training treats?

[noodles123]

My cockatoo is semi-picky and she is only sometimes interested in food as a reward.

Can anyone make a suggestion on small, healthy, bird-safe treats to be used during multiple (back to back) training sessions?
I know I can get her motivated with a bit of a chip, but that isn't healthy, so any thoughts on quick tiny snacks that she might work for for training in sessions?



PS- If it is too large or time-consuming, then it derails the training, as it takes her forever to eat it.

 

[LauraC]

My bird loves peas so I give Fuji a pea as a reward. Those are nice and small. Or, what about a banana chip and you break it into pieces?

 

[noodles123]

Thank you! A pea may work.
she's weird about hard textures, as she tends to chomp and toss or just toss lol. Although she likes to chew wood, her food doesn't get eaten as well when it is hard. For instance,when given a mix of pellets and a small number of seeds, she eats the seeds (not good, I know) and will kind of eat the pellets, but with the pellets, she spends up to an hour playing with them and grinding them down, and much of the dust goes everywhere else.
I want her to want to eat whatever I pick, not play with it...with pellets, she is more interested in the sensation of grinding them down than the food itself, and historically she hasn't liked fruit chips.

 

[EllenD]

I feel your pain on this one, as my Senegal, Kane, is extremely weird when it comes to training treats. He loves nuts in the shell, like almonds, pecans, Brazil Nuts, filberts, etc., but like you said, they take too long for him to shell and eat, and the training gets totally "derailed". And to Kane, veggies are not treats, lol. He's a pain in the butt when it comes to his food. Thankfully he eats his pellets and his seed-mix every single day with no problem, so for that I'm lucky, but as far as veggies, fruit, and training treats, he's picky as hell.

With my other birds I have used raw sunflower seeds (not in the shell, I just buy a bag of raw, unsalted sunflower "kernels" out of the shell), raw, out of shell pine nuts, bits of certain cereals, such as Grape Nuts (they love these) and original, plain Kashi (even Kane like his Kashi pieces). Along with the cereals, they also usually go crazy for little pieces of plain/honey Granola. I've also gotten some dried Chili Peppers and taken the seeds out, and used the seeds.

I did finally find a raw, fresh veggies that Kane loves and that I've reserved as a training treat, and that's Sweet Potato. Walmart has a big rack of lots of different bagged fresh veggies and veggie mixes, and one of them is a bag of fresh, raw sweet potato "fries" for like $2.98 a bag. He absolutely loves them! So I just cut them up into little, tiny strips/chunks, and use them as training treats. The other fresh veggie i found that works is Butternut Squash, and again, Walmart sells a bag of fresh Butternut Squash that is cubed, right next to the Sweet Potato fries. So I just do the same thing with the Butternut Squash, I just cut the cubes into little, tiny pieces and use them. That's it as far as veggies for training-treats, because i don't want to make too many fresh veggies be just training treats, I want him to eat them every day as a part of his diet. So Sweet Potato and Butternut Squash are only treats and not a part of his regular diet. Works pretty well.

***I don't know if your bird like fruit, but if so, have you tried Lychee's? All of my guys love Lychee's, and because I don't give any of them a lot of fresh fruit every day due to the sugar, these make fantastic training treats, they actually get excited about the Lychees! And again, I give them just tiny little pieces of Lychee, as they are extremely sweet, and they just cherish those tiny little bits!

 

[MonicaMc]

Have you tried training first thing in the morning when she's hungriest but hasn't eaten yet? Have you switched her to a pellet based diet and used seeds/nuts as training treats? Dried fruits? Sunflower seeds?


If she's not really food motivated, even when you try to increase food motivations, then maybe food isn't the answer? It's the easiest reward, but sometimes it requires thinking outside the box! Other methods that don't involve treats can work great, just take a little longer to achieve the end result.


[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=22aAorUrwrI"]Stevie Bird the Umbrella Cockatoo with Lara Joseph - YouTube[/ame]

 

[Scott]

Original Cheerios are a fairly benign treat when given in small quantities. Some of my birds are intrigued by the donut-like shape.

 

[MonicaMc]

Here's another example working with a cockatoo from Lara Joseph! This one is much better video quality!


https://www.facebook.com/lara.joseph.9/videos/10217022208364675/

 

[noodles123]

Thanks everyone! See individual replies below:


EllenD-
I ALMOST bought lychee fruit for her and then I thought I should Google its safety beforehand and forgot lol. Glad to know that you have used it with luck. Obviously I plan to remove the seed and skin before giving to her, but she might like that. I love the pepper-seed idea too.



MonicaMC- When replying to other people's similar posts, I always recommend training (with food) first thing in the AM as well. The issue with her, is that she has been taking meds first thing in the AM which have to be mixed into her food and given at a certain time. By the time that is done,she isn't that hungry anymore (satiated).

One thing that I probably should do (and have debated for months), is try removing her food at night, but oddly, I often hear her eating at odd hours (midnight, 4AM etc ) before going back to sleep until 7. Consequently, I am concerned that if she doesn't have that option, she may not be able to sleep as well and then she may start over-preening or engaging in other behaviors until I uncover her at 6:45-7am. She came to me as an over-preener and she is better than she was, but it is still a security blanket.

I know that food isn't a perfect reinforcer for her, but there are certain foods that she will work for (they just aren't that healthy or they take too long to eat).

She is more motivated by my attention than food, but the issue is, to make my attention during training MORE MEANINGFUL than the other attention she gets during normal interaction poses a challenge, as she requires lots of interaction etc. I only restrict attention when I have to get things done around her or when she exhibits obnoxious behaviors. Otherwise, our interaction is very fluid and frequent.

Plus, if I am training her to put her head through a hoop, my presence itself is a form of attention, so that's why I'm hoping to find a better food motivator. If I am standing there near her telling her to do something, that IS attention...do you get what I am saying?

She doesn't eat an all-seed diet. She gets a bit of Volkman seed (purple bag) mixed in with her Zupreem fruit blend.

I have tried Rowdy Bush and Harrison's for months at a time with no luck. I am not saying all hope is lost, but she came to me with a worse diet than what she has now, and so that is why she is still eating some seeds (I don't want her to starve and she is stubborn enough that she probably would).

In terms of the task at hand- I am trying to get her to put her head into a harness, and the only thing that has even come close to working is food (when held on the other side). I know about task analysis and all of that jazz, but that is why I am looking for a food item that she would really like that would still be healthy. I think that if I can find something, a task like this would work much better with food than anything else (assuming I get buy-in from her).



Scott: Thank you for the Cheerio idea. EllenD also mentioned Grape-Nuts and Kashi. I have always worried about cereals because of the added vitamins. Do you think it is fairly safe in small quantities?

 

[Scott]

A good question about added vitamins in dry cereals! They are fortified, but I'd guess the quantity consumed as a treat is minimal. Then again, they are also small creatures!

 

[MonicaMc]

Maybe leave pellets in her cage all the time but then use the seeds as treats only? Worth trying.

 

[wrench13]

Salty and I use small slices of shelled pine nuts for training treats. He loves them and would build me a Volkswagon for one .

 

[noodles123]

Thanks everyone! !!!

 

[chris-md]

Ekkie, so slightly enhanced training treat and food challenge.

This is what posting on this forum has done to me:

I use nut treats but I really want to increase diversity. There are certain human treats Parker would go crazy over that I could feed him. Not healthy but not toxic. Junk food. Bits of taco tortillas for example.

But all I can think about when I consider doing this is Stephens (anansi) disapproval of me for not keeping to the fresh diet I’ve got Parker on. Lord do I fear disappointing him!