First Birdy Salad

[Lita]

I've been trying to get Reginald to eat vegetables since I first brought him home a year ago. Broccoli just got preened, most things are just thrown on the floor, but he does like nibbling on spinach and green beans.

Having some free time today, I drove to Central Market and picked up a wide variety of foods to make into a little salad for him. I ended up with collard greens, carrots, a green bell pepper, green beans, sugar snap peas, blackberries, dried cherries, sliced raw almonds, and some quinoa.

I ripped and chopped the veggies up to make a container of the salad so I could give him some before I leave for work.

Here's the mix that I made today. I left out the quinoa as I'd need to cook it (and I'm too lazy and tired for that right now) and this is the mix that can be stored easily and mixed with things upon serving.

I filled one of his extra food dishes with it, sprinkled a little seed mix on top, and let him check it out.

And he did pretty much what I expected: grabbed the first little sunflower seed he could find, threw a bunch of carrots on the ground, nibbled on the collard greens, chewed on a piece of sugar snap pea, and then wandered off to play with his favorite toy.

I know I need to give him time to get used to the foods, but would a chop mix be better than a salad? He never seems to eat his vegetables, just nibble on them a bit and then drop them. Are the pieces just too big for such a small conure?

 

[BillsBirds]

Getting them to eat fruits & veggies is a never ending process. Firstly, what they eat today, they may not eat tomorrow. And conversely, what they don't eat today, they may eat tomorrow. And second, how they like it today, may differ tomorrow! I try a variety of foods, served a variety of ways. Different every time. Sometimes raw, or baked, or chopped, or pieces, or mashed. Sometimes warm,. or strung on kabobs, or hung with twine, or tied to cage bars. Always try something different. If they like something try that again. But, don't be surprised if today's feast is tomorrows flop.

 

[Kalidasa]

Looks delicious....I would shred everything together as fine as possible, more likely to get more variety with each bite. Like billsbirds said, keep trying. Just because they hate it one day, doesn't mean they won't love it the next.

 

[Julianna]

Sometimes I think our birds eat better than we do...

I'd try it both ways--as a salad and shredded up. Like BillsBirds said, birds like their food in all different ways. You just have to figure out what yours likes best.

 

[Pajarita]

I have to admit that I don't bother with presentation. They get gloop, one type of raw fruit, one type of raw (or cooked, it depends) veggie and one type of leafy green. Every day is a different flavor for the gloop as well as a different fruit, veggie or green but only one kind because if I give them a selection, they would all end up eating only what they like and leave the rest so by restricting their daily choices, I ensure they all eat a larger variety. These foods are placed on a white paper plate and several of these plates are put in different spots in the birdroom - sometimes I put the produce in a different place (especially if it's one they particularly like) -like stuck on the end of a branch, or tucked in the V where a branch joins the trunk, etc- to encourage foraging but it's not often. And the only thing I offer in different forms is carrots which they get in chunks and grated both coarsely and finely - the rest is all in smallish pieces to reduce waste as most of them would take a bite and throw the rest on the floor and, the smaller the piece, the less I end up throwing away so, although I offer whole grapes, for example, I cut cherries in two because I can get US grapes for as low as $0.99/lb while cherries, which need to be organic, are about $8 to $10/lb. Then there is pomegranates which I painstakingly separate from the white membrane. But all greens are whole leaves, except for bok choy which I split into two vertically.