Hi Everyone

[Spiritbird]

1st tilme guardian for African Gray I named Rosie (F by DNA). I am like a sponge now reading everything I can get a hold of. It seems like nutrition and trust are very important ingredients to having a happy bird. She seems happy and gentle now (4months old). We are both open for any advise anyone can give us. So far she likes to eat brocchli, watercress, shredded sweet taters, corn on cob (small portion), brown rice and most of the fruits. Not much on carrots. I also ordered a sunflower free seed. She does not like the pellets at all. I give her out of cage time and music to listen to when I am away which is not too often. I do have a dog and cat that are laid back and put in another room when Rosie is out of cage.
Is it a must to feed organic vs. non-organice food?

Thanks everyone and I look forward to learning and sharing.
Spiritbird

 

[Auggie's Dad]

Welcome to the forums,

Is it a must to feed organic vs. non-organice food?

Not only is it not a must I don't think that such a term has meaning on food. Yes I know everyone is a fan of it but someone may as well label foods as "happy" and "unhappy"; by itself it simply doesn't mean anything. The standard for labeling of organic foods only refers to what percent of the ingredients used that are also certified organic - circular logic at it's best. There are also stipulations on the producer/farmer's practices for soil and water conservation as well as humane treatment of animals. I think these are very noble and worth supporting, and so I do, but it has no relevance to the health, safety, or nutritional value of the food product. In other words if your inclined to buy organic foods to support good farming practices then I encourage you to do so, but concerns for your parrots health simply are not relevant to that decision.

I would highly encourage you to switch from seed to pelleted food (actually more than highly encourage, but such terminology would come across as rude.) It takes a bit of tough love to get them switched, would kids eat their vegetables if they had the option of filling up on french fries?

That being said it sounds like you are feeding a good balance of fresh foods. If you can't switch her to pellets though these fresh foods will have to be readily available as a major part of her diet and you will have to do more work than I would care to do on how to properly balance her diet. Good pelleted foods are handy as this work has already been done and a majority of their essential nutrients are packed in there.

With a Grey one of the top nutrient concerns is calcium. Sweet potatoes and broccoli each do have a good bit of calcium, but they also have proteins that bind up a lot of it so it's not as readily available to her body to use. Boiled eggs with the shell is another good source of calcium, and the shell calcium is more freely available.

 

[Spiritbird]

I thank you so much for your expertise. I have been buying organic but now understand it is not specifically targeted for the health of the bird. Can you suggest a good pellet for Grays? I give her a little seed in the pm and have the pellets out all the time. The breeder suggested I keep her on the weaning food which I soak and give her about 10 pellets 2X per day and she loves them. Breeder said she may always want this food. Should I wein her off of weining food and hope she will fill up on the fresh foods and pellets? Thanks agan so much. Dianne

 

[Auggie's Dad]

I don't know what the time frame for weening should be. Perhaps others can chime in on that, but if I read that right and she eats pellets as long as their mixed with the weening formula then I suspect that when it is time it should be easy enough to get her into eating pellets: just gradually reduce how much formula is added to the pellets, and perhaps reduce amount of seeds in the evening. There's nothing at all wrong with seed mixes, you just don't want her filling up to much on those.

As for good brands of pelleted foods there are a a number of them. I have never had a Grey, so there may be some that are particularly suited for them. A few good brand names to look for are Harrison's, Zupreem, and RoudyBush. That's certainly not a complete list, but I can vouch for each of those as being great quality foods.

 

[wuvzbirdies]

Hi there,

I have a Grey, he's almost 7 months old. We got him when he was 3 months and becasue we were new owners we weren't aware that feeding him seeds was doing more harm than good. When we took him to the vet for his 1st visit at 4 months old she gave us a schedule on how to wean him off the seed and on to pellets. here was her method that worked for us, he was eating his pellets within 2 weeks.

1. do not mix the pellets and seed together, put in seperate dishes.
2. make sure his pellet dish is always full, and only measure 4 tbsp of seeds per day to her seed dish. (this will reduce gradually)
3.at the end of the day if there are seeds left measure how much is left and throw that away (or keep for the next day).
4. the next day reduce the 4 tbsp by the exact amount you disgarded the night before.

Continue to do this until you notice she is eating the pellats then try and only fill her dish with pellats. When you notice she eats with no complaints then your good to go. at first we noticed there was not much seed to discard at night but he did gradually start to go for the pellats. I’m not saying this will work for you but it did work for us and we have a picky little guy. If you notice your grey is a picky eater, try and include him at dinner. They are flock birds and want to be doing what you’re doing. We did this when he wouldn't eat anything but seed, now he loves his veggies, egg, whole wheat pasta, fruits and the list goes on. We are convinced it’s because we put a perch in the dining room where he sits when we eat.

Hope it works out for you, good luck.

 

[Spiritbird]

How kind of you to share your wisdom from what worked for you. I will give it a go. I sit with Rosie at table while she is eating and I will have some of the vegies and fruits myself. Yes, I must get her off the french fries but can't rule out that ocassional seed treat.
Thanks again. Rosie and Dianne

 

[RKZX2]

Auggie's Dad nailed it. those 3 are the best quality pellets i am aware of. i also use Hagen.