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'Hiding' seeds for budgie foraging

clarousel

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Hi guys,

I'm looking for ways to hide seeds for Preeno to forage.

I usually prep a tray of items but that's too easy for her now. I've made like an envelope thing to put the seeds in as well as stuffed it in loofah (although they mostly just fall out). What else can I do to make it more challenging? I want to vary it so she doesn't get bored/used to the same stuff.

I do give her seeds in her food bowl too.
 

BirdWorld

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Some ideas: put it on top of the cage, they climb up to get it.
Put a stick of spray millet in nooks of toys, e.g image.jpg
You can buy foraging toys from most pet stores, such as: 0EC6D282-E1FC-4DF4-B9F6-54C1BEA24E46.jpeg
And, there are a variety of ways to make your own foraging toys, here is a DIY foraging toy video from Flock Talk.
 

clarousel

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Some ideas: put it on top of the cage, they climb up to get it.
Put a stick of spray millet in nooks of toys, e.g View attachment 344568
You can buy foraging toys from most pet stores, such as: View attachment 344571
And, there are a variety of ways to make your own foraging toys, here is a DIY foraging toy video from Flock Talk.
What did u stuff in the green ball? That looks great!
 

mythic55

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I often use palm leaves or banana or pandan leaves (no pesticides obviously, and check species of palm). I make origami and hide them inside- a simple 'fish' made from palm leaves ...you can stuff in all sorts of things. Or I will make a 'purse' and put in either grains, fruit, nuts or seeds, interestingly enough I did one this AM from a banana leaf. If you did this with seeds, you could easily make it, and put it in the sun to dry- I used rice, red palm oil, almond butter, dandelion greens and wheat grass in this one and i served it fresh.

- It is a fun project to learn palm leave origami :) My guys loves the flowers, baskets and fish shapes.

Screen Shot 2020-07-03 at 8.32.05 AM.png
Screen Shot 2020-07-03 at 8.31.55 AM.png
 

clarousel

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I often use palm leaves or banana or pandan leaves (no pesticides obviously, and check species of palm). I make origami and hide them inside- a simple 'fish' made from palm leaves ...you can stuff in all sorts of things. Or I will make a 'purse' and put in either grains, fruit, nuts or seeds, interestingly enough I did one this AM from a banana leaf. If you did this with seeds, you could easily make it, and put it in the sun to dry- I used rice, red palm oil, almond butter, dandelion greens and wheat grass in this one and i served it fresh.

- It is a fun project to learn palm leave origami :) My guys loves the flowers, baskets and fish shapes.

View attachment 344578
View attachment 344579
I'll need to try this. Preeno loves pandan! It's probably the easiest thing for her to tear through.

We have some banana trees too so I'll look up the origami you mentioned. Thank you! :)
 

dollfish

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Try sticking some seeds into a piece of balsa!
 

dollfish

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You can get balsa wood from hobby shops or the internet. Cut a block and just push the seeds into it its really soft. You can make slits with a knife as well. I do this with regular wood with Astro and drill holes. If I give balsa to him he goes through it in 5 minutes! :roflmao:

Also I squeeze seeds into all the nooks and crannies of the toys in his cage.

There are not much seeds left in this one but I make these toys out of pieces of cardboard and put a single seed in every little hole. You can see one at the top.

15937863033426775519755240315117.jpg
 

clarousel

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You can get balsa wood from hobby shops or the internet. Cut a block and just push the seeds into it its really soft. You can make slits with a knife as well. I do this with regular wood with Astro and drill holes. If I give balsa to him he goes through it in 5 minutes! :roflmao:

Also I squeeze seeds into all the nooks and crannies of the toys in his cage.

There are not much seeds left in this one but I make these toys out of pieces of cardboard and put a single seed in every little hole. You can see one at the top.

View attachment 344587
Oh I never thought of cardboard! Will try that.

Preeno gives up easily if it's too difficult :laughin:
 

Kiwi & Co.

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I did this for Kiwi and Blizzard:

20200702_185436.jpg

Rattan ball with millet inside (the hole in the rattan ball is from putting it on a perch, but they didn't really like it so I turned it into a foraging toy)
 

Destiny

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I will make simple forage toys by stuffing paper towel rolls with grass hay mixed with seeds and edible flowers or other tasty things. The birds enjoy pulling out the hay, searching for goodies, and destroying the cardboard.

For extra challenge, you can hang the roll up somewhere or cut the tube into different shapes.
 

clarousel

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Would this sort of balsa work? Eco Balsa Assorted Pack

I tried the rattan ball this morning. Will check on it when I'm home later.

Excited to try the kitchen towel roll and leaf parcels! It's honestly so hard to make the toys because Preeno would be extremely excited and all over me :roflmao: she even goes back into the cage in al her hyperness to 'hunt' for the seeds
 

Shezbug

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Yes that balsa should be fine.... drill a hole (a decent fork may even be strong enough for you to just poke holes in it) and put the seeds in and maybe shove some torn paper strips to hold the seeds in. My budgie loves balsa!! Remember to always make the foraging super easy at the start till they get the hang of working for food then increase the challenges as your bird gets better at it. Some people even start with simple paper covering the bowls so they have to tear through it to get at the food or filling the dish with beads or small rocks so they have to shuffle through all that to get at the food.
 

clarousel

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Yes that balsa should be fine.... drill a hole (a decent fork may even be strong enough for you to just poke holes in it) and put the seeds in and maybe shove some torn paper strips to hold the seeds in. My budgie loves balsa!! Remember to always make the foraging super easy at the start till they get the hang of working for food then increase the challenges as your bird gets better at it. Some people even start with simple paper covering the bowls so they have to tear through it to get at the food or filling the dish with beads or small rocks so they have to shuffle through all that to get at the food.
I'll get that then!

Yes she's completed the 'Easy' level now so time to level up to 'Intermediate' :roflmao:
 

clarousel

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I often use palm leaves or banana or pandan leaves (no pesticides obviously, and check species of palm). I make origami and hide them inside- a simple 'fish' made from palm leaves ...you can stuff in all sorts of things. Or I will make a 'purse' and put in either grains, fruit, nuts or seeds, interestingly enough I did one this AM from a banana leaf. If you did this with seeds, you could easily make it, and put it in the sun to dry- I used rice, red palm oil, almond butter, dandelion greens and wheat grass in this one and i served it fresh.

- It is a fun project to learn palm leave origami :) My guys loves the flowers, baskets and fish shapes.

View attachment 344578
View attachment 344579
Hi! I finally got my hands on a banana leaf from our garden. Just wondering about the origami you fold, is it just the regular orgami pattern or one specifically for leaves?
 
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