Birds, like all intelligent animals, are active and curious. Birds in the wild spend their days foraging for food, avoiding predators, raising their birdlings, preening, exploring their environment, and even playing. For birds, it is simply not in their nature to ever be still. Too often, birds kept as pets will take on maladaptive behaviours simply because they are bored and inactive. To keep your beloved bird feeling its best, add enrichment items to its cage that mimic its natural environment. The idea is to keep your bird busy and happy by encouraging it to chew, play, climb, forage, and the like. Ideally, you should have at least 2-3 toys per bird in their cage, so it’s important to make sure your cage is the appropriate size! (Your bird should be able to spread their wings and turn around without hitting anything! The bigger the cage, the better).
Enrichment items can be homemade or bought at your local Petland. Don’t know where to start? Petland has you covered! Here’s what your feathered friend needs to keep it singing its favourite song!
Shredding
Birds think that shredding is fun because they shred foliage when foraging for their food in their natural environment. They also like to shred as it mimics nest-building behaviours in some birds (like finches and canaries). Some birds even just like the sound shredding makes! (we’re looking at you, parrots!). There are many different kinds of shredding toys, and one of our favourite examples is the Tweeters Hatch Day Hat toy!
Noise Making
The more noise a parrot can make, chances are, the more fun they are having. Parrots LOVE to make noise and they love when a noise interacts with them as well! You may notice that a lot of bird toys have bells and jingles on them. Another way to stimulate your bird’s busy brain is to have noisy toys. Did you know that your bird also likes when YOU make noise? Birds can form bad habits if you make a noisy reaction to them, because they’ll keep doing it to hear the noise you make (because they like it THAT much!). Two examples that our budgies really enjoy in store are the Tweeters Scoops Bird Toy and the Tweeters Wicker Ball Dangler Bird Toy.
Problem-Solving
Birds instinctively like solving puzzles because it provides them with mental and physical stimulation. Some bird puzzles have a treat at the end (see “foraging toys”) while others will have your bird screwing and unscrewing, or putting pieces into the correct spot. One of our bird’s favourites is the Tweeters Nothing But Nuts N Bolts Bird Toy. The bird has to screw and unscrew little pieces, and it makes for hours of fun!
Foraging
Foraging toys are extremely important for keeping birds engaged and entertained. Birds spend 2/3's of their time in nature foraging for food, so they instinctively enjoy it as a de-stressing activity. The way that these toys work is that you hide a treat somewhere deep within the toy and your bird has to work to find it and get it out of the location. One of our favourite foraging toys is the Tweeters Coco Foraging Toy. You can hide treat within the coconut and papers for lots of digging and snacking fun.
Climbing
The only thing birds love more than flying is climbing and scrambling about while foraging or playing. Climbing is also very good for your bird’s feet as gripping different sizes and textures exercises their feet. Ladders and perches can also be fun to attach other toys to as well. We really like the Tweeters Wooden Ladder with Beads, as the beads act as an extra little toy for your bird while they are climbing to the next perch!
Preening
Though birds preen primarily to remove dust, debris, and parasites from their feathers, it can also be a social event. Birds will preen each other (and you!) as a bonding technique. Birds can over-preen themselves due to stress or other irritants. While there may be a bigger underlying issue as to why your bird is over-preening (instead of just boredom), there are many boredom-busting preening toys for your bird out there. One of our favourite toys to always keep in your bird’s cage is a pacifier toy. These toys act as a preening tool that redirects the habit away from your bird and onto this toy.
At the end of the day, it's important to remember that birds really do just like to tear things apart and make big messes. They are smart animals and need a lot of stimulus to keep their minds active. Keep your bird entertained by swapping their toys out from time to time (our favourite thing to do is to rotate which toys you have in the cage. An old toy becomes a new one if it hasn't been played with in awhile!), and moving them to different spots in the cage each time you clean the cage.
