Proper GCC Diet?

[kieer]

Hi everyone!! This is my first post on this forum and I'm relatively new to owning parrots - I am a first time bird mom. I am absolutely in love with my parrot and I've been lurking on these forums almost obsessively. I love seeing everyone's flocks and I can't wait to start participating in this community. I apologize if this is in the wrong section of the forums.

My GCC, Baby, has been on Harrison's Adult Lifetime Coarse for the majority of her diet, and I've been offering her vegetables and fruits - and very occasionally birdseed as a treat. Additionally, I use sunflower seeds exclusively for training - but I've been trying to limit it to 5 seeds a day. However, Baby is really hesitant to try any vegetables or fruit I provide regardless of anything I try, including eating them with her. I hear the term "chop" a lot but it doesn't seem really truly defined on what exactly chop is or what works best. I don't want to neglect a fundamental part of her diet, so I was hoping to ask a few questions in hopes that I am able to decode this picky eater!

What chop recipe do you use the most, and why? How do you prepare or store it? How long do you leave it in the cage? For those with picky eaters, how were you able to find vegetables and fruits that they enjoy?

 

[onamom]

Welcome to the forums!

Check out this chop thread for tons of recipes:

Chop Recipes Resource Thread

Thanks to a wonderful suggestion by chris-md, we decided to create a resource thread for all the chop recipes posted by our members. Each link will take you to a chop recipe or to tips that can make your chop more interesting for your birds. We think they will be easier to find if they are all...

www.parrotforums.com

Another member has also recently posted their chop process here:

My bird chop process

Hey guys!! So, I know that giving our fids a healthy diet can be difficult... especially when we struggle with burnout and mental health, or if you're like me, my diet is garbage, so it's a struggle making sure my pets are eating better than I do 😱 I think I've come up with a pretty good...

www.parrotforums.com

For me, I make a large batch of chop and store it in silicone ice cube trays, frozen. Each morning I take out a cube to thaw for the next day. I typically serve some fresh, not frozen, chop after I first make it and store that in a vacuum sealed glass container. Then I go to the frozen cubes after the small amount of fresh is gone. I also serve sprouts and add some to my bird’s chop daily. (I sprout my own seeds with the Easy Sprout and a sprouting mix from China Prarie.)

I try to go for a variety of colored veggies with my chop ingredients. I commonly use rainbow carrots, brussel sprouts, broccoli, green beans, turnip, radishes, cauliflower, chia seed, flax seed, hot peppers. I also add grains to the chop and use a mix from Bird Street Bistro for that but you can make your own grain mixture too.

 

[Caitnah]

As far as your veg/fruit dilemma...keep trying. My Pineapples first choice has always been apple until I gave him sugar snap beans this year. Now he grabs them first as he loves tearing the pods apart to get to the peas inside. Try them.

 

[hiriki]

Ooh my thread was linked!! That's so exciting to me lol

I find that my different birds have totally different ideas of good food but consistency is key in getting them to try new things. For instance, I have a dedicated fresh food bowl and always feed them their fresh food there. In the past, I've had birds who ignored the fresh food for days or weeks, but when they finally started eating it, I could change the contents of the bowl slightly but they'd be more inclined to try as long as it was there in that bowl.

Putting veggies through a processor to get a fine chop like in my thread also allows for consistency. The veggie pieces are all the same size and shape, you can throw all kinds of new food in there but it comes out looking similar and so once you get your bird started on chop it's easier to convince them to try new things.

You can also mix in grain and millet to encourage them to take the leap and try the chop for the first time.