Gardening is for the Birds

All birds have hobbies -- some birds like to flutter around spendingthe afternoon gossiping with their owners, while others like to shootbasketball hoops; my birds, on the other hand, are avid gardeners. It all started a few months ago when Azalea (my Rosebreasted Cockatoo) began leaving a seed or two in her water dish each day. I didn't think much of it at the time, but obviously Azalea had taken notice that on a daily basis I was dumping the contents of her water dish onto the soil in a freshly painted flower pot located next to her cage. Seeds and all, I continued to dump the contents of Azalea's water dish into this flower pot. It wasn't more than a few days after Azalea began leaving seeds in her water dish that I noticed seedlings sprouting in the pot. Today,Azalea, Sky (my Budgie), and I share a lovely garden consisting of several different pots of plants - all started from seeds!

My birds are basically responsible for selecting the seeds they want in their garden from among the seeds I place in their food dishes, and preparing those seeds for germination by soaking them in their water dishes. At the end of each day, I help out by pouring whatever seeds and water remain in my birds' water dishes into the numerous flower pots that make up my birds' garden. Both of my birds and I have even tried experimenting. We've tried to grow pellets, and even dried banana! Unfortunately, so far we have only had success growing from seeds. I enjoy having all the plants in the house, and my parrots get particularly proud when we have visitors and I show our guests my birds' garden. If your bird has been dropping a seed or two into its water bowl each day it is telling you that it has an interest in gardening, too.

ACTIVITY:
What you need: flower pot, soil, water, parrot, seeds, a sunny window, and time. What you do: place the soil in the flower pot, wet thoroughly with water, and set in front of a sunny window. Place assorted seeds in adish positioned inside your parrot's cage, right next to the water dish. Then, on a daily basis, empty the contents of your parrot's water dish onto the soil in the flower pot. Wait. If your bird isn't helping by selecting seeds and placing them into the water bowl, you can help out by picking through your parrot's seed dish and dropping into the water dish those seeds you'd most like to see grow!

Warning: do not allow your bird to have any physical contact with its garden unless you begin with sterile conditions and fresh seeds of a safe variety; note that while some seeds may be safe for your parrot to eat, the plant grown from those seeds may be harmful to birds. Also, watch your sprouts for the presence of mildew and disease - droppings in the water and bacteria can be dangerous to the health of your bird when it is permitted to multiply unhindered in a flower pot.