Foraging for food

[willowsmum]

I know that there are posts about this topic but I can't for the life of me find them, sorry!

I want to start making Willow and Bramble work a little bit harder for their food rather than their current drive-through approach to the seed pot and veg clips. I was going to try sprinkling their seed in a small tray (I think I spotted this set-up in one of your posts Ira and I think loz may do this too in the base of the play gym?) but I'm not sure what material to use for them to forage through. Any suggestions?

In the summer I could use the old dried out seeding grasses I think but I wanted to give it a try now if possible. Thanks! 

[Loz]

I use animal litter/bedding pellets made from recycled paper which I get from Pets at Home. It's quite safe and all the budgies learned in an afternoon that it isn't, itself, food.

Foraging is great fun for the birbs and for the flock-leader who watches their antics

[jellybean]

willowsmum, I bought stuff from Pets at Home a while back that skysmum used in the bottom of her cage, I thought my two would go foraging too and enjoy it, but they wouldn't venture anywhere near the scary stuff 😱 and my two are frequently on the cage floor.

Maybe other members or skysmum will remember what it's called, it looked like wood chips.

[willowsmum]

Thanks loz and jellybean, I'll look out for some and give it a go. You can never quite tell how these things will be received

[Loz]

I started the forage thing for Chocobo as she is naturally a ground feeder. The first time I saw her kicking stuff around with her feet and picking it over, I did laugh. I do a lot of vacuuming now.

The budgies took to foraging readily, they all love it. Poor Chocobo has to pick her moment, usually when the Budgie Mafia are all sleepy.

[Hezz]

You can use rolled paper cat litter, pellets (particularly if you have some sitting around that the budgies decided wasn’t palatable, and who would blame them??), it needs to be something smallish that the buds can scratch out of the way. I’d be a bit wary of using stuff like Timothy hay but I can’t remember what the issue is there; it’s not something I know much about.

The cat litter of course needs to be something that is not scented, treated etc, and again not something I’ve looked into but I know of other bird owners who have used it.

[willowsmum]

Thanks Hezz. I do indeed have a 'failed' bag of pellets so I may start with that

[Hezz]

Feb 11, 2022 9:46:43 GMT willowsmum said:

Thanks Hezz. I do indeed have a 'failed' bag of pellets so I may start with that

And you never know, they just might decide to have a nibble anyway. If not, then nothing lost.

[Ira]

I have hay and have yet to have an issue but it's early days and I need to do more research. My main current concern with it would be cutting any long pieces because I've had them fly out with a piece around them before. Fortunately I only use it when I'm home but you can never be too safe.
I might look into unscented paper cat litter instead.

My foraging box also includes jingly cat balls that are lightweight enough to move, but none with metal bells so that I'm not worrying about rust when I wash and disinfect them, as well as various wooden and plastic beads and pieces that are easily moved around.

[Hezz]

Is the hay easy for them to chew through, Ira? I only know lucerne hay for feeding cattle and horses, not little animal hay, which I think is the Timothy hay?? I think this might have been the issue that I was thinking of - long strands winding around their feet.

[Ira]

I wouldn't say it was easy chewing, Hezz, but it is chewable. I think I bought mixed small animal hay rather than pure Timothy hay, but it contains Timothy hay. I don't find that you need much of it so honestly sitting there with a pair of scissors to sort through for long strands isn't too much effort. Also stop Gwen carrying off such large pieces to drop everywhere!