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fun plants!

birdy.929

Walking the driveway
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8/19/19
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264
i am planning on putting a plant in the bird room, but i'm not sure which one to get. does anyone know any favorites with lovebirds and green cheeks?
 

Destiny

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Here is a list of bird safe house plants. I can't promise it is 100% accurate, but it should help point you in the right direction. There are quite a few.


Are you looking for something big or small? Is it mainly for decoration or looking for something more functional or even edible? How much light does your bird room get? Do you have a green thumb or do you need a hardy plant?
 

birdy.929

Walking the driveway
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I'm looking for a small-medium sized plant. It's purpose is to provide some greenery, good enrichment for the birds, and to provide cleaner air. I know that one way or another it will end up with some bites taken out of it, so I want it to be completely safe. The room gets good light all day, from the time the sun rises to the time it sets. I'd like a hardy plant, because i'm not much of an expert :lol:
 

Pat H

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As a side Question to this one---- I discard clean bird water that has seed [from the Dove] floating in it, putting it in my plant containers-- and do get sprouts that grow from that ... My birds don't have access to the plants, but can I give them the small seedlings that grow up?
 

OkiF

Sitting on the front steps
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9/29/20
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As a side Question to this one---- I discard clean bird water that has seed [from the Dove] floating in it, putting it in my plant containers-- and do get sprouts that grow from that ... My birds don't have access to the plants, but can I give them the small seedlings that grow up?
We do this and they love it. Either we wait for the next seeds (usually giving while still green) of simply as grass to destroy. I am now trying to think for a clean and safe way to have some of these grass growing in the cage directly although it may not have time to grow much before the dinosaurs get to it (yes birds are part of the dinosaurs scientifically speaking).
 

Pat H

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@OkiF-- I've wanted to do that too [a flat dish of dirt w/ seedlings growing] for our dove to have access to. But concerned w/ the dirt issue.
Thought maybe a chia head w/ grass growing would work--- what do you think?
 

finchly

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I'm looking for a small-medium sized plant. It's purpose is to provide some greenery, good enrichment for the birds, and to provide cleaner air. I know that one way or another it will end up with some bites taken out of it, so I want it to be completely safe. The room gets good light all day, from the time the sun rises to the time it sets. I'd like a hardy plant, because i'm not much of an expert :lol:
Spider plant.

As a side Question to this one---- I discard clean bird water that has seed [from the Dove] floating in it, putting it in my plant containers-- and do get sprouts that grow from that ... My birds don't have access to the plants, but can I give them the small seedlings that grow up?
Yes

@OkiF-- I've wanted to do that too [a flat dish of dirt w/ seedlings growing] for our dove to have access to. But concerned w/ the dirt issue.
Thought maybe a chia head w/ grass growing would work--- what do you think?
What a great idea! Even a chia head with chia would be fun. One thing I do (sometimes) is cover the soil with coco coir, then just snip a hole in that for the plant to grow through. But a lot of times I let them have plants growing in soil... they’re not interested in the soil.

Have you though about hydroponics? No dirt involved.
 

OkiF

Sitting on the front steps
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9/29/20
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@OkiF-- I've wanted to do that too [a flat dish of dirt w/ seedlings growing] for our dove to have access to. But concerned w/ the dirt issue.
Thought maybe a chia head w/ grass growing would work--- what do you think?
I like your idea of the chia seed. As I said I am still thinking about it and trying to sort out the issues.
It seems that in Namibia roseicollis lovebirds ingest a significant amount of soil (and to a lesser degree, cattle and horse poop), so in a natural environment eating a bit of soil should not be a problem (even potentially bringing in good minerals, etc). However, in a cage we don't have the soil associated fauna that help keeping things (i.e. bacteria) in check. So while in theory bird poop would feed the seedlings that will in turn serve as playground/food for your birds may turn in reality to a nasty goo. In this idea, the chia seed head sound interesting. I tried growing the seeds on some wet kitchen paper, while promising at the beginning, it became rapidly very "alive" (but not only with the seedlings).

We had a Dracaena massangeana that the birds did not mind too much except for a few nibbles, but before Inkochan died quite abruptly he kept going at it and chewing on the leaves. This plant is supposed to be safe and it may be that if he had some digestive issues due to metal poisoning (metal poisoning is our most likely hypothesis, but we did not perform a necropsy) he may have looked for the plant to help somehow. We will never know, but we decided to move the plant out of reach of the birds as it is not worth the risk.

Palms are a safe group of plants with rather hard leaves, some small ones like Phoenix may be something to consider? Areca palms (Dypsis lutescens) are also common indoor plants (our outdoor depending where you are). I am now using the wood of some old areca palms for perch, swings and other enrichment, it actually a pretty nice wood.

But please take my experiences with a big grain of salt, I am not an experienced bird parent, just learning as much as I can...

P.S. If of interest, you can look for the Namibia paper online, it is from Ndithia and Perrin (2006) "Diet and foraging behaviour of the Rosy-faced Lovebird Agapornis roseicollis in Namibia" and was published in "Ostrich: Journal of African Ornithology".
 

Gigibirds

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Spider plant is a favourite for my lovebirds - especially when I mist it with water! However, my flock of just 4 little lovebirds could take down a whole plant in a couple days when they worked together. So it never really had a change to grow or last, but it was really fun for them while it lasted! Another idea is a small palm tree. I have one, (I forgot the name, but I know that it is bird friendly and kind of like a really small queen palm or something) and even though it took them a week to build up the courage to visit it, it was a huge hit! They LOVED it!! So I would recommend any stringy-leafed bird friendly plant, but especially small palms and spider plants!
 

TinyDino

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Holly
Wheat grass might be a good choice. Birbs can quickly destroy plants if given access. So something quick and easy to grow if they mow it down could be good. And if you had a big enough flat of it you could use it as a foraging "park" as well.
 

Pat H

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I think I had such good success raising LB's when I began breeding them in NV in the 80's... EVERYONE had small Palms growing outside their door, so I had access to plenty of chewing supplies... they did so well w/ those! When I moved back to IL, the palms available from church on Palm Sunday, never worked as well! Sure miss raising those guys!
 
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