throughout the day. 🫐 🫑 🍒 This is especially true if your bird has to crack open nuts or figure out ways to access the food from foraging toys, and traverse over to forging stations that you dispersed throughout the cage.
If you want to learn more about what to feed your bird check out this blog post.
2. Offer A Range of Bird Toys
Most well socialized birds love to play with a range of bird toys. A lot of us know all too well how important it is to provide your bird with safe wood bird toys to chew on. Just look at our furniture or door jams! 🪑
When choosing toys for your bird keep in mind that a lot of birds love variety. They’re intelligent and they can get bored easily.
If you watch a child play you'll notice how they go from one toy to another. They get bored with the same type of toy so they move about from puzzles, to toys that promote activity, to toys that promote intellectual stimulation, and so on.
Your bird likes variety as well. I like to provide my birds with wood toys to chew on, foraging toys that pique their curiosity, natural products that they can shred up, and toys that have a variety of materials you're in them.
Think in terms of bird safe wood in the appropriate density for the size of your pet. Plant-based bird toys. Puzzle style bird toys. And, foraging toys that your bird has to figure out. Stay away from most stringy style bird toys because the string gets caught in your bird's crop.
One thing that I’ve learned when choosing bird toys is to stick with quality bird toys that I know are made with bird safe parts. You can save yourself the grief of an injury by sticking with trustworthy bird toy brands. Some of my favorite brands are Super Bird Creations, Bonka Bird Toys, Planet Pleasures, and Featherland.
The next thing to know about bird toys is that you should rotate the toys out each week. Just like my example with how kids get bored with toys, your bird will get bored with the same old toys week after week. Each week when I clean my bird cages, I swap out toys and recycle bird toy parts.
Head over to this article if you want to learn more about how to choose bird toys.
3. Provide A lot of Sensory Enrichment
Keeping your parrot entertained and stimulated is crucial, especially when you're not home. Sensory enrichment can make a big difference in your bird’s life, keeping them mentally active and engaged. Here are eight effective ways to provide sensory enrichment for your feathered friend:
1. Parrot TV. Set up a TV in their room and play bird-friendly content like nature documentaries or YouTube channels made for birds. This gives them visual stimulation similar to watching the outside world.
2. Music. Birds love different sounds. Play various types of music to see what your parrot enjoys. Soft classical music can be calming, while upbeat tunes might get them moving and dancing.
3. Natural Sounds. Play sounds from nature, like rain, wind, and forest noises. These can help your bird feel connected to the wild and can be very relaxing.
4. Interactive Toys. Provide toys that make noise, have different textures, and come in bright colors. Foraging toys that make your bird work to get a treat are excellent for both mental and physical stimulation.
5. Rotating Scenery. Move your bird’s cage or play area to different spots in your house occasionally. A change of scenery can be exciting and stimulating as they explore new sights and smells.
6. Light and Color. Birds see more colors than humans, so add colorful toys and decorations. Use full-spectrum lighting to simulate natural sunlight, promoting healthy behaviors.
7. Bathing Opportunities. Regular baths are essential for your bird’s well-being. Bathing removes dirt and promotes healthy preening, keeping your bird occupied for hours.
Using these sensory enrichment ideas will help keep your parrot happy and engaged, even when you’re not around. Each bird is unique, so have fun experimenting to find out what your bird loves the most.
4. Create Foraging Stations Throughout the Cage
If you've gotten this far the word foraging is no surprise. Foraging isForaging is all about working to get food, and it's a fantastic way to keep your bird busy and happy. 🥜
Experts like animal welfare pros, parrot wellness specialists, zookeepers, and vets all agree: foraging is super important for birds. It helps them use their natural instincts and stay engaged.
The Richard M. Schubot Parrot Wellness program at UC Davis even lists foraging as one of their top 6 tips for keeping pet birds healthy.
Foraging is perfect for stopping birdie boredom while you're at work. That's why I wrote a book all about teaching your bird to forage. It's crucial for their well-being, and as bird parents, we need to keep encouraging it.
If you're not sure where to start or your bird doesn't play with toys, get my book! It'll guide you through everything you need to know.
Worried about how to start or think it might be expensive? No worries! Just hop onto Pinterest for tons of DIY foraging toy ideas. Your bird will be occupied all day long, and you’ll have a blast making the toys too!
5. Promote Exercise
As a mental health provider, I can assure you that when we're dealing with a depressed or anxious client, one of the first things we inquire about is wellness. We want to know about the person's diet, sleep, and exercise.
A bird is no different. A bird that's not eating well, not getting adequate sleep, and not exercising is going to develop unwanted behavior.
If you want to keep your bird busy while you're at work, one thing you can do is provide it with exercise outlets. Here are five simple ways to make sure that your bird gets plenty of exercise, even when you're at work.
Perches and foraging stations. One of the easiest ways that you can ensure that your bird gets plenty of exercise is to place perches throughout the cage and near foraging stations that pique your bird's curiosity.
This strategy pulls double duty for keeping your bird entertained.Your bird has to move about to get to the different foraging stations, thereby getting exercise. And, the foraging stations are enriching in their own right. Here's a great resource on how to create foraging stations for your bird.
Invest in a bird stand. Who wants to be cooped up in a bird cage all day long? It doesn't sound very fun. Investing in a tree style bird stand encourages your bird to climb, play, and forage.
Some people make their own bird stands out of bird safe branches or even PVC piping. I like bird stands with several levels that my birds can climb to. These Java tree bird stands are a favorite for both me and my birds.
I'd gone through a number of cheaper styles that didn't last but I've had these Java Trees for 20 years. You can adapt them by adding toy hooks and screwing in perches. figure out ways to hang foraging stations on different parts of the tree, and Wallah, your bird is entertained all day while you're at work.
Dance. Birds love music and they’ve actually got a groove! Just log onto YouTube and watch birds dance. If you've got the time, dance with your bird before you go to work. The exercise will do it good and leave it less restless for the rest of the day.
When you dance with your bird you are modeling freeform exercise that your bird can do on its own while you're at work. Now, just leave your favorite Spotify channel on when you're gone so that your bird feels free to dance whenever it wants to! Not only does it provide your bird entertainment and exercise but it also provides your bird with sensory enrichment
Harness train and fly your bird. A lot of people allow their bird to fly throughout the house. Some even teach their bird to free fly outside. If you choose to do this I'd encourage you to work with a professional.
A safe way to get your bird out is to harness train it. Stick with the Aviator bird harness brand that is designed to restrain your bird at safe touch points and not harm any of your bird's numerous air sacs.
Once your bird catches on to the concept, “the sky is the limit” when it comes to exercise.
Offer your bird accessories that promote exercise. Bird climbing nets and Bird Boings are a great way to encourage exercise. I prefer a bird climbing net and bird boings made from hemp rope, abaca, or sisal to prevent crop impaction.
In conclusion, I have covered a lot of ground here! Honestly, with the exception of the Java Tree, all of these suggestions are pretty affordable. And, even with the Java Tree, I look at that as a bird necessity for our medium to large parrots.
P.S. Hey! Before you go… I got one last bonus tip. I think I'm speaking for my birds here. When I redid my bird room about 4 years ago I put a television in there. I play the TV and music for my birds just about every day.
But I can assure you that their favorite program of all is a YouTube channel that plays on a loop, called ParrotTown on YouTube My birds have gotten into the habit of waking me up in the mornings so that I will turn that channel on for them.
RELATED POSTS
What to feed your parrot: The parrot food pyramid
Choosing bird toys that your bird will actually play with
What you need to know about bird preening
REFERENCES
https://www.petmd.com/bird/care/7-ways-help-prevent-your-pet-parrot-becoming-bored
http://www.avianwelfare.org/issues/articles/truenature.htm
Johnson, M. Clicker Training For Birds
https://www.vetmed.ucdavis.edu/hospital/small-animal/parrot-wellness
Link to this blog
Burroughs, D. (2024, July 17). Top 5 Bird Enrichment Hacks for When You're Away. BirdSupplies.com. https://birdsupplies.com/blogs/news/top-5-bird-enrichment-hacks-for-when-youre-away
Diane Burroughs, LCSW is a licensed psychotherapist trained in ABA therapy techniques. She specializes in avian anxiety disorders and is certified in Nutrition For Mental Health. Diane has written a number of bird behavior books and she offers behavior consultations. She's developed a range of UnRuffledRx Science-backed Parrot Wellness Supplies.
Diane's products have been featured in the Journal of Avian Medicine and Surgery and at Exoticscon, a conference for exotic pet veterinarians. Her bird collars & supplements are stocked in avian vet clinics and bird stores throughout the US. With over 30 years in the field of behavior, Diane has created thousands of successful individualized behavior plans that help pets thrive.
TAGS: #BirdEnrichment #ParrotEnrichment
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