Hey!

[LouM]

Hi all,

New to the whole forum thing but getting to grips with it all slowly!

A few months ago I bought (though now seems like rescued) Charlie my Blue and gold macaw. My parents had one when I was younger and I’ve wanted one ever since, finally it came to the time where i was in a position to. The biggest challenge I’m facing with him at the moment is diet. When I collected him I was given a bin of food with him so I’m not sure what brand it is but it’s basically all seed. I’ve been doing lots of research on diet and which brand would be best etc but he just loves the seed! Also fruit and veggies, he likes them but he’s not crazy about them. Quite happy to leave it or he will eat some but not overly fussed. I’ve tried a couple of sample of pellet foods for him, I’ve mixed it with his current food and he will eat bits and pieces but would still rather the other, I’ve tried reducing the old food and increasing new but then he doesn’t seem to be eating much at all. Can anyone help please?!

Lou and Charlie

 

[Allee]

Welcome Lou and Charlie! We’re happy to have you here!

It’s not at all uncommon to adopt or rescue a parrot with a seed addiction. If given a choice most birds will choose seed over pellets or vegetables and fruits, one reason is its simply more appealing, another possibility is pellets, vegetables and fruits have rarely or never been offered. It’s normal for parrots to be suspicious of new foods. It may take longer than you’d like but with time and patience almost all parrots can be converted to a healthier diet. Here’s a great article written by one of our members.

http://www.parrotforums.com/parrot-...7-converting-parrots-healthier-diet-tips.html

 

[Flboy]

Howdy and welcome!

 

[Laurasea]

Welcome to you both!! You can try some of the heat and serve mixes. I just started trying one by Voljen (?) It has lentils, peas, carrots, rice, banana chips, nuts, and other stuff. You summer and serve. My birds seem to like it ok so far, only seved three times, takes way longer than package direction. But you might try something like that. I like Tops pellets, but my birds only like when it's really fresh just opened. Pellets some are great some seem to have a lot of crap ingredients.... anyway hopefully you'll get him eating better. Welcome!

 

[wrench13]

Welcome and be welcomed. And Congrats on your Blue and Gold, one of my personal favs. Switch over from one type of diet to another is best done as a gradual thing, so as not to shock the parrots system. The link Allee gave you is gret advice. For our little Amazon, we give him pellets, 1 walnut and 1 Nutraberry in the AM, and that stays ou all day. Mid day meal is a small amount of fruit of different kinds. A small amount. Salty's big mealis always dinner, which is the most recent 'chop' and a small amount of Avicake mixed in.

Tip - parrots have 1 taste bud to 100 of ours. So what is unbearably hot to us is mild tasting to parrots. Our latest batch of "chop" has habenero, hot red, Cubanelle, jalapeno, and small green chile peppers in it. They are a major part of this batch of Chop, and Salty loves it. PLus peppers have a lot of vitamins and minerals in them. Conventional wisdon is the darker the meat of the veggie, the better it is for your parrot. Read more in the nutrician sub forum on different recipes for your BGM.

ps -"Chop" is shorthand for chopped up veggies andother goodies. Good Luck!

 

[Scott]

Welcome aboard, Lou and Charlie! Achieving a proper diet is challenging. If Charlie is willing to try pellets, a formal transition program might help. This link is from Harrison's and I used it to successfully wean 9 parrots from seed and Zupreem. It has a good chance of success for most any brand. https://www.harrisonsbirdfoods.com/using-our-foods/large-bird-conversion/

 

[LouM]

Thanks so much for your replies!

Yes it does seem that the seed is much more appealing, even I think so when I look at it! I’ve got a small bag of the Harrison’s high potency for him which he will nibble on but does seem to waste a lot of... he is very attached to me and isn’t a fan of other people but his beak is overgrown, I want to take him to the vet for a health check and to have it trimmed correctly but I know he won’t let them do it willingly so I’ve been trying to socialise him with other people so it’s not a traumatic experience and to reduce stress but I think we are just going to have to take the plunge unfortunately!

I will give some other options a go that you’ve all suggested, see which he prefers!

Thanks

 

[Casper223]

Hey LouM, you got some really great advice here. I've got a U2, and one of her favorite items in her cage is a vegetable skewer. It hangs from the top of the cage, and hangs where she can get to it easily. I skewer vegetable and fruits that she loves. What I found she loves is fruit or veggies that have seeds inside. For instance, I live in the south, a big & plentiful vegetable here is Okra. So I wash it good, then slice it n half longways to expose the seeds, then I place the two halves on the skewer, also cucumber, Kiwi, peppers, and fruit or veggie with seeds inside, and after a couple of hours, all I have left hanging is the skin which once held the vegetable. I also cut up okra and snow peas, into ½" chunks, and place them in a bowl with her Spinach and Kale and sprouts, she goes through all of it, mostly eating the Kale, and Okra, especially the snow peas, then she goes to her seed and pellet bowl. She doesn't care much for the pellets, and will take her beak and shove the pellets out of her way to get to the seeds, and nuts, but between 2 food bowls, and her hanging skewer she eats well everyday. I got her in June weighing 505 Grams, and yesterday I weighed her in at 560 Grams. Her parents are both in the 650 Gram Range, so she's still hot about another 100 Grams to go, but in eating like she does, she will be there before long, my practice is to keep a variety of food at her disposal, fresh all the time. It may not look like she's eating a whole lot, seems I'm constantly tossing her old food out to the wild birds outside, and refilling her bowls, but the proof is in the scale. Hope this helps.

 

[LouM]

Yes this sounds like my next plan! Hadn’t thought about the fruit and veggies with seeds in so il give this a try. He does sometimes throw stuff he doesn’t want out in search of the good stuff but luckily not too often. I haven’t weighed him before but I’m going to get the vet to check him over and give me an ideal weight etc for me to work towards otherwise I’d just be guessing. Thanks for your help