What is foraging?
Foraging is actually a very expensive word for "searching for food"
Now you're probably thinking "why? My bird just has a bowl of food in its cage, right?” Yes! And that's a shame, because boredom can arise in this way, among other things. In the wild, a bird spends most of its day foraging. As soon as the bird wakes they call everyone together and then fly out for food, then they often nap and play and at the end of the afternoon they fly out again for food. Every bird has its own way of looking for food. Think, for example, of a cockatoo that often looks for its food on the ground, between leaves and bushes. But a woodpecker, for example, uses its pointed beak to get insects out of tree bark. So foraging is a very big part of a bird's life.
Why should we let our birds forage?
A very simple answer, because our birds, especially the crooked beaks, are super smart and they get bored quickly. That is why they like stimulation, but it is also necessary. If a bird gets bored, this can lead to all kinds of behavioral problems, such as picking, screaming, but aggression can also arise as a result.
It is often the case that the supplied bowls of the cage are packed with food, this is very boring for a bird. A bird likes to make extra effort for food because it is in their system. Ready-made foraging toys are for sale, but you can also make your own! It is useful not to start too difficult right away, especially if the bird does not know foraging because it has been given everything in a container for years. That's why there are different levels of foraging toys, for example there are clear trays with a sliding opening at the top, this allows the bird to see its food but has to figure out how to get to it to help the bird a little bit, you can also pretend how to open it.
Ready-made toys
Here are some examples of toys that are for sale that put the brain to work.
This is cardboard with holes, perfect for hiding sunflower seeds, for example.
This is a transparent cup and therefore the bird can see its food! Perfect for introducing the bird to foraging.
This ball is ideal for hiding grape vine millet with, for example, paper strings! A very easy foraging toy.
This wheel is also a very nice toy, the bird can see the food again and there is an easy opening to turn.
Finally, this is a more challenging foraging toy, because the bird cannot see the reward, but the system works the same as the foraging cup of petlala!
Get started yourself!
Of course you can also make enough yourself!
We at Avonturia We have a wide range of DIY products, for example we have finger traps where you can put something tasty in and the bird then has to demolish them to get to the snack. We also have gum Arabic, this is a natural binding agent and you make it with water until it becomes a kind of syrupy substance. Once that is there you can mix in seeds, pellets, bunch of millet, dried fruit or nuts and it will get very sticky. You can put this super nice in a pinecone and leave it until it no longer sticks and is very hard, so the bird has to make an effort to eat! We also sell this gum arabic and pine cones!
