Rosa Update

So yesterday marked 3 weeks Rosa has been with us, and I thought I should update.

This bird... I tell ya, she is a dream. She is sweet as can be. Never screams, never bites... Just a good girl. I should say she WILL try and scare my kids, and anyone she thinks might be nervous or fearful. She doesn't bite them... She just lifts that crest up and bounces like a fool, sometimes tossing in a few wing flaps for good measure. Such a brat.. A silly, special little brat.

Ive made a habit of forcing her to have time in her cage during the day. My original plan was to have her out all day long, but she is not getting enough sleep at night, she goes to bed between 9 and 930, and the kids are up between 630 and 7. So, we usually leave her covered until 8 or so, and then I have her out a couple hours at a time, and put her in her cage for rest and naps (like right now) a few times during the day. It seems to be working well. We only had one day where she was grouchy, and even then she seemed to just be more beaky ad pushy, not outright grouchy.

She has learned the joy of a shower with her human. This was not something she had in her previous home, and she dislikes a spray bottle. So 3 times a week she showers with me. She is always apprehensive initially but once she gets a feel of the warm water she settles in and gets her body decently wet. Still waiting on her head, but all in time.

Her nails are in desperate need of a trim. We've got a cement perch for her, and she LOVES it, We are trying to clip one nail per night, but some nights we arent getting any done. She wriggles and twists so much, even under a towel that I am nervous shes going to harm herself. We have 2 vets that are localish but I havent heard good things about either, and so I need to keep looking. She has never been to a vet, and Id like to have a blood test run just to be sure everything is perfect. Her eyesight is an ongoing concern (see my post in General Health) too.

Far as settling in, its like shes always been here. The kids enjoy talking to her, and get a huge kick out of her dancing and exercising her wings. Its a daily thing where she gets going and they laugh the whole time. She LOVES both Hubs and I and has been very good to visit with and say hello to any interested visitors. I dont force her into her cage, she lives here and anyone coming in knows this. She's been a good girl thus far

She is FINALLY playing with toys!! She had NO idea what to do with them initially, just looked at them and ignored them. She's now discovered she LOVES to shred cardboard, paper cups, and soft wood. She plays with gusto, and really enjoys when I give her something new to try.

Her plucking has gotten SO MUCH BETTER already! She is no longer pulling out the down, and only rarely nips the ends off of feathers.
Her back and between her wings is now fluffy looking, where it was bare before. Her chest and tummy still needs time, and is pretty bald still. But I am so happy with the fact she's not pulling off her back. I try not to nag too much, but she knows now not to pick when she is on one of us. Preening only, and she does lots of that!

Now, my main concern right now, beyond her eyesight is her frickin diet. She eats pellets (Mix of Tropican and ZuPreem Avian as per her prior home) but she will NOT eat veggies. Not in whole form, not cooked/mashed, and not in chop. She will also only eat fruit randomly, and even then it's only grapes, watermelon and a random blueberry. Bah. She LIVES for nuts and cheese though. I am worried shes not getting enough from what she eats. I still offer the chop everyday (beans, veggies and some WW pasta) But she doesnt even stick her beak in it now. She will eat scrambled egg sometimes, and enjoys chicken most times I offer. Any ideas? Its frustrating and disheartening to make all this food and its going to waste.

Here she is having some fun:

This was last week, she decided she wanted to share my oldests' 12 grain bagel... She ended up shredding it and giving it to the dogs



Pretending to be a puppydog


And cuddles/the best seat in the house with Hubs:

How adorable is she? Glad she's settle in and is enjoying life with you. Love how soft and cuddly she looks I'm betting she will be refeathered in no time!

In regards to diet, when she's nice and hungry in the morning, ONLY offer her fruit and veg. Have a good variety available so she can try new things and see which ones she likes, though she will probably just pick at it at first. IF she does not eat a satisfactory amount, do not give her pellets, nuts or any treat she likes the rest of the day (I promise she won't starve to death in a day). Offer the fruit and veg again at dinner time, and I assure you she will at least try SOMETHING because she will be VERY hungry by that point. Eat some yourself in plain sight so she understands it is in fact food and it's also what her flock eats. Have your hubby or one of your kids help "reinforce" the point by "feeding" them a piece of apple or carrot or whatever and then giving them praise, so she sees how rewarding eating these items is. Praise her and reward her with non-food reinforcements (a kiss, petting ect...) when she tries it. Go ahead and do that for a few days before you reintroduce the pellets and treats once she has started to learn fruit and veg tastes good and is something her flock, thus she, needs to eat.

We had to do that with poor Kiwi when we got him and I felt like a very bad person, but he just wouldn't try produce. I'm not sure if he even realized it was food. The vet told us to just stop feeding him everything else and he would try it and see it tasted good. And you know what, he did try the fruit and veg once he got hungry enough, and he did find some he liked and he didn't hate us forever or drop dead either. I still give him his fruit first thing in the morning, and he ONLY gets his seed after he's eaten a satisfactory amount of the fruit. He is a bit more accepting of veggies, and he gets cooked grains at dinner along with his veggies, so he usually puts up less protest with those. Although certain things he likes chopped into tiny pieces (apples, carrots, pears, grapes) and others he likes in big chunks (pineapple, mango, broccoli, squash, zucchini, green beans ), no clue why though. Hope this helps with Rosa's diet and i'm really glass to see her good progress!

I am so happy to hear Rosa is still a big sweetie!! And love that she is playing so wonderfully. Doesn't if feel great to see her to just shred things to all heck!? She sounds so happy. Wonderful about the feathers, she is turning around on that so wonderfully, no doubt it was plucking out of unhappy and boredom.

Have you tried birdie bread yet? You can bake in lots of veggies Have you also added pasta, quinoa or rice to the mixes? Ivory is a nut fan and we found she loves grains too, so mixing in veggies with pasta or rice works really well. If Rosa takes to the grains, coat them with coconut oil, cut up the veggies into small bits and then grind up nuts like consistency for sundae toppings. Throw them in and mix all up, the coconut oil will help the nuts to stick, so everything has a bit of a taste of nuts.

You can also mash up veggies and make veggie / nut balls. Try to think of how you would trick your kids into eating something they did not want to, but they needed. Once you get over that wall, she will start eating things more freely.

You can do fun things like get leafy greens (collar, swiss chard, etc) and thread it thru the bar cages, so she shreds it... she'll have to taste it, never know, you might find one she likes and the ball starts rolling from there!! I would also suggest trying lots of root veggies, guess with toos being ground dwellers, they are more favorites. Ivory would not touch veggies when she first came home, then Victoria made up a mix with beets, could not believe how much Ivory loved it. Since then, we have found she'll eat pretty much anything that has root veggies... beets, jicama, carrots, parsnips, etc.

Another thing I keep telling everyone and might be a broken record... bring Rosa to the dinner table. Let her eat with you. We actually make a plate for her, but always have a little pile of stuff on my plate that she can 'steal'. Not sure why, but stolen food always seems to taste better to Ivory!

and keep trying... thats part of what we did, just kept trying different things til we found something she liked.

Great job on how well she is doing!

Rosa looks stunning - her feathers are so white and fluffy looking!
Everyone above gave you some wonderful advice and I hope she starts trying new things soon My pickiest eaters will also eat kale when I hang a whole leaf in their cage.