How to Teach Your Companion Parrot to Forage in Captivity

Some wild parrot species can spend 75% of their day foraging - the act of retrieving food by shredding, digging, chewing, and scratching through their environment. Think of foraging as the behaviors associated with hunting for food for parrots. Since our companion parrots are the same as their wild counterparts, this activity remains critically important to their overall well-being. The fact of the matter is that providing foraging opportunities for parrots is a necessary part of caring for them in captivity, not an optional one.

While foraging behaviors can come naturally to your bird (every parrot is different), many will need to be taught how to forage. If your parrot can not seem to wrap its head around the idea, you can break up the task into small wins that your parrot can use to build up its skills.

TEACHING YOUR PARROT TO FORAGE STEP-BY-STEP

1. Place a small, beloved foraging treat (such as a pine nut or a piece of a walnut) on top of a small sheet of non-toxic paper.

2. Allow your parrot to figure out how to get the treat from the foraging paper.

3. Once your parrot has shown multiple times that it can easily grab and eat the food, it is ready to advance to the next step!

4. This time, take the paper and crumple it around the reward just slightly. You want it to be more covered than if it were on a flat sheet of paper, but still visible - in other words, so that it is not completely covered. (Another option is to crumple the paper around the treat and then tear a large hole in it to give your parrot a head-start.)

5. Again, once your bird has shown on numerous occasions that it can easily access and eat the reward, you are ready to increase the difficulty again.

6. Now you will place the foraging treat inside the paper and crumple it up until the reward cannot be seen by your bird. Put the crumpled paper with the reward inside your bird’s enclosure and see if it can find it! (For birds who are struggling to figure out this step, make a small hole in the crumpled paper to help them.)

7. Once your parrot has shown that it knows how to secure the reward from the fully crumpled paper, you can move on to more challenging foraging opportunities!

Keep in mind that small, simple steps where your bird can be consistently successful will result in the greatest amount of learning. When introducing a more complex foraging toy, it’s important to let them work it out the easiest way possible first. This will build their confidence and make them less hesitant to take on new challenges.

For instance, if the toy has a drawer component that the parrot is supposed to pull out to retrieve the reward, give your parrot the toy for the first time with the drawer fully open and the treat inside. Once it has taken the reward from the drawer easily, start offering the toy to your bird with the treat in the drawer slightly closed (not closed all the way). Again, once your parrot proves it can easily manipulate the drawer to secure the reward, you can move on to providing the toy with the reward inside and the drawer completely closed.

The sweet spot of learning occurs for your bird when it is being challenged enough to keep things interesting, but not so challenged that it is always failing. Repeatedly being unable to do a task can cause frustration in your bird and make it less eager to attempt problem-solving activities on its own. However, parrots who are shown that foraging is an enjoyable and exciting activity that can keep them mentally and physically stimulated will thrive in captivity, not just survive!