Red-Lored dilema

Shine

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Nov 3, 2016
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Fidget - BFA, Addy - Red Lored
Looking for some advice on my Addy. Shes a Red-Lored that is approx 15 years old. Shes definitely a 'she.'

I got her 16 mos ago from Craigslist. She was living in a cage in someones back yard.

I brought her home and found her to be very timid, very shy, but also very sweet. I quickly found out she LOVES men, but hates me! After about a year she started letting me scratch her head.... sometimes. She has never stepped up unless bribed by a pistachio and only occasionally at that. And not in the past 4 or 5 mos. About 6 weeks ago I needed to weigh her, she looked like she had lost some weight again, so tried to get her step up and she flew off her cage onto the floor. Ever since, she has been terrified of me. If she sees my hands, or I walk by too close, she screams and runs away. She even does this when I'm changing her food and water sometimes. Its gotten a bit better, in the past couple of weeks, but she still screams a times if I get too close. I talk to her constantly and offer her food, but its almost always a no go. I have not been able to touch her at all in the past 6 weeks. I have a male friend that she LOVES! The instant she hears his voice, she runs toward him and immediately lets him scratch her and will start regurgitating. Hes careful about only touching her appropriately etc. But as long as hes here... shes staring at him and cooing at him. He is obviously her person, but he cant be. Shes stuck with me.

She came to me only eating apples, pecans and nutraberries. Thats all she was given.

I started giving her a huge variety of fruits and veges. About 8 mos ago, she ate a couple of pieces of grapes, and a few blueberries. Other then that, she will eat snap peas. She LOVES snap peas. For the last 6 mos, the snap peas is the only thing she will eat, as well as a bit of apple. Thats it as far as fresh stuff, and I give her a variety of fresh fruits and veges daily. She NEVER touches them, only the snap peas and maybe a bit of apple.

She does eat fruit Zupreem though but probably not enough to satisfy her if I were to take away the snap peas. At this point, I'm afraid to not give her a bunch of snap peas every day!

I have discussed this with my CAV and he told me to increase her pecans and nutriberries again so would gain back her weight. Also said that it can sometimes take up to 2 to 3 years to get them on a better diet. Sadly, her diet has not improved, at all. She will eat corn and rice sometimes, but I know thats not considered good food for her.

If you have read this far, thank you.

My questions are, can she live and be healthy on pecans, apples, snap peas, nutriberries and fruit zupreem and the occasional corn on the cob?

And, should I look for a new home for her with a man? She is very attentive to any man that comes into my apt, so it seems to be men in general that she loves. And she truly hates me.

I want her to be healthy and happy and I know shes not happy. She eats ok if I give her the things she will eat, but I have to wonder if she was in a living situation where she was happy, maybe she would eat better?

I'm happy to keep her with me, I dont want to rehome her, but I hate her being unhappy.

Any and all advice would be appreciated.

Thanks
 

chris-md

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Your vet gave great advice for the short term: get the weight up. I desperate times, calories first, then nutrition.

Long term, all isn’t lost! There are several keys to getting your bird on a nutritious diet:

1) persistence. Don’t stop offering, even if it goes uneaten. I wasted a lost of food before Parker started eating a variety.

2) play with the prep: cooked, uncooked. Whole, julienned, cubbed, shredded, minced. Birds are picky, and will choose their favorite. Parker won’t touch anything cubed...period. Your amazon may only eat carrots if they are cooked whole carrots, but won’t touch them as raw matchsticks.

3) try chop! It works for a lot of us, and if you can stuff a few favorite items into the chop it encourages them to get the beaks into the food, increasing likelihood of adoption.

4) don’t forget to include things like farro/spelt/quinoa, other grains, and pulses and other legumes. Sprouts are a great way to do so.

You really just keep trying. Stuff a pepper, make it a foraging you. This really is a common problem. Googling around and looking at YouTube will give you a myriad different ways to encourage your bird to eat more fruits and veggies.
 

Laurasea

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I think you can still make progress with different foods.
One pellet all my parrots like us oven baked bites, yiu could offer abd see.

I've taken two budgies and 3 quakers and one green cheek conure, and gotten all to eat a wide variety of veggies, leafy greebs, fruits, and pellets. All started as seed eaters only. And i still feed seeds. So I know you can too.

Things that worked for me
Feeding tid bits by hand, I start by offering thi gs tgey like already, fir my seed eaters I fedd a couple of seeds by hand and said yum yum, I did thus off and on all tge time. Then I'd offer something new tgst would probably like like apple, just a tiny crumb size piece abd say yum yum, tgey would come i er and beak touch or take abd toss. Then I'd slice some up abd put on wide shallow dishes on top if tge cage. I think parrots explore new foods out of tge cage, and laid out. Every day id iffer new stuff by hsbd and put out in the dish. For me I didn't limit their seeds . So I guess I call thus way new food by abundance! Lol every single parrot safe foid I make i offer them a tiny amount, evey single veggies or salad greens i have i offer them. I always still offer tiny stuff by hand several times a day. Sometimes I share a meal with tgem all at the breakfast bar.

I offer everything, in bunch if different ways, cooked, chopped, whole, minces , but mostly in bigger chunks .

Everyday thdy have 4 different veggies/ greens spread out in big casserole dishes, and 4 differnt pellets brands each in their own dish. Every morning tgey hsve veggies and pellets. After an hour I put out sed mix.

At this point I could find something whacky and new abd tgey would come over abd give it a try. They truly relish all the various foods. They are excited abd come running to check out tge new stuff. I still feed a pellet, a seed , a veg by hand
Double posted with Chris, he has lots of good ideas as too

This link might help on behavior
https://petcentral.chewy.com/think-y...ird-hates-you/
 
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SailBoat

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DYH Amazon
I sense that she had been abused as that would explain much of what you are experiencing. It is not uncommon for Amazons to have preferences, but they can easily adjust based on their underlining belief "Love (okay in this case, put-up with) the one you got!

Based on your very short timeline with this Amazon, you are still in interduction time. We find with our Amazons that everything is on a multi-year schedule and changes occur over extended time.

When working with Abused Amazon, we find that it is a continued effort of developing trust! And, miss-steps happen, but recovery will happen..

Only good things happen when Humans are around. Fundamentally, target spoiling her rotten!

Even if she is eating a couple of pellets a day that will provide the basics. The diet information provided above is excellent. Variation of the offering is very important. Strongly recommend that you keep a log book of what she is eat and what she is not.

Sorry, I fully disagree with you!!! She is far better off with you than where she was!!! Put that idea out with the trash and have it gone and never return to your home, ever...

Keep talking with her!!! Keep it warm and loving!!!

It takes years! But, I assure you that each tiny moment she makes to open-up is like a Sliver of Sun Light after a week of solid dark clouds!

Under all her current surface expressions, she is slowing opening up and with each day, she loves you just a bit more!

Never give-up on her!!!
 
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Shine

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Chris-md and Laurasea, thank you for all the diet and presentation advice! Lots of things I havent tried but will! I've mostly just been offering it the same way over and over, and she never touches it! (Definition of insanity anyone? ) I like the idea of cooking and cutting in different ways, and I also like the idea of presenting it in a different type of pan. I will definitely be giving all those things a try and hoping for success!

I have given her chop, both fresh and dehydrated, (after rehydrating) mostly cut with a chopper, so its always basically the same size. She hates the chop and I cant begin to tell you how much food I have thrown away! (well, I'm sure you all know about that! )

Boats, I do spoil her rotten! Shes between my kitchen and living room so is in the middle of everything that goes on, gets talked to constantly and frequently eats pine nuts that she will take from my hand. (although, any other time my hands are going to kill her!)

I'll keep at it. Thanks for the suggestions!


Picture to show off my moody girl!
 

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Laurasea

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Mine mostly hate minced stuff too, but all burds are different. I figure tgey got beaks they like to destroy stuff so they can rip up the veg. But some things they like smaller, lije foot holding size...

You might offer a visual retreat in cage by the use of toys.
This is a great article I share all the time!
https://lafeber.com/pet-birds/stress-reduction-for-parrot-companions/

Beautiful baby!
 
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texsize

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Your Red lord Amazon is beautiful.
I wish you all the best.
 

Ceri

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Your Addy is gorgeous, oh my lanta! You're still in the beginning of your relationship with her, she just needs more time. Don't give up! You got this.

All the advice above is phenomenal. I wish you the best of luck on your quest of patience and experimentation of food, you're on a journey! Can't wait for your next update.
 

chris-md

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On thing to keep in mind: part of the trouble with transitioning to a veggie diet is - quite surprisingly - birds don’t actually recognize what you’ve given them as food. That’s part of why you have to be persistent, because it does drive home that this is something to be consumed.
 

rnadler103

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Hi! I have a male red lored who is almost 30. I got him when he was a few months old and he has always preferred men. (I am a woman). He only prefers me if he needs something or gets scared. He has been with me his whole life and if a man walks in, I'm invisible. :p
Try not to feel too bad about that.
Mine eats Kaytee Exact pellet's (NOT rainbow). They stopped making the plain kind and I had to order a 25lb bag from amazon. (That was all I could find). He won't eat much else in terms of pellets.
He loves treats, but isn't great about eating fruits and veggies. If I give him a piece of banana, he won't look at me for a week. :52:
They have such personalities.
I adore him, but they are incredibly sensitive and I truly believe this little girl is just taking her time to learn to trust you. She will, it will just take time. Don't give up on her.
Thank you for taking her into you home and heart.
 

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Shine

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rnadler103, that sounds a lot like my girl! She loves men... any man! Hates me.

She is very sweet and very sensitive too. She is very easily frightened and is very skittish. Hopefully she will get over her fear of me someday.

I just put a plate of fruit on top of her cage for her to check out. It has a raspberry, a blackberry, slice of banana, half a grape, and small slice of peach on it. I stuck a pine nut in each piece and scattered some rice that she likes around it all. So far, it terrified her, she flew off her cage and got her nail stuck in the carpet, screaming the whole time! Not a good experience for her, but I'm not giving up. She now sitting on the door to her cage and wont get back on top of it because of all the scary new stuff up there! ;)

Anyway, I did get to weigh her when I got her off the floor and her weight is stable for now, but she hasnt gained any back of what she lost. But being stable is ok. She currently weighs 445 gms.

So much for good intentions, I terrorized her.... again.:(
 

Laurasea

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lol oh my she is sensitive,! Yep dont give up! Keep posting will be fun seeing her evolve and what works. :)
 

KitKatPlus

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The ideas given above are super helpful. If you're stuck, I would highly recommend BirdTricks guide to a seasonal feeding system. It mimics what is natural for our birds to eat, and even comes with recipes you can make that mimic human food so you can eat together :)

tip: a great way to get birds to eat chop is to sprinkle some seeds on it. As they taste the seeds, the mushy chop gets all over their face and they accidentally eat the veggies (and usually figure out they taste pretty good!)
 

Anita1250

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I had an OWA who lived to age 48 only eating seed, apple, corn and peanuts. He hated EVERYTHING! An occasional walnut would pass his beak, but everything else was either thrown out or ignored. Not quite a perfect diet, but in our world it was that or nothing. Parrots are sometimes very picky, but most will eat enough to stay alive. My Rocky was also skinny, but pretty healthy right to the end.

:green:
 

wrench13

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Hi Shine. Another win for the pine nuts, but they are very fatty so I suggest giving Addy small slices or chunks of them as your 'bribing' treat. They are what I use in our training sessions with Salty, little pieces of pine nuts. I really think Addy will warm up more and more to you. Salty came to us not liking anyone but my oldest son and I, and now my wife Geri can get him to step up and give her kisses on the cheek, so gently. Even the occasional scratch. And he always says "Hi Geri" to her.

Patience - you know how stubborn parrots can be,
 
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Shine

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Anita, thats encouraging!

KitKat, Thanks, I'll check that out!

Wrench, She gets pine nuts and loves them! I give her a small piece several times a day. Its kinda that door that shes left open for me. She cant resist a pine nut, even if she has to take it from my fingers! :)

I've been giving her a variety of stuff and shes still running from it all, but I'm determined to win this battle!
 
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Shine

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Re: Red-Lored dilema (New issue, need help please)

Hi, I have a new issue with Addy. Last Sunday a bowl shattered in my kitchen about 3 ft from Addys cage. She freaked out and flew into the other room. I was able to pick her up and eventually put her back on her cage.

The problem is, since then she has not gone back in her cage once! She is on top of it, but refuses to go inside. I have put all her food dishes on top of her cage so she will eat. She is now even more freaked out by me. I can be sitting on my couch and she will start screaming. If I walk by sometimes, she starts screaming. If I stop and try and talk to her, she will sometimes listen, but others, she screams. She runs from me if I try and give her a pine nut, but will sometimes come back and get it, but others, just refuses to come get it.

Today, she didnt eat at all until I got home and fixed her a bowl of corn. Her food today was all of her favorite things, but she didnt touch it until I got home and gave her some corn.

I have to admit, I'm both concerned and frustrated. I talk to her a ton and the bowl breaking was sure not something planned, but its totally freaked her out. I dont know if maybe a piece of it bounced up and hit her or what, but she is totally over the top about it.

At this point I have no idea what to do. Any suggestions or ideas appreciated.

Thanks
 

wrench13

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With parrots its often 2 steps forward and 3steps back. That bowl incident must have really scared her. Slow and patient is your ticket here. Just move at her pace of acceptance, which will be a lot slower than the pace of your epectations. And then suddenly, one day, she might very well surprise you by going 5 steps forward. Be receptive to what she is giving you.
 

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