Foraging- One Way to Reduce Feather Picking

Foraging Reduces Feather Picking

One Possible Factor if Feather Picking is an Issue 

A Variety of Foraging Opportunities

Feather picking or plucking can be a complex issue.  We do not intend here to take the place of the advice of an avian veterinarian.  If there are health issues, always discuss them with your vet.  

Two articles (Vol. 80 and Vol. 96) in the journal Applied Animal Behavior Science discuss the unavailability in foraging opportunities as being one factor in feather picking (the scientific term is pterotillomania).  This has been known to be a factor in chickens for some time now.  The authors of these two studies found that enriching the environment of the Amazon and Africa Grey parrots in their studies led to less feather picking behaviors.  

You don't have to buy expensive foraging toys to give your parrots foraging opportunities.  You can fill a tray on the floor of their cage with foot toys or any bird safe objects (pine cones, pieces of safe wood, etc.) and put one or two bits of food on the bottom of the tray under the other objects.  You can get some small food bowls and places them around the cage and use them just for foraging, like the tray but smaller. You can hang foods by leather or safe types of string in various places around the cage or use some of the skewers sold for that purpose.  Another idea is to cover their food dishes.  When you first start it you can just put a small piece of paper on top. Progress to a larger piece and then a piece that is tied over the top.  This way they have to tear through the paper (or make it harder with several layers) to get to their food each day.

Darwin and Rosie at foraging dish

After about an hour