So I adopted my African grey about a year ago, and she has been a plucker from the start. I have no background information on her (she was in a car accident where her owners died. She was taken to the zoo I volunteer at and no one claimed her, so I took her in) so it’s been just a laundry list guessing game of trying different things for the past year to see if anything helped the plucking. I think I finally pinned it down a few weeks ago – she’s allergic to corn or wheat, because I took her off her Roudybush pellets for a few weeks and the plucking improved, not gone completely, but she definitely has more feather growth than usual. I even tried Harrison’s afterwards, and the plucking started going downhill again.
So began the journey of trying pellets without corn or wheat. I tried Roudybush rice and Golden’obles, and she refused to touch the stuff. I tried forcing her by putting it in there and nothing else for 24 hrs (which worked when feeding her normal Roudybush, she gave in and ate it within a couple hours) and she wouldn’t budge on it at all. TOPS was the only stuff she’d eat, but it became powder so quickly and she wouldn’t eat it once it became powdery, she’d throw her bowl on the floor. She’s also a picky eater about fruits and veggies. The only thing she will eat is grapes. I’ve tried apples, peaches, carrots, kale, broccoli, squash, peas, peppers, banana…all sorts of fruits and veggies in small pieces and large pieces and she won’t eat them.
In-between the different trials of pellets, I made her some chop so she had something to eat. She wasn’t a big fan of it, even finely chopped she would nibble a little (I’m sure out of hunger desperation) and toss out the rest. My friend recommended baby food, and she LOVES the stuff. I buy the Gerber stage 2 baby food (making sure the iron is under 5%) and whether its veggie or fruit, she eats it with gusto.
So since TOPS is so easy to crush (and the last one I tried), I tried putting in crushed TOPS pellets in with the baby food and she eats it just fine. I buy the ones that have the two packs of baby food, 3.5 oz each, and for the past week I’ve been giving her one veggie pack in the morning with TOPS mixed in and a fruit one in the evening, again with TOPS mixed in. If I put too much crushed TOPS in, she won’t eat the baby food, so it’s been a delicate balance of how much to put in before it changes the consistency/flavor too much and she won’t eat it.
But I’m just not sure how healthy this is for her. Is it okay to be feeding her baby food with crushed pellets mixed in? I’ve just gotten to the point that I don’t know what else to try so she will eat.
So began the journey of trying pellets without corn or wheat. I tried Roudybush rice and Golden’obles, and she refused to touch the stuff. I tried forcing her by putting it in there and nothing else for 24 hrs (which worked when feeding her normal Roudybush, she gave in and ate it within a couple hours) and she wouldn’t budge on it at all. TOPS was the only stuff she’d eat, but it became powder so quickly and she wouldn’t eat it once it became powdery, she’d throw her bowl on the floor. She’s also a picky eater about fruits and veggies. The only thing she will eat is grapes. I’ve tried apples, peaches, carrots, kale, broccoli, squash, peas, peppers, banana…all sorts of fruits and veggies in small pieces and large pieces and she won’t eat them.
In-between the different trials of pellets, I made her some chop so she had something to eat. She wasn’t a big fan of it, even finely chopped she would nibble a little (I’m sure out of hunger desperation) and toss out the rest. My friend recommended baby food, and she LOVES the stuff. I buy the Gerber stage 2 baby food (making sure the iron is under 5%) and whether its veggie or fruit, she eats it with gusto.
So since TOPS is so easy to crush (and the last one I tried), I tried putting in crushed TOPS pellets in with the baby food and she eats it just fine. I buy the ones that have the two packs of baby food, 3.5 oz each, and for the past week I’ve been giving her one veggie pack in the morning with TOPS mixed in and a fruit one in the evening, again with TOPS mixed in. If I put too much crushed TOPS in, she won’t eat the baby food, so it’s been a delicate balance of how much to put in before it changes the consistency/flavor too much and she won’t eat it.
But I’m just not sure how healthy this is for her. Is it okay to be feeding her baby food with crushed pellets mixed in? I’ve just gotten to the point that I don’t know what else to try so she will eat.
I have tried to find out the nutritional content of Gerber Baby food but as not in USA was not able to access. But the nutritional content will have been correctly proportioned for a human baby of a certain age not a parrot. 
