2nd Chop Attempt

Think it went way better than the first time. We mixed spinach, kale, broccoli, sugar snap peas, cauliflower, a jalapeno, kiwi, mango, dry oats and red lentil rotini. Per chris-md's recommendation we processed each item separately and pat dry to avoid extra wetness. We also didn't grind everything up as fine as the first time. Charlie watched us make the whole thing and we gave him small bites of the items we knew he'd like to further entice him. 45 minutes later his head has emerged from the bowl to wipe his beak off.

He's been trying his best to avoid his new TOPs pellets and makes sure we know he's not happy with them. He'll eat them, but it's not the Oven-Baked and Zupreem he's used to. I'm sure he'll come around with time. Also noticed he hasn't been eating as much pellets daily. I'm hopeful that is because he doesn't need as much of TOPs to feel full vs his old food. Overall a VERY busy week for us as we work to change his lifestyle.

Thanks to all for the feedback and help!

Now THAT...is a happy beak! Makes my heart sing looking at that! Are you freezing it or making batches just for a few days at a time?

That’s a great start to building your own chop, very well done! You’ll be able to play with it well from here, using other stuff like red cabbage, fresh fennel, sweet potato, Farro, etc. You did it here but I want to highlight specifically: place special emphasis on red/orange items like bell peppers. Ekkies need slightly more vitamin a than other birds, which red/orange veggies have. I won’t make a chop that doesn’t have some form of carrot or bell pepper (or other similar colored item).

If he ultimately doesn’t come around on the TOPs, you have a number of options:

1) tops can be pulverized and sprinkled over his chop, or even incorporated into birdie bread.
2) look into Goldenfeast dry mixes. I have tops but Parker won’t eat it anymore. So for dry stuff I use goldenfeast, usually the hookbill legume blend.

Very well done to you all!:jumping40

I honestly don't know how long this chop will last. What we didn't think could be consumed in the next few days was placed in a separate Rubbermaid container and put in the freezer. That's very good to know about red/orange items. Glad we didn't mess that up lol. He's always been a fan of carrots and bell peppers. Our first Misfits Market box came today and had a bunch of carrots, so he got carrots this time.

We're home the next several days so we'll be paying extra close attention to how much of the TOPs he's eating. This morning he was NOT happy. Our guess is he begrudgingly eats TOPs while we've been at work but being home today he's letting us know his feelings about it. Which makes the extra sleep we've been giving him so much more enjoyable for us lol. Instead of 10-(maybe)12 hours he's been getting closer to 14 a day and he's been great with the extra sleep. Working multiple days in a row makes for a cranky wake-up for him but he's used to our morning routine with work.

Oddly enough, the hardest part of this process has been not kissing him. He's never been a big fan of petting but he loves belly kisses. It's a habit for us to kiss him and catch ourselves frequently going in for a kiss and pulling back.

Kiss the beak instead!

I’m glad the 14 hours of sleep is going well!

I was actually going to ask if you the produce delivery yet. Sounds like the options this week were fortuitous!

Is it ok to kiss his beak? We have been trying to stop ALL kissing until he starts calming down. He's been so amped lately we are doing everything we (and others) can think of to relax him. And yes, the shipment is pretty nice. I commented to my wife that we've never had so much fresh produce in the house at one time.

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adorable! I remember fondly when Charlie had a beautiful green belly like that. I was just wondering if that would affect hormones at all. We love giving beak kisses but don't want to get him too excited. I mean, my kisses are pretty amazing.

Oh, Parker has a Full on grey belly 2/3rds of the year, Jan-August. This was taken when he happened to be fully feathered.

Not a great photo but this was taken mid-July.


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This was Charlie earlier this month. He’s always close to growing his feathers back, then clips the tips of them. He has plenty of upside down Vs on his chest haha

Chris and Ekkietiel, I have to say, those are some handsome boys there! My boy Patches left me with a huge soft spot in my heart for the pluckers and barberers. There's just something about them...

Also, being the musician sort, the conversation struck me funny with their names. If they hung out together you'd have...... Charlie Parker!

Great post, great progress, our grey is a barber. Its getting better. I think we've worked out the barbing with to much sugar and seeds. However, we are still working on the hormones. Eclectus are so beautiful. Love it.

chris-md said:

tops can be pulverized and sprinkled over his chop, or even incorporated into birdie bread.

Click to expand...

This advice has really helped. We've noticed he's willing to eat TOPs, but if there is something better to be had (like chop) he has no interest in the pellets. We've been grinding up TOPs and mixing it with chop right before we serve it. Also think he's becoming more accustomed to the flavor because of this. The longer we mix in TOPs, the more he's going after the pellets in his cage.