My birds a mooch, is this promoting bad behavior?

[nicki]

My 6 mo old boy Eko has turned into a huge mooch, as in he wants whatever it is we are eating. I don't particularly mind sharing with him, but I feel might I might be instilling some sort of bad behavior by allowing him this. We are very healthy eaters, so anything we eat is usually safe for him, but I will give him dinner in his bowl and hes like well, what do you got there? Then flies to us. Will sit on my shoulder and I let him eat off of my fork. Or just let him have at my leftovers off of the plate. If this is part of his flock behavior, I guess that it is ok?

Also, while he normally sticks to his playtop, gym and occasionally the high window in my dining room, he has been really exploring lately. Especially any food left in the area. The other day I found him breaking into his food bag like he was starving and trust me, he has food available to him all of the time! Today I was drying out some squash seeds for him, well he found them and decided he was going to eat as many as he could before I found him. Also, he is an SI eclectus and I just weighed him after he ate and hes 382g.

Yea, this sounds bad. More cage time? He is usually out (on his playtop or gym) all day.

Thanks for any insight

 

[Auggie's Dad]

That all sounds like pretty normal parrot behavior to me.

Parrots forage for their food in nature, it's odd for it to just be sitting there waiting for them in a bowl.

If you wanted you could try out some foraging toys - there are a variety of these, and they can be made at home. One example is just wrapping some bits of food in coffee filters and leaving them to be 'found' and ripped into.

 

[nicki]

I sort of thought of the foraging aspect of him finding the seeds earlier, must have been fun for him

 

[Chikoo]

Its very important for you to allow your bird to eat with you guys. Its part of the flock mentality instinctive to the eclectus parrot. They want to be part of the family. Its a kind of bonding ritual as well. I often just kept my birds bowl inside my own plate or always had some kind of food he could eat if I was eating with him around.

 

[nicki]

That is really sweet and insightful, thank you I will continue to refer to him as my mooch though, lovingly of course