Hello 👋 we have recently taken in a rescue GCC (Pepito) and I have a few things I'm concerned about so thought I'd write my own post after looking through a few threads.
Firstly her diet is not not great. She was previously fed only seed mix and human junk food ie. McDonald's fries, ice cream, biscuits etc. Obviously we are not given her the junk food and are trying to introduce fruits and veg (she largely has to be hand fed them to be interested). I want to slowly swap her seed mix for pellets and only offer a few seeds, any advice on how to do this so she doesn't reject the food?
Secondly I'm a bit concerned about her feathers. She might be molding as there are a few pin feathers on her head but I've noticed she has some pretty big bold spots under her wings and some around her legs and she only really has little down feathers on her belly so I'm concerned she might be plucking.
She is probably around 6 and we have only had her for 4 days so she's still settling in. She's comfortable sitting on both me and my partner but not comfortable with petting and not really trained in step up or anything command really. She used to live with a guy so she definitely less nippy with my partner than me but she won't let either of us properly inspect her feathers.
Any general advice on how to improve her diet and get her more engaged in toys etc.
I've tried to attach a couple photos but they're not Fantastic...
Many thanks

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Hello welcome! Congratulations and thank you for your rescue green cheek. She looks so beautiful, but I'm partial as my Tadah looks like her. Oops looks she has been plucking her feathers. With such a terrible life that's understandable!!!" Sometimes when parrots are rescued from a crapy life and get to start over in a loving home with great care , they will stop plucking and let feathers grow back. But often once parrots start to pluck.they will do it for life. And that's ok , we still love them. But I think k you have a good chance that she will stop plucking.

You need to get a digital gram kitchen scale, so you can track weights. You can put a bowl with a few seeds and zero it out then perch your bird on the bowl to weigh

For me I have gotten 10 parrots eating healthy. By not limiting anything, only adding. ( of course no junk human food!!!), and offering it spread out in shallow large dishes like human glass casserole dishes. I dont make a big deal about it I just let them explore the veggies on their own. I place them in top of my cages, I think they will explore new foods better outside of the cage.
I also get them used to taking stuff by hand. O start out with a seed,, i offer several times a day, tgrn i start by offering something most parrots like, like a half grape or bit of apple, or fresh corn on tge cob . Till tgey are always excited to see what I haven't thrn i switch it up, snd offer a pellet or veggies.

Hsve you had parrots before?

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Congratulations on two counts, your little feathered friend and arriving here! First off don't rush him with much initially. He is possibly struggling enough with the change in ownership, place and situation. Give him a while as he is to let him grow accustomed to you and to be able to trust you enough that he is relaxed. If he is already accepting stuff from your hands perching on you that's excellent, but as he gets more confident you may need to work on training.

Food. I had the same problems with Syd. At first veggies were launched at me and pellets ignored. I started with the veg and for days the throwing in disgust continued. I tried eating them myself in front of him making yum yum noises but it was only when I put a bowl in his cage and walked away. He looked carefully around to check I wasn't looking and for the first time that I knew of he started to eat them. It's perseverance and patience all the way.

Seeds were harder. I started by putting just a few in with his seeds and over several weeks gradually changed the ratio until there were more pellets than seeds. By then he was taking treats etc from me happily and generally getting more adventurous. After a couple of months he was onto pellets only but if he ate them I would give him a few seeds afterwards in a separate dish. He now gets seeds rarely for a treat. It's a case of learning what his personality is. The biggest thing though is not to rush. I wouldn't change everything at once and pick your battles. It can take months for them to really feel at home. So be patient but always determined to gain the end result no matter how long it takes.

My birds really like oven baked bites pellets.
Though I offer and they eat many different types of pellets, I still feed seeds and vegetables, they are great about eating everything.

These are two links to my favorite article
https://lafeber.com/pet-birds/stress...ot-companions/

https://lafeber.com/pet-birds/bird-behavior/

https://blogpamelaclarkonline.com/20...lay-with-toys/

__________________
"A Smooth Sea,
Never Made A Skillfull Sailor "
Franklin Roosevelt

So far she will willingly eat apple banana and mashed up potato off her own accord without us holding it out to her. We've been putting the new foods on top of her cage as she likes sitting up there. Will definitely try and track her weight we have some digital scales just been to work on getting her to stand on it... I did manage to get her to eat 1 pellet after I enthusiastically ate it first and then offered it to her, she doesn't want to do it again yet though �� she's getting a lot better at step up without biting, she's a lot better at it with my partner than me but shes very happy with me feeding her so I'll take that!

We're taking it slow and if she doesn't seem comfortable or happy I'll walk away and leave her until she wants to come to me. Although I'm surprised at how quickly she's warmed up to us! When she's more settled will definitely start some training with her!

Try yam or sweet potato instead of regulars taters - more vitamins.

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Welcome. I am so glad you joined. You and Pepito will thrive here; I'm sure of it.
Thank you for getting off to such a great start with your new darling.

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Aw what a cutie! I have 5 conures, all were rehomed to me or rescues. Good news is the diet change is just patience and more patience . I started with one thing that they like, add a smidge of something else to the stuff they like, and keep going until they get a decent variety. It’s likely that with a good environment, lots of toys to kill, good diet and attention - the plucking could decrease or stop altogether. Sounds like Pepito is already making good progress with you guys. I would second the importance of regular weighing (you can get little perches to set on top of the scale too - mine freak out with a bowl, but perches are okay). Toys are totally individual - mine universally seem to like small wood pieces that are not too hard, palm leaf shredders and yucca chunks to destroy. Wouldn’t be a bad idea to find an avian vet near you, in case you need one - and get a check up once the world stops being crazy .

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Jen
Baby (Sun conure adopted in 2016, hatched approx 2011, female)
Tango (GCC adopted in 2016, hatched approx 2014, female)
Bindi (Sun conure adopted Jan 2018, hatched approx 2011, female)
Screamer (Cockatiel adopted April 2018, hatched approx 2012, female)
Stanley (Pineapple GCC adopted Aug 2018, hatched approx 2014, male)
Tee (Pineapple GCC adopted Jul 2019, hatched approx 2015, female)
Jimmy (Cockatiel adopted Jan 2021, age 21?, male)

Some types of toys are more appealing, I like Jenns comments about toys to kill lol!
They do want to achieve destruction easily. So those bird bagels, shredders, yucca chips are very enjoyed. Also GCC like to untie knots, so burd safe leather straps tied in loose knots, or shoe laces.

__________________
"A Smooth Sea,
Never Made A Skillfull Sailor "
Franklin Roosevelt