Category Archives for Enrichment and foraging

Sunny day out

I think both my parrots and I will miss summer. They got to spend 6 hours every day outside, enjoying fresh air, sun and other birds in the trees. They loved it and I think all of my neighbors are now accostumed  to parrot contact calls.


I’m not a fan of full spectrum lighting and always try to provide as much sunshine as possible. It would be wonderful for them if we lived by the seaside year round, so they could enjoy life outdoor more. Back home is a lot more colder than here so I can’t take them out until well into spring. 

Sunshine provides ability for vitamin D to be synthesized and along with that it helps to absorb calcium into bones.

Here’s an interesting link about vitamin D.

Swing Ringo is on is Oliver’s Garden Tri- Swing. This is the only swing she will use. She doesn’t have all of her toes, so gripping onto things can be a bit difficult for her. In the 5 years I have her, I have bought her dozens and dozens of swings and this is the only one she is more than comfortable using. She sleeps on it, swings, eats, plays.

On the menu this morning ….

…are blackberries, carrots, peppers, parsley and kohlrabi greens!

Carrots, blackberries and peppers, along with my favorite topping for their food- Avian Organics Pura Vida and Pear’ngs I’ve placed in their bowls. I haven’t chopped them, just used as is. I think they really enjoy shredding whole vegetables and it seems to be very enriching for them, too. I do, however, feed them Chop through out most of the year. Summer is exception to that, because there are so many fresh, in season items that it would be a shame not to take a full advantage of them.

Blackberries are truly a superfood, not only for parrots, but for humans, too. They are high in vitamin C and fiber, a combination that has proven to be very helpful in fighting certain types of cancer. They have, also, the highest antioxidant levels of all fruit regularly tested. Blackberries are  high in gallic acid, rutin and ellagic acid, a known chemopreventative, with anti-viral and anti-bacterial properties.

Ringo enjoying a carrot. Both of them really like carrots and I’m glad that I don’t need to be a magician to get them to eat fresh foods.

Parsley, kohlrabi greens with addition of lavender and petunia flowers were made into small buqets for them to shred and chew 🙂 Over the years, I have come to a conclusion that even though they do shred their fresh foods, some, it not most of it does, in the end, get eaten.

Unfortunately, summer will end soon, so if you have the opportunity to offer your parrots fresh foods, do it while you still can. Soon enough fall rains will come and before we know it, it will start snowing. 

P is for pine cones!

I try to offer as many natural toys as I can. Pine cones are shredable, so they make wonderful edition to any toy.

This time around I decided to attach pine cones to a basket and wave through the basket some lavender flowers.

I’ve attached my little basket to cage bars and let them have fun! Pine cones make great foot toys, too. If you have a pine tree, after you collect pine cones, you should boil them for 20 min, sun dry them and than give to your parrots. There are also few sites that sell them and have wonderful variety of different sizes of pine cones.

Parrot Treasure has arrived!

A treasure indeed!

I’ve known of Parrot Treasure for awhile, but something was always more important to order. Finally, 10 days or so ago I took the plunge and ordered some foraging toys for my two feathered creatures.

I’ve ordered some hanging and some foot toys. I wasn’t expecting this toys to be so big. It was a pleasant surprise when I opened the box this morning.

Their toys originally come prefilled with pine nuts, but I asked for plain toys, so I could filled them with goodies. My favorite is the parrot toy, it’s so cute. Holes are big enough to stuff them with nuts, seeds, small veggie/ fruit pieces or anything else you want.

Pictured are Little pops, Yum Yums and Nutlettos. I didn’t take a picture of all of them, pile was simply too big!  I was amazed by how big of a wood pile all of the foot toys made.

This toys are wonderful, not  only are they aesthetically pleasing, but also they are very cost effective, their price really isn’t bad at all! They provide wonderful chew and foraging opportunities, one of these toys is a lot of wood to chew. I also like that everything is strung on a leather lace, so there are no chains, no trap/choke/etc hazard, just 100% safe toy.

I think both of them will really enjoy their new toys, so much to chew and destroy!

A little gift

A more natural way of foraging!

Plates full of fresh, untreated dandelion and daisy flowers that were hiding Avian Organics Cazuela and Bolivian Bliss.

Wild IRNs eat fresh flowers as a part of their diet, so I try to incoporate as much of fresh, safe and healthy flowers and herbs into her diet as I can!  Also, I like to make it fun, along the way!

siting pretty with a flower in her beak! I like to see her having so much fun with it!

Enjoying the sun

The weather has been so nice, so the birdies got to spend some time outside, enjoying the sunshine and getting some vitamin D3!

Spending time outside was especially beneficial to Lino. He hurt his beak really bad a month or so ago. He got scared of something outside and flew into the window, even though I have curtains. Because of that, middle part of his beak was bruised and eventually stared to flake. This pictures were taken a week ago, so you can only see “the before” part, not how well his beak has healed.

A flower for you

I love to give my parrots fresh flowers and branches if I can.

These are two bouquets they got today

Because not everything is showing very well, here’s a list of what it’s made of: fresh willow branches, fresh fruit branches ( this is a type of apple if I’m not mistaken. My neighbor cut one branch for me), dandelion flowers and greens and daisy flowers! Be sure everything you give your parrots isn’t sprayed with pesticides or anything else and washed before you give a plant to your parrot.

Both of them enjoy these types of toys very much and especially happy that Ringo does, because a wild IRN’s diet consists of flowers, too.

When everything else fails- willow and hazelnut to the rescue

Ringo, my IRN is 5 years old.  This means that hormone season is such a wonderful and unforgettable  time with her. To make coexisting much, MUCH more pleasant, I try to keep her beak busy with chewing, not screaming.

To do so, I often call my two best friends- willow and hazelnut.

Willow branches are the green ones and hazelnut are the brown ones. Both trees are quite easy to recognize.  If your parrots love willow coins, than they will also love hazelnut wood. It’s a soft, snappy wood with not to thick bark. My parrots love to chew on it and it keeps their beaks busy.

Because spring is slowly coming and it’s getting warmer each day,  branches are filled with little buds. Those buds are nutritious and  a great fun to chew. I love this type of all natural toys, not just in a sense that the branches weren’t treated with anything, but also that this is how they would play in the wild. I’ve noticed that they like this types of toys very much. It’s a lot of fun to watch them chew on willow and hazelnut, taking their bouquets slowly apart.

I tied branches together into small parrot bouquets and hung inside of their cages 🙂 Ringo wasn’t too cooperative when it came to taking pictures of her, fortunately Lino stepped up to the plate.