Lifestyle Enrichment for Chicks

[Suellyn]

Hey, while your at Petsmart, look for cheap or "On Sale" parrot toys... I got a couple brightly colored ones with a little bell on it for them, and also a couple of "Ferret balls" which are brightly colored plastic with a jingle bell in them. A word of caution though; a couple of the "spinning" parrot toys looked like a good idea, but then I realised I think they could get lil' heads stuck in there as they spin... So keep safety in mind. Saw dog & cat toys that woulda worked, too...

 

[LynneP]

They like bells too, and mini-roosts made of 2x4's flat side up, or 4x4's- to practice their pecking order!

Oh and hubby made a sliding partition so we could control the heat better, with a mini pop hole so they could practice going through small openings!

 

[Irajoe]

Ours are having great fun with a simple wooden ramp...probably a foot long that extends about 6" off the floor. Up and down...up and down.

Lots of fun for us to watch as well!!

 

[bigmike&nan]

Our guys had a little bit of 2x4 to jump up on. We got them an edible branch at Petco and because of this thread put in a little cardboard box and some shiny glass pebbles. They love it as seen in this photo. I'm gonna have to rig up some little ramp thingie. I didn't see anything I liked at Petco.

So far their most favorite toy is US. They see us walk in the room and run to the door of the carrier. I open it and they now able to jump up on the lip. I pick them up and they fuss and so on for about a second, then when I pet them they settle down and almost purr. You go to put them back and they don't want to leave.... Awwwww

 

[CovenantCreek]

We just got back from Petsmart, so the new toys should be entering the coops soon (including mealworms). I picked up a little playground, a roost, and something else from the toy aisle. I'll try to get pics if I can. Or maybe a short video of them with the grubs.

 

[bigmike&nan]

Well CovenantCreek got us thinking about a little playground we had for our parakeets that they didn't use at all.

So we cleaned it up and moved some stuff out and put it in. It's still a work in progress and in a week when they are a little bigger I am going to get a small flat box and try to take advantage of some of our VERTICAL space in the carrier... Like a 2nd floor but not that high. Here are the guys in their new setup.

Noodles (the yellow headed one near the playground) is probably the most developed and bravest of our babies and already is ringing the bell (it's shiny)... I think we paid about $12.00 for this at Petco...

In about 1 hour they are mostly over the newness of it and playing on it more and more. I have a feeling we will hear the bell ringing all night, LOL.

Every time we open the carrier door to take pictures they stop playing on it and come over to visit...

 

[TXmom]

That is awesome! My peepers wish they could have one of those playgrounds! For now, I have a cardboard box on it's side and a foot long 2x4 ramp going from the top of the box to the floor. The box is a great size for them...on it's side, it measures 4" tall, 10"wide, 5" deep. They are having a great ole time with that stuff.

 

[CovenantCreek]

I bought one of those!!! I'm glad your chicks are enjoying it. I don't have it set up yet -- I wanted to see how a couple of the other toys did first. I may bring it inside for the chicks that are still in the house.