Need some new games to play

[adele]

Gabby and I play all kinds of different learning type games and horseplay and just hangout....but we are needing more games to play.
Anybody got anything to keep us both busy?

[MiniMama]

HI, I once read on article on how to test for avian 'IQ'. Here are some of the games I remeber: 1)Where's the food? Place a favorite food treat in plain site, let them see it. Then place two books or something in front of it. See if the bird realizes that the treat didn't 'disappear', it is just now behind the book. Test is to see if they go around the book to get it. I":ll see if I can find the article to post all 5 tests.

I also make a neat treat for them.. I take a quilter's square, and sew 8-10 medium sized buttons on it. I then put a ball of seeds,curly pasta and wooden balls in the center, and wrap the square around it. I tie it with a leather cord that i usually string beads on. it takes them about 2-3 days to chew off the buttons, get through to the treats and chomp off the beads. Very fun!

[Barb E]

Ollie and I like to play with his Kong Wubba. It's actually a dog toy that you can buy in different sizes. I have the smaller one and I tickle him with it and he attacks it. Sometimes I dangle it with a piece of cord (not to long) and he beats it up. It has a squeeker in the middle and is covered with fabric and has "tails" hanging down. He loves this toy.
I also have another dog toy - intended for small dogs. It's a little fuzzy duck with a velcro opening on the back so you can put a squeeker in there. Ollie loves when I throw Ducky at him. He catches it with his foot or beak and squeeks the he$$ out of it and then throws it on the ground. I pick it up and the game continues.
I've found that the small dog toys in general are great for macaws.

Another favourite activity which actually is foraging fun is hiding nuts or treats in a food dish and then covering with rocks, sea shells from the $ store. Ollie loves throwing the rocks out and sharpening his beak with the shells. sometimes he holds the rock in his foot and bangs the perch before throwing it.


What do you do with your Gabby that she really enjoys?

Barb

[MiloMacaw]

Milo is like a puppy too- like your ollie. She loves dog toys and rolling around growling and laughing and playing with all the dog toys I can get her. She also likes to play catch- we taught her with big softball sized wiffle balls to throw them high up in the air at her people, and then we catch and toss back to her. Thats loads of fun, and easy to teach!

We just started colors and cup games, with treats involved- I will take a big brazil nut or something similar and hide it under one of four plastic cups, a red, yellow, blue or green cup. You start out by showing them that and letting them come and knock over the cup and get the nut or seed, then slowly move to switching the cups around. After a couple of weeks Milo is getting really good and will follow the cups for two or three roations and can still pick out the cup with the nut under it. I always tell her which color she picked, in hopes she will learn to identify colors soon!