Toys for Birds
For specific information on toys for your bird such as foraging, foot, self grooming, preening, and availability, visit our Bird Toy pages. To navigate the faqs, click on the topic question.
Questions
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- Shredding toys for a feather plucked bird?
- Introducing foraging education to your bird
- What foods can you use in the foraging activities?
- Choosing the Right Foot Toy for Your Parrot?
- Ideal Set-up for Parrot Playtime?
- Choosing the Right Preening Toy for Your Parrot?
- Choosing the Right Exercise Toys for Your Parrot?
- Choosing the Right Beak Grooming Toys for Your Parrot?
- Choosing the Right Brain Stimulating Toy for Your Parrot?
- Strategies to Consider When Training Your Parrot?
Shredding toys for a feather plucked bird?
Q. Our Goffin Cockatoo plucks his chest and we have been told to offer him shredding toys.
A. For the benefit of your bird, always consult your avian veterinarian to determine and rule out physical causes for the feather damaging behavior. You should also discuss your bird’s diet with the veterinarian. Once you’ve determined that he does not have diseases or parasites, you can make changes in his lifestyle to discourage the plucking. First, provide your guy with a day cage and give him a lot of misting showers each morning to encourage feather growth and beneficial preening. While shredding toys are great to offer birds with feather damaging behavior, it is very important that these types of toys only be offered to companion birds on either their play gym or in a day cage. When birds have a shredding toy in the same cage they sleep in, they often shred excessively as this is a nesting behavior.