That Bird Blog – Bird Care and History for Pet Birds

We all know that highly social, intelligent birds such as parrots do not fare well when bored.  Excessive screaming, feather-plucking, pacing and other harmful behaviors quickly take hold when parrots are kept alone and left without stimulation.  Macaws are especially hard to accommodate – their incredible strength and boundless energy present a real challenge to owners seeking to keep them busy.  A spate of questions on this topic, posed recently by macaw owners, has prompted me to write this article. Read More »

A great deal of research goes into the husbandry of domestic fowl, some of which has important implications for pet bird owners as well.  In scanning the literature, I recently came across the following important study.

How Does One Keep a Chicken Busy?

The European Zoological Nutrition Center reports that the wild relatives of domestic chickens (I’m assuming Red or Green Jungle Fowl) spend at least 60% of their day foraging for food.  Domestic chickens, however, are fed high energy foods in easy-access feeders and usually take but a few minutes to meet their daily needs.  That leaves the bored fowl a good 16 hours in which to get into trouble – which they do quite handily by pecking at their own and their neighbors’ feathers and skin. Read More »