Foraging
Foraging is the act of searching for food. In the wild, parrots such as caiques can spend 4-6 hours per day searching for food. In our homes, they spend little to no time at all, as it is common for pet owners to simply fill a bowl of food and place it in the cage. While this satisfies a birds need, at the same time it deprives them of another very basic need. Foraging is taking off in aviculture, with many people recognizing the importance of implementing foraging in our captive birds environments.
I have noticed with my two black heads, that they participate in less determintal behaviors (such as screaming) when they have multiple foraging opportunities in their cage. They also seem to play more, perhaps feeling as though now that their job is 'complete' they can have some fun.
Foraging can be as simple as difficult as you make it. There are many commercially available products on the market that you can offer your birds. Lines such as Foragewise or Creative Foraging Systems offer exclusive toys that are suitable for birds of all sizes. Toys such as nut cages, and side mount mazes are popular foraging models.
Giving your bird foraging opportunities does not have to be expensive or time consuming. Covering the birds food dish with newspaper or cardboard (depending on the size of beak and level of foraging skill) is a simple way to get your bird to work for its food. Wrapping treats in unbleached coffee filters and placing them throughout the cage is another simple idea. Having multiple food dishes in the cage, each with a little amount of food, allows for the bird to move throughout the cage to eat an entire meal. Hiding treats in favorite toys is another way to implement foraging. Anything that will make your bird work for food.
When implementing a foraging program, start small. You don't want to overwhelm your bird with suddenly having his food going missing, scattered throughout various parts of his cage! Starting small, such as covering the food dish, and then working up to behaviors such as uncovering food items from different foraging systems is the way to go. Some birds do not like to forage for what they can't see, so choosing toys that are see through or allow the bird to know there is something worth working for, is ideal.
Foraging can be implemented in many differnt ways. Your imagination is the limit!