#soil ask

[particularemphasis]

U A NICE SILTY LOAM AYEEEE

hell yeah.

[flock-talk]

is it ok for my bird to ingest a tiny bit of dirt when she plays with the pebbles and from the plants that are still growing?

It’s not ideal and depends on the soil.  Many soils are packed with pesticides, fertilizers, and filled with numerous harmful chemicals to produce lush plants but would be toxic when ingested.  Organic soils are better, won’t kill them, but are also filled with things you certainly wouldn’t want to be eating such as compost, manure, and decomposed mosses, contents used are not intended for ingestion and may not be non-toxic to parrots.  Whenever a plant is introduced to an avian environment the soil MUST be covered either by stones, marbles, or a mesh cover to prevent them from getting in to the soil.  Consuming tiny amounts accidentally will likely not be harmful but should always be avoided.  If the plants are currently growing and are too small to have covering put over them place them in a different room until they grow to a manageable size, the plant won’t be able to grow if the bird eats it all while it’s tiny anyways.

[flock-talk]

You said that soil for plants can be toxic to birds. What if we had lots of loose coverings such as stones?

That’s exactly why my recent shots have marbles! You do still want to ensure you aren’t using soils with pesticides or other chemicals in them as that can affect the plants, best to still go with an organic soil.  Marbles and rocks that are too big for them to swallow are excellent ways to prevent them from digging in to the soil, using mesh is another option as well, if you go with rocks/ loose substrate ensure that it’s too big to be swallowed and do supervise them as some birds may get mischievous and push them out of the way to get to the dirt.

[razamafoo]

Silty clay something? That sounds pretty fancy

i feel it