Eating extra food from the bottom of the cage?

[vani]

Hello!

I should preface this by saying my bird is a peach-faced lovebird. His name is Winnie, he is young and healthy.

Lately I've noticed a behaviour that might develop into a problem though! Often when he receives a treat in his cage, some of the pieces fall to the bottom.

Recently he's come up with the plan that once the treat is finished, he'll scavenge the bottom of the cage for the extra pieces! Your poop is down there too buddy, that's a recipe for disaster!

Unfortunately, too much of the treats would be a bad thing as well, so I can't give him extra to curb his appitite.

Is there anything I can do to discourage him from doing this? Or is the only option to quickly clean the bottom of his cage after treat time?

Thank you for the advice!

 

[Tiel Feathers]

Is there a grate at the bottom of the cage? That would help keep him clean.

 

[Peachfaced]

This is actually pretty normal for your bird. Lovebirds (and many others) will forage on the ground for dropped food. Like Deanna mentioned, if you've got a grate on the bottom of the cage, the poop and food would fall through, and he wouldn't have an opportunity to get in to those things. If you like, you can set out a shallow dish on the bottom of the cage. Fill it with crinkle shred, toy parts he likes, and sprinkle a bit of millet. This way, he's not going to drop as much and it's an enrichment activity.

 

[vani]

Is there a grate at the bottom of the cage? That would help keep him clean.

Yep! I cover the dish under the grate with newspaper, and change it daily. I have a feeling that the distance between the grate and dish is too short? Sometimes larger treat pieces poke through and he decides to go hunting for them. Thank you for the help though!

This is actually pretty normal for your bird. Lovebirds (and many others) will forage on the ground for dropped food. Like Deanna mentioned, if you've got a grate on the bottom of the cage, the poop and food would fall through, and he wouldn't have an opportunity to get in to those things. If you like, you can set out a shallow dish on the bottom of the cage. Fill it with crinkle shred, toy parts he likes, and sprinkle a bit of millet. This way, he's not going to drop as much and it's an enrichment activity.

Oh wow, I've never thought of that! He adores toys with shredded paper and always prefers millet over everything else, thank you so much for the idea!

 

[Monica]

Ditto the foraging idea! You can use large-ish pebbles, marbles, wooden beads or other things he can 'forage' through for treats! Grass could also be a fun option!

 

[cosmolove]

Personally, I put paper on top of my grates (or remove them completely actually). I have had a lot of birds in the past that like to be on the bottom of their cage. I've also heard horror stories of birds getting injured that way. I prefer to change the paper daily and the "poop spot" they drop their morning poo and if they have a favorite branch I put extra sheets down there and pull them out during the day