Picky eater? Change diet?

My Alexandrine is about 5 month's old and is a very picky eater, right now I've been mixing a bowl of various pellets consisting of Harrison's high potency, Zupreem natural, Zupreem fruit, Two pine nuts, 1 dried red chille and Small parrot seed mix minus the sunflower seeds (she gets about 5-10 as treats daily). About a table spoon or 2 of each of those listed.

In another bowl I put Frozen carrots, broccoli, cauliflower or some water soaked Zupreem fruit pellets for about 2 hours.

The problem is not much at all of this is actually being eaten..

Bowl 1:
The dried chille goe's first mostly just shredded and thrown down, The pine nuts mostly get eaten, Same as the seed, Harrisons kind of gets eaten and lastly the zupreems barely get touched.

Bowl 2:
The frozen veges mostly played with/thrown, soaked pellets usually gets eaten right before bed only and not much maybe 1 tablespoon or less.

The only thing she will really pig out on is sunflower seeds it seem's and it's been over a month that she's had them in her bowls, I'm not sure if she is eating enough and if it's from being picky or something else because I have tried alot of things including a small chop, organic baby food and quinua/oats...

I'm thinking of trying sprouted seeds next.
Also maybe some of these hagens? mixes (not sure if they can be a main diet) willing to try anything from that website..
Pet Shop Direct - Tropimix Large Parrot 2kg
or
Green Parrot OTropo Mix 800g

Just got a gram scale a few days ago, her weight is between 200 and 209 grams

I believe her empty weight is 199 - 200 grams, throughout the day today she barely ate for longer than 5-10mins and was no more than 201g but at 6pm after I added some seed she ate for a good 1.5 hours pellets also and was 209g.
Doe's it sound like she is eating enough? am I worrying for nothing? going to report daily

Yes, it sounds like she is eating PLENTY.

Is there a reason you chose the high potency pellets? Usually those are only needed if a bird is undergoing some sort of stress like breeding.

You will notice with pretty much all parrots that if you feed seed and pellets in the same bowl, you will be wasting your money on the pellets because they will be ignored, just like if you put candy and vegetables in he same bowl in front of a child.

It actually sounds like your bird has an enormous appetite. I don't have any alexandrines but I keep Indian Ringnecks. My ringies are absolute pigs, but when they are eating a dry food only diet, they eat less than two tablespoons of food per day each. Remember the expression "eats like a bird" basically means "doesn't eat much."

I don't know the normal weight for an Alex, but don't worry too much about it. It is VERY GOOD to get a weight on her weekly, but much more than that (unless you already suspect a problem) and you are just going to freak yourself out. Just like humans, birds have fluctuating weight. My own weight fluctuates by about 7lbs depending on various factors during the day/month, and my health is perfectly fine. It's good to keep track (more parronts should!) but don't get too worried over slight fluctuations.


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SilverSage said:

Yes, it sounds like she is eating PLENTY.

Is there a reason you chose the high potency pellets? Usually those are only needed if a bird is undergoing some sort of stress like breeding.

You will notice with pretty much all parrots that if you feed seed and pellets in the same bowl, you will be wasting your money on the pellets because they will be ignored, just like if you put candy and vegetables in he same bowl in front of a child.

It actually sounds like your bird has an enormous appetite. I don't have any alexandrines but I keep Indian Ringnecks. My ringies are absolute pigs, but when they are eating a dry food only diet, they eat less than two tablespoons of food per day each. Remember the expression "eats like a bird" basically means "doesn't eat much."

I don't know the normal weight for an Alex, but don't worry too much about it. It is VERY GOOD to get a weight on her weekly, but much more than that (unless you already suspect a problem) and you are just going to freak yourself out. Just like humans, birds have fluctuating weight. My own weight fluctuates by about 7lbs depending on various factors during the day/month, and my health is perfectly fine. It's good to keep track (more parronts should!) but don't get too worried over slight fluctuations.


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I think I read somewhere high potency was a better choice for growing/baby birds.
Also I think my child like's candy with her veges because today I put only harrison's in a bowl and she ate for like 5mins all day and was close to her empty weight but at 6pm when I added 1 tablespoon of no sunflower seed she ate for 1.5 hours including some of the harrisson's that she barely touched all day, gaining about 7-8g after that feed yeh it seem like she's eating alot when I say 1.5hour but that bowl was only 2 table spoon of fine harrisons and 1 tablespoon seed (there was leftovers) thinking maybe she just a slow eater

Anyone have any input on those 2 food mix's i posted, it just looks like something she would actually eat.. thinking of buying one and adding 50/50 or so with harrison's.. Ofcoarse will keep providing veges that she just plays with too
How would that be for her diet? also which one?

I feed Tropimix for small parrots to my Alex, and he loves it. I mix it with his pellets, and he eats the Tropimix as well as the pellets in his dish. It took awhile to get him eating his chop, but he devours it now.
Xander weighs 250 grams, but he is fully grown.

I also feed the Tropimix to my Senegal parrot, who is only 5 months old. He was weaned onto a crappy seed diet so I immediately started to convert him to Zupreem Natural, but he wasn't eating much at all and like you I was very concerned, he was a just weaned baby and not eating much. So I tried a few small parrot mixes until I found the Tropimix and he loves it.

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Good to know I will order some tropimix and cross my fingers
If a full grown male alex is only 250g 200-210 seem's ok for a young unflighted female!
Would be helpful If you could also share alex's food sizing/routine or how much he eat's..

EllenD said:

I also feed the Tropimix to my Senegal parrot, who is only 5 months old. He was weaned onto a crappy seed diet so I immediately started to convert him to Zupreem Natural, but he wasn't eating much at all and like you I was very concerned, he was a just weaned baby and not eating much. So I tried a few small parrot mixes until I found the Tropimix and he loves it.

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Yeah damn those pet stores that wean onto seed! makes life so much harder lol. Especially when they have truckloads of pellets just sitting in the back.
I'm getting tired of providing a million different foods and worrying if she's eating enough!
Is Tropimix all you feed? feel free to share anymore tips for picky seed weaned babies!

Here's my contribution...

I feed Harrison's, supplemented by fresh healthy treats. My first, and later, my current avian vet recommended it. 30-ish years ago, Harrison's was still a small company. My vet was actually able to talk to Dr. Harrison about my bird's species and status, and they decided on the High Potency. My bird loves the pellets now, but to get him converted, my avian vet suggested putting pellets out all day, and putting seeds (his old diet) out for two 15-minute periods a day. That would sustain him but leave him hungry enough to try new stuff. I presume the same technique could be used to get him to eat other healthy stuff. My guy was eating pellets in a couple of days, and now I can feed a good variety of other stuff, knowing he has the pellets as a basic. Pellets are out all day... fresh treats a few times a day.

thanks, I've used your method while it was good to at introducing bella to eat pellets, it hasn't completely converted her smart cookie would only eat few pellet's to survive untill the expected late afternoon's seed feast she would be at the seed bowl the same second it placed and fill her belly with as many sunflower as possible in 15m!

Rb has never been a brainiac.
Thank GOD.
If he ever quits falling for the toss-a-chile-in-the-cage-and-he-flaps-in-after-it, I'm in deep poop.

No, I feed my Senegal Zupreem Natural pellets as well as the Tropimix, and then fresh veggies and a small amount of fresh fruits. He loves nuts as a treat, and he also loves oatmeal, grits, and anything else similar. The Zupreem pellets are probably 60-70% of his diet. But it took a long time to find anything he would eat at all except cheap parrot seed from Walmart, which is what his breeder unfortunately weaned him onto. I used the same method Abigail posted. It's a slow process but it works, just takes time. For your Alex's age his weight seems fine. Remember that the 250g is only an average, some will be above and some below. But your guy seems right on target.

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I'm glad I made this post, I "kinda" know what to do from here, going to keep trying new stuff till I find what she love's and if she lose's weight i'll go back to abigail's method! thanks to all who pitched in especially ellen.. always like reading your posts.. very detailed

Tropimix success! She hasn't left her bowl of tropimix/harrisons for 30mins now, I also bought a small bag of roudybush/vetafarm to try out as harrison is out of stock
My only question is if it's ok to feed 50/50 with pellets as the tropimix is enriched with vitamins/minerals and I read that you shouldn't be suplementing more vitamins when eating pellets.. but it seems some of you guys are feeding both