The Forager - Feather Plucking Solution for Exotic Birds

The major challenges of owning an exotic bird are keeping them from plucking their feathers and biting. Both of these problems are rooted in the same place, boredom. Captive parrots and exotic birds are bored out of their minds. They are used to foraging for food for 18 hours per day. When captive, they receive their food, eat it in an hour or two, and then spend the rest of the day trying to find things to do.

Current products that address this issue include a wide variety of toys to try to keep the bird occupied. The Forager keeps birds entertained by facilitating their natural behavior, searching for food.

The basic idea: The Forager disperses the food slowly throughout the day and helps to simulate the natural foraging behavior of exotic birds in the wild.

The Forager in its most basic form would look something like this:

The Forager Components: Each of the main components of The Forager is detailed below:

• (A) Activation Knob: The Activation Knob is cranked by the bird owner. When this happens it starts the Pellet Release Disc (C) on a slow and gradual turn over the course of 8 hours. It would use the same basic mechanics as a kitchen timer.
• (B) Pellet Container: The container is a series of holes through a cylinder. Each of these holes goes all the way through the cylinder. Food pellets are stored in these holes.
• (C) Pellet Release Disc: This is a disc with only one hole. This disc turns gradually over the course of the day and releases the food in the compartments in the Pellet Container (B).
• (D) Pellet Catchers: When pellets are released over the course of the day they are caught in these catchers. The food is dispersed evenly among the catchers.

How The Forager Works in Action:

At the beginning of the day the bird owner does two things:

• (1) Fill the top of The Forager with food.
• (2) Crank the Activation Knob

For the remainder of the day the Pellet Release Disc (C) slowly turns. As the single hole in the Pellet Release Disc passes below one of the holes in the Pellet Container (B) the food is released from that hole. Not only is the food released slowly throughout the day, but it’s released randomly among the various Pellet Catchers (D). An actual Forager would have many more pellet catchers than the one shown in the picture. This means that the bird has to spend some time “foraging” and jumping from perch to perch checking the various Pellet Catchers (D) each time the Release Disc (C) passes below a Pellet Container (B). This is meant to keep the bird active and spending a large portion of the day eating.

What Now ?

I have taken the necessary steps to secure this idea as my own, and am currently working on a prototype that can be used to drum up support and possibly distribution. You can help be spreading the word.