Providing enrichment for your parrot

What 'creative ways' do you use to provide 'enrichment' for your parrots without giving them new toys?

There are several things we do to enrich our babies lives. Here is a short list. We have movie time where we play animated (CG) movies - we set up the cages so all the birdies can see the screen and we offer them a treat (not generally popcorn). We often watch movies with them and take each bird out of his/her cage to spend some quality one-on-one time. We have fun playing with the babies on the floor and Jeremy also works with them to ‘roll over.’ When customer’s come for their appointment or to just to visit, they all cuddle with the babies, which helps with human touch and their socialization. Oh, we also like listening to music and on Sunday mornings, Elena puts on worship music for the birdies.Jeremy and Elena Galbraith, Beaker’s Parrot Place – Wilkeson, WA; www.beakersparrotplace.com

I find verbal interaction with my birds to be a great form of enrichment. My birds love to chat it up with me throughout the day.

One of our fun dialogs is that my blue and gold macaw will simply say, “hello” and then I respond with “hello, Parrot Place, Vicki Parrot speaking.” He then responds with another “hello” and it goes back and forth… The interesting thing is that “the birds” always initiate this interaction. Vicki Pierce, Vicki’s Parrot Place – Zeeland, MI

With multiple babies I feel it is extremely important for the babies to get accustomed to other peoples touch other then mine or my husbands so I have my sister and our friend come over for one of the feedings as often as they are able and we rotate feeding and playing with different babies. We massage them and pet them so they become very used to touch from people. I am very fortunate that I have a neighbor who two kids 13 and 15 years old who also love spending a lot of time with the babies as well. Tinker, Bird Brain Parrot place - New York; www.birdbrainparrotplace.com

Every Thanksgiving, I put on Holiday music DVD's. I let it run all day long. The birds love it when I join in and sing the songs and dance to some of them. The birds will bob their heads, mover back and forth on the top of their cages and whistle or just mumble some weird sounds. Each bird is waiting for me to extend my hand for a perch because they like the individual interaction that I give to them. They especially like the beep-bop sounds like "Jingle Bell Rock". The slower songs really do nothing for me. The consistent beats are what they respond to. The "new" songs of today are not appealing to them. I am from the old generation that likes the oldies but goodies, so to speak. One song that they love to hear me sing is "Yellow Submarine". While I don't know the words to the whole song I just repeat a phrase and then make believe that I am holding a trombone and imitate the movement of it with both of my hands and say, Do, do, do, do etc. They love it! While I can't really carry a tune, I find the birds love the "off key" singing. And some of them actually give, what appears to be, a laugh. Diane Macary, Diane's Parrot Place - Woodbury, CT; www.dianesparrotplace.com

Living in Florida gives us a great opportunity to take our parrots outdoors. Recently, we have added harness training to our program of hand-raising our babies and flock. We have found that getting them used to the harness helps when the babies grow and go to their new homes. The new owners then have the option to be able to take their new flock member outside safely. Using the harness we rotate taking our parrots outside to enjoy the sunshine. Once a month we get together with other parrot owners and go to a local park. This provides a change of scenery for the parrots as well as a way to socialize with other people. It is important to emphasize that it is critical to use a harness, even if the wings are clipped. We have found that this is an easy & inexpensive way to enrich our parrots’ lives. Tracy & Brad Hoffman, Sunny Harbor Parrot Place - Central Florida;

With each of my babies that I am hand-raising I take them out one at a time and show them different things. For example I take them room-to-room and explain the room itself. If they show an interest in a certain object I let them explore it while gently speaking to them. This not only gives them confidence but they are less likely to be afraid of different things when they go to their ‘forever’ homes. My own flock is pretty much used to my whole house by now. So what I do with my own flock is I sit on the floor (or chair) and have one-on-one time with them.

Alison Benson, Alison’s Parrot Place – Cary,IL;www.alisonsparrotplace.com

I go to the used baby stores and purchase things like keys and small blocks and things that are brightly colored. Well one day as I was looking around I found a baby sling - this was wonderful – and I bought it. I can put the babies in the sling and walk around doing other things I need to do while the babies are getting used to being handled without really spending time handling them. I talk to them and pet them and really communicate with the babies. I have a 4-month old Yellow Nape and I took him when I had my car repaired. I just put him in the sling and off we went. I did take him out a time or two to show him off but it was a good way to spend time with him and still do what I need to do. GREAT FIND! And only cost $1.99!! Emily Copas, Parrot Place on the Ridge – Laurelville, OH

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