seed spraying

[joan gault]

Hi All
I have a hen who is constantly going into her seed dish and spraying seeds everywhere. This is driving me nuts not to mention the seeds she is wasting. I thought maybe it was the seeds she didn't like but she has been doing it to the sunflower seeds (she loves them). I suspect she is trying to lay again and I haven't given her a nest box. Any ideas about this behavior?
Joan :eek:

[mjm8321]

Joan, it sounds like she is looking for a nestbox. I have a couple of young birds that do this too...not sure of their sexes yet, but they do make quite the mess. I'm not sure what type of dishes you use, but I do have some that I can put a cover on, so they can get their head in the dish, but getting the body is is difficult. The other option might be to move the dish to a different location. It might stop the behavior, even if temporarily.

[BarbieH]

I've got a few birds that do this. :roll: Yes it's annoying, but I think birds in the wild do it too. It's called foraging. When chickens do it in the chicken yard, they scratch the dirt. The concept for our lovebirds probably is, "Maybe there's something better that I can't see!"

I tried making it more difficult by giving the offenders deeper seed dishes. They compensated by jumping into the dish itself, and then the seed really flew!

[joan gault]

Kiwi has a deep seed dish and I tried putting a smaller version inside the bigger one but she tried to squeeze between them to get to the bottom of the deeper one. Her mate has been feeding her a lot lately and she is super testy. I think I'm just trying to put off the evitable egg laying. This will be her 4th clutch since May. If I separate her and Mango I still will not put off the laying just the fertilizing-is this right? Also do I have to put out a nest box if I don't want the eggs to hatch, or does holding back the box make it harmful for her laying the eggs. Oh so many questions and TOO MANY EGGS. I'm up to 7 birds and I sure don't want any more. Than I have the babies to worry about-they are already pairing off. :x :x :x :x
Joan

[joan gault]

Just another thought as I'm typing. Has anyone used a catch mat under their cages-sort of like the kind that cats have outside their scratch boxes to catch the litter? I could use a few of these to catch all the seeds that Kiwi is spraying all over the place. I am asking Santa for a new aviary this year but first I must win the lottery. :D
Joan

[Crystal Taylor]

Joan,

Is Joan Gault your real name or is it a spin off of John Gault from Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged ? I'm curious.... you might not even know what I'm talking about I just thought it might be a fellow reading lover with a sense of humor.

Crystal

[joan gault]

Yes real name and I have a cousin John but don't think it is the same one-I will check with the family tree wizards.
Joan

[jetanlori]

Joan, I posted something like this not too long ago and what I have found helpful is to use a shallow dish in the bottom of the cage and not fill it very much. It will mean refilling often or you could have a bunch of shallow dishes not filled very much. Then I decided to fill (only slightly) the food cups that come with the cage that hang on the inside. I also keep an electric broom permanently in the room, permanently plugged in so I just vaccum it up. I guess just part of owning birds. But seriously if the food is not knee high then it's not much fun to jump in and splash around.

[Z28Taxman]

I guess that's an advantage to the avi-cakes and nutriberries. Ditto can't do that. He loves to take them to perches to eat them though. Occasionally he drops them (sometimes I think he just wants to hear them go clang on the grate) and I have to pick them up since he won't go to the bottom of the cage to get them. IF they don't land in a poopy spot I'll give them back.

[Lori]

It doesn't do much for the waste that is happening but as for cleaning up there is a wonderful little invention called a Swiffer Sweeper that sort of vacuums and dustmops the floor at the same time. It is rechargeable and will only run about 10-15 minutes before you have to empty the part that catches the dirt and then plug it back in, but you can clean the floor around the cage(s) quick and easy. I love it for all my non-carpeted floors.

[jetanlori]

Dave, what are avi cakes and nutriberries, is that all you feed our lovebirds? Hmmm something to look into for the messy situation

[Z28Taxman]

Dave, what are avi cakes and nutriberries, is that all you feed our lovebirds? Hmmm something to look into for the messy situation

They're made by Lafeber. He loves them. The avi-cakes are seeds and pellets and the nutriberries have seeds and fruit or peppers depending on which kind they are.

That's not all he eats but it is his main food that is available all the time for him. He gets his veggies (carrots, sugar snap peas, brocoli and either spinach, kale, watercress or arugala) every evening at dinner time. His treat cup can have various different things in it. Sometmies pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, popcorn nutriberries, yogurt dips or something.

And of course there has to be millet in there somewhere. :)

On weekends it's birdy bread for breakfast and occasionally I'll make some plain pasta or rice and veggies for him too.

He certainly can't complain about a lack of variety.