Why Are Boxes Bad for Your Parrot

               Giving your parrot a box is a very simple and inexpensive form of enrichment. The cardboard is readily available, it is a softer material, which allows for easy shredding for all size birds, and it is easy for us. Caretakers usually just throw a box at the bottom of the parrot’s cage for them to keep themselves entertained. It is also used as a way to keep screaming and other undesirable behaviors down. Unfortunately, there is a lot more negatives that can come from giving your parrot a box compared to giving them other forms of enrichment and stimulation. Concerns can be minor all the way up to severe behaviors and medical concerns, some resulting in lifelong suffering. I can assume that some people reading this right now may be saying “not my bird” or “my bird loves it” or any other contradicting statement. This blog is to address possible side effects to giving your parrot boxes as enrichment so caretakers can make their own decisions and factor in all risks, as well as understand alternatives.

               To start, giving your parrot a box, especially a box that is assembled that the bird can stick its head or body into, and even more emphasis when the box is at the bottom of the cage or on the floor, can increase hormonal behaviors within our parrots. A hormonal parrot is a dangerous parrot to themselves, other birds, and us caretakers and our families. A hormonal parrot is more likely to resource guard its “nest area,” which could be the box, the bottom of the cage, or the entire cage, or the area where the box is located outside of the cage. Resource guarding is an increased aggression response to protect resources the bird finds of value. Resource guarding is most of the time directed to anyone or anything, including main caregivers and other birds. This increase of aggression can make a bird become dangerous, rehearsing aggressive behaviors. The more a bird rehearses aggressive behaviors, the harder it is to resolve those aggressive tendencies, meaning that your bird will have an increase in aggression responses to all sorts of situations beyond just the box and when boxes are removed. It can also cause your parrot to become cage bound to not want to ever leave its resources, or its resources have more value than being out of the cage or off of the cage.

               More behavioral concerns from giving a box in both male and females is sexual frustration, especially when the bird is housed alone. Since the bird is rehearsing nest building behaviors with the box, they are gearing up naturally to find a mate and reproduce. But if there is not a mate around, then the bird will become sexually frustrated. This means that there will be an increase in aggression towards everyone. This can also lead to the bird harassing other birds, sometimes getting violent, due to the frustration. This can put the whole house and other flock members in danger.

               Hormonal behaviors can also lead to very serious medical concerns in our parrots, both for male parrots and female. For female parrots, the box can become a nest site, enticing her to lay eggs. Egg laying has a lot of concerns in itself when it comes to our parrots. It takes a lot out of our birds to produce eggs. It depletes them of nutrients that they need; we likely are not supplementing enough for egg laying daily for our birds if we are not planning to breed. This can then lead to egg binding, which can be deadly. It can also lead to a habit of the hen overlaying eggs, which increases her risks at egg binding and becoming critically ill depending on how many she lays. The more a female is encouraged to lay, the more times she will, and possibly the more eggs each time. For females and males, prolapsing can be a huge concern. This is when the cloaca tissues will come out of the bird’s vent and be outside of the body. This is incredibly dangerous, as the tissues are meant to stay warm and moist, which is impossible outside of the body. It can also affect defecating, having birds relive themselves less, it getting all over their rump feathers, which can cause bacterial infections, especially with the tissue exposed. It is incredibly expensive to treat and manage, some resulting in needing severe surgery to mend.

               Hormones can also increase the risk of a parrot starting to rehearse feather destructive behaviors on themselves or other birds. Just like with aggressive tendencies discussed above, once the bird starts doing feather destructive behaviors, the harder it would be to completely eradicate, especially when feather follicle damage is present. There are a lot of treatment options regarding managing feather destructive behaviors, the first would be to stop giving boxes, but if you would like to learn more about why birds destroy their plumage and treatment options, click the link here.  

               So, what is the alternative to boxes? Well, the cardboard itself is not the problem. The problem is the nest-like structure it provides and the placement of the box. If you took a box and instead of putting it at the bottom of the cage assembled you hung it from the top of the cage upside-down so your bird cannot go inside the box but still destroy it, plus it is up high and not down low, there would be far less adversive side effects to giving a box like the ones listed above. If you took a box cutter to the box and made smaller squares and strung them on some string or on a stainless-steel skewer from the top of the cage creates a completely different presentation with less side effects. But the nest cavity a box creates, and often being on the bottom of the cage causes for more concerns. These different presentations of the box can still allow you to utilize the easy, cost-effective enrichment for your parrot without so much of the downsides.

               It is more ideal to use parrot toy enrichment instead of boxes. This is because if you have been giving your bird the material for a long time and you are seeing hormonal and behavioral concerns, the sight and the texture, even seen presented in another way, may revert them to try to still build a nest and continue those hormonal behaviors even without the box. Parrot toy enrichment comes in a variety of sizes, shapes, textures, and materials to vary your bird’s enrichment and the benefits it provides. Fluff and Feathers offers parrot enrichment that would be ideal for your bird to get them off of utilizing boxes for their enrichment found here. If your bird is fearful or doesn’t seem interested in any other forms of enrichment besides a box, you may need to teach your bird how to utilize enrichment, as well as getting other ideas of enrichment to offer your bird besides parrot toys and boxes. There is an enrichment and foraging webinar that you can watch here to give your more insight to these topics.

               To conclude, cardboard in itself will not cause these concerns. It is an inanimate object that can be offered safely. The concern is the nest-like cavity that the box provides increasing hormonal concerns within your parrot. These concerns can lead to serious behavioral and medical concerns that can become life threatening or life lasting. Not all birds are immediately, and very rarely ever, affected by giving boxes in the undesirable way described. But that does not mean that concerns will arise in the future. Everyone’s personal goals are different for their birds and their safety. This information is here to educate caregivers in order to make their own decision for their parrots.