Any Help Appreciated

[nblitzkreig]

I'm having problems with weaning my 10 month old Harlequin Macaw. I feed her formula twice a day and have both pellets and seeds in her cage. I also give her one snack meal a day where I hand feed her moist pellets but recently she will only take about 5 pellets and just wants to play with the rest. She seems to enjoy cracking the nuts and seeds as well as crushing the pellets. Problem is that all she does is crush or crack these things and seems to have no idea how to get the food to the back of her throat so she could swallow it. Ive given her bananas, a slices of mandarin orange and grapes and its all the same. She grabs it and presses on it with her tongue until the juice comes out and then she sometimes drinks that. She will drink water though and that seems to be the only thing she knows how to swallow. How do I teach her to eat? Many people have suggested I just don't feed her for a few days and that she would figure it out on her own but I feel like that could be harmful. Please any advice would help.

 

[JerseyWendy]

I'd never recommend NOT to feed her for a few days. A bird without proper nutrition can go downhill rather rapidly.

How much are you still handfeeding her, and how often? Do you keep track of her weight?

Have you tried eating WITH her? Have her watch as you put food in your mouth, and perhaps she'll 'get the hint' and develops an appetite, too.

You can try offering her warm, mooshy foods, many young birds are quite keen on those. Or a chop mix (we have numerous recipes listed on the forum).

IME, when my birds were actively 'weaning', they were more inclined to eat on their own after I had given them only a small amount of handfeeding formula first. Don't know why, but once their crop was partially full, they'd gorge on the other foods I provided.

 

[nblitzkreig]

I give her about 95 cc of formula twice a day usually in the afternoon and a little bit before she goes to bed. I have tried eating with her but all she does is try to take my food haha. As far as her weight, her scale broke and I have to buy a new one but she was about 955 grams the last time I weighed her. I don't think the appetite is the problem though because even when I feed her if I put her on her perch she will start nipping at seeds/ nuts or pellets right away. The only problem I see is that she doesn't seem to understand how to swallow food. I guess I could try giving her warm mushy foods but is that something where I should puree something and leave it at apple sauce consistency or does it need to be thicker? Thanks for the reply by the way.

 

[JerseyWendy]

You can try chunky or pureed, and see if she prefers one over the other.

LMAO @ her trying to steal your food!!

She's at a good weight, so I wouldn't be too awfully concerned. Some of the big macs are quite slow to wean, and it sounds like she's one of those.

I'll give you the link for a recipe I make for mine once a month, and I feed it to them warm in the morning. They all go bonkers over it:
http://www.parrotforums.com/parrot-food-recipes-diet/22594-cook-portion-freeze-my-recipe.html

I also make the following birdy bread that's quite the hit:
http://www.parrotforums.com/parrot-food-recipes-diet/28298-my-birdie-bread-macs-love-these.html

Now if you truly find your baby is UNABLE to swallow food, I'd have her checked out, JUST to rule out anything is wrong.

 

[Birdman666]

She's at a good weight, so I wouldn't be too awfully concerned. Some of the big macs are quite slow to wean, and it sounds like she's one of those.


Now if you truly find your baby is UNABLE to swallow food, I'd have her checked out, JUST to rule out anything is wrong.

Yeah, if the bird isn't losing weight, she's eating something. A lot of times, they will crunch stuff up, and 75% of it will end up on the floor, or the bottom of the cage, but the other 25% is being eaten. As they get older, they swallow more and drop less...

Especially when it's the good stuff.

So I wouldn't worry too much. Young macaws aren't all there yet.

Then suddenly, the light bulb turns on, and they're smarter than you expected them to be... (Oh, crap! What did I just get myself into?!)

 

[nblitzkreig]

Thanks guys that helps a lot