Environmental Enrichment for Birds

Although owning a pet bird may seem like an easy and fun endeavor, there are many challenges associated with maintaining happy and healthy birds. Some pet birds are caged most of their lives and get rather lonely without the stimulating contact between people or with their instincts. Adding this sort of stimulation to your birds life can improve his or her overall happiness, and being in a cage all the time won’t seem so bad. Significant aspects of natural behavior are denied to varying degrees for birds kept as companion animals. Examples of these include flocking, social interaction with other birds, foraging on a variety of foods, and flight. Birds are social, loud and messy. When kept in captivity they deserve the owners’ tolerance to exhibit these normal behaviors.

All pets deserve the following five freedoms (from Farm Animal Welfare Council):

1. Freedom from hunger and thirst (access to a healthy diet and clean water).
2. Freedom from discomfort (appropriate environment, including shelter and comfortable resting area).
3. Freedom from pain, injury, and disease (prevention or rapid diagnosis and treatment).
4. Freedom to express normal behavior (sufficient space, suitable environment, and social interaction).
5. Freedom from fear and distress (conditions and treatment that avoid mental suffering).

 

Birds have very demanding social needs. Their intelligence requires intellectual stimulation. Owners are often the only social interaction for a pet bird and must serve the functions of the flock. Examples include answering contact calls, playing, preening and talking with the bird. Opportunities should be provided to involve the bird in family activities.

 

Welfare may be improved by appropriate environmental enrichment; however such changes require the caretakers have sufficient motivation, knowledge, and resources to provide these essential necessities. When these requirements are not met, the bird experiences mental and physical suffering. Keeping such intelligent animals in captivity and in artificial environments can induce unwanted negative behaviors and stereotypes such as aggression, fear, feather damaging and picking, self-mutilation, and abnormal, repetitive, and functionless behaviors. Keeping birds as pets can result in serious welfare issues for these challenging pets.

 

Environmental enrichment describes improved living conditions. For birds this includes providing opportunities to hide, socialize, exercise and occupy their time. Improvement of the physical environment helps to alleviate boredom by giving them more activity choices. It encourages them to search for, explore and manipulate their foods in ways more normal to their natural biology. Foraging for food, play and exploration are some of the activities that can mentally stimulate them and help prevent boredom.

 

Ten behavior categories identified in a study of birds’ activity in the wild

1. Foraging: reaching for, manipulating, and ingesting food items.
2. Resting: perching.
3. Resting alert: perching with some body movement.
4. Maintenance behavior: auto-preening, bill wiping, scratching, shaking, stretching and bathing.
5. Climbing or walking.
6. Flying
7. Billing: use of beak without associated feeding.
8. Aggressive behavior: chasing and fighting.
9. Reproductive behavior: including nest formation and maintenance.

 

Five categories of enrichment

1. Social enrichment includes interactions with other birds, other animals, people and objects (mirror, plush toys, look-alikes)
2. Cognitive enrichment includes mental stimulation (puzzle feeders, training sessions) and new experiences (unusual foods or smells , novel items.)
3. Physical habitat enrichment includes perching/climbing structures, protected areas ( away from people or other animals, elevated view point and partial visual barriers)
4. Sensory enrichment includes stimulating birds’ senses (smell, taste, feel, hear, and see.) An example would be noise makers or music.
5. Food enrichment includes novel food items and presentation ( puzzle feeders, hidden food, multiple food bowls.)

 

 

Tips for keeping pet birds happy (adapted from husbandry considerations for better behavioral health and psittacine species):

• Choose an appropriate species based on noise level, space requirements, and intelligence.
• When possible, choose a parent weaned bird rather than a hand weaned or unweaned bird.
• Follow a daily routine, providing meals, attention, and activities in a predictable order.
• Provide foraging opportunities.
• Use positive reinforcement for training.
• Provide a quiet area for a minimum of 10 to 12 hours of uninterrupted sleep each night.
• Provide daily opportunities for exercise (e.g., flapping, running, swinging, flight).
• Regularly rotate or offer a variety of non-toxic, bird safe toys.

Foraging

Some things you can do to simulate foraging for your birds include: putting seeds on the bottom of their cage underneath a shredded material such as newspaper, wrapping their food in cardboard or paper, and hiding special treats in different areas of their cage. There are also an assortment of foraging toys that can be found at pet stores. We also offer a variety of recommended toys here in our clinic, have a look the next time you bring your pet in for their wellness exam!

Visual and Auditory Stimulation

Birds do not handle solitude very well. This should be considered when the owner will be absent for extended periods of time. Having ambient noises playing in the background will keep them entertained and decrease loneliness. Some examples include nature sounds, bird sounds, audio tapes and music. Keeping the birds’ cage near a window will help keep them entertained when you are away. Putting bird feeders or bird baths near the window is also recommended to give your bird a sense of company.

Space

A large cage with many perches and things to climb on helps enhance the birds’ environment. It provides more room to fly, climb and explore. Giving your bird as much room as is possible will go a long way in ensuring their happiness

 

If you have questions about how to provide environmental enrichment for your pet bird, schedule a consultation today. Dr. Rupley and our knowledgeable staff will be happy to help you formulate a plan specific to your bird to ensure they receive the proper mental, physical and emotional stimulation!