LOL too lazy to fourage?

[ChristaNL]

once again I came home to cranky macaw ...

Being a daft human I attributed it initially to me being away too long, giving the greys attention first or even (the horror) have a cup of tea without her or talking on the phone too long etc.etc.
(all the usual ones)

I did not think to check her crop
(okay after the first chomp and series of lunges I did)

I left her that morning with a relative new&easy foraging toy (a few days in the cage) that was absolutely loaded with pellets (her favorite food), veggies on a spike, some fruit and veg on top of the cage and a dinnerplate sized part of the cagefloor full of interesting fooditems (2 days worth of food at least) so whatever happened she would not starve.
She did not agree and ended up HANGRY!

She also did not have any interest in earning nuts etc. through training (or even being civilized) and kept trying to given me more bruises & pretty holes in my skin, so I caved and filled her foodbowl - she stuffed herself to the point you could actually see individual pellets poking through the skin!


Crazy girl!


This morning she is cute, cuddly, let me scratch&remove loose parts of the lower beak and polish it it, demands scritches, licks my hands, lets me work with her wings again, did a round of aviator training en even preens my fleece ....
(She's been out all morning- so not everything at once of course)

 

[MonicaMc]

You could always have her foraging in her food bowl.... so instead of just placing food in, you could cover the food dish with a paper towel with hole (maybe slightly large hole so she can see through and tear open - eventually making hole smaller and smaller), or mix her food in with clean pistachio shells, or get some smaller bowls (if possibly, 5-6 that'll fit in the cage!) and divide up her food into the various dishes!

 

[ChristaNL]

Good thinking! Thank you.

During the last CAVvisit we dicussed how she is behaving a lot more like a real macaw (gnawing on willowbranches and playing), but she is still taking too much time (over)preening, so the vet asked me to get her more busy searching for food.

She understands hunting for treats in my closed hand, gnawing and feeling for them in crumpled up paper .., but since she absolutely refuses to go get things form the cage floor my options are limited.

Maybe I could fit in another food cup (or even two) - so another nice one to try!
(they will be somewhat in 'the poopzone')