Dropping food in water

[Ira7]

I don’t care...I change Archie’s water like 4 times a day (what else have I got to do?)...but I’m trying to understand his fairly recent behavior of me finding food crap in his water bowl. Started a few weeks ago, or so it seems.

He doesn’t get any seed as regular food, just Nutriberries, and I added their Avi-Cake stuff last week. I roughly crush up a piece of cake, it has real pellet-looking pellets in it and he’s actually EATING the stuff. But why all the crap in the water?

Including pistachio SHELLS, which I always toss him a few in his dry cup.

I never watch him to see what the hell he’s doing, because what’s worse than someone watching you eat? Is he dropping things in there to dissolve? Or is it just residue from his regular eating?

 

[LaManuka]

Lots of birds do this. My green cheeked conure did it, he taught my cockatiel to do it, and now my budgie does it too! I think they just like to soften the dry food up a bit to maybe make it easier to eat. It's colloquially known as "pellet soup"

 

[Ira7]

Lots of birds do this. My green cheeked conure did it, he taught my cockatiel to do it, and now my budgie does it too! I think they just like to soften the dry food up a bit to maybe make it easier to eat. It's colloquially known as "pellet soup"

But do they actually ever go back and EAT it!?

Like I said, I’m not examining his every move, which is a practice I wish my wife would adopt with me.

 

[LaManuka]

I’ve watched Fang doing it. He seems to dunk a pellet in the water, then balance on the edge of his water dish, eat maybe half and the rest either falls in the water or on the floor of his cage, then he goes back for a fresh pellet and repeats. I’ve never seen him try to retrieve the remains from his water, much easier to go get a nice fresh one right?

 

[Ira7]

I’ve watched Fang doing it. He seems to dunk a pellet in the water, then balance on the edge of his water dish, eat maybe half and the rest either falls in the water or on the floor of his cage, then he goes back for a fresh pellet and repeats. I’ve never seen him try to retrieve the remains from his water, much easier to go get a nice fresh one right?

That’s what’s so weird. They throw it in there, then ignore it.

 

[mica21493]

Little Bird is a dunker too. Dips, chews some up, some falls in the water. Occasionally whole ones end up in there too. I change the water several times a day as well.

 

[SassiBird]

I've seen mine grab a pellet, dunk it in the water and eat it. When she goes back to grab another pellet, a few others stick to her wet beak. They fall into the water when she dunks the next pellet. Voila! Pellet soup.

 

[bigfellasdad]

Enzo is also an excellent and habitual 'parrot soup' maker. Anything dry goes in for a dunk (dry banana chips etc) and then she eats it. She loves hula hoop's, a uk potato crisp, she will dunk the crisp in water to remove the salt or flavouring prior to eating.
She even dunks her 'cup' sometimes [ame="https://youtu.be/4bE21gP3kos"]YouTube[/ame] old video BTW, her new cage is so much bigger and better, and Enzo looks so much better these days too

 

[fiddlejen]

Lots of birds do this. My green cheeked conure did it, he taught my cockatiel to do it, and now my budgie does it too! I think they just like to soften the dry food up a bit to maybe make it easier to eat. It's colloquially known as "pellet soup"

But do they actually ever go back and EAT it!?

Like I said, I’m not examining his every move, which is a practice I wish my wife would adopt with me.

He might be dunking to make it softer, or he might be dunking and leaving there in hopes of growing Nutriberry Trees. That's how they grow them in the wild...

 

[noodles123]

It's like dipping a cookie in milk...
Or like dropping rocking in a pond...

One gets eaten..the other doesn't..not sure which happens half the time....
Maybe they are making tea lol--fruit infusion anyone?

 

[noodles123]

Lots of birds do this. My green cheeked conure did it, he taught my cockatiel to do it, and now my budgie does it too! I think they just like to soften the dry food up a bit to maybe make it easier to eat. It's colloquially known as "pellet soup"

But do they actually ever go back and EAT it!?

Like I said, I’m not examining his every move, which is a practice I wish my wife would adopt with me.

He might be dunking to make it softer, or he might be dunking and leaving there in hopes of growing Nutriberry Trees. That's how they grow them in the wild...

Off-topic moment, but I once told my little sister (more than 10 years younger than me) that if she planted an Oreo and watered it daily, it would grow a cookie tree (she was 3ish). So, she buried one in a pot and watered it for about a week or so. When she wasn't around, I found a small dead branch/stick in the yard and shoved in the pot (for evidence of clear cookie-tree-growing progress). That was in there for another week before I took a piece of string, looped it around the Oreo through the cream filling and hung it on a stick like an ornament (obviously when she wasn't around). Then, I told her to go water the tree, and I heard a 3 year-old-scream in LOUD astonishment: "MY COOKIE TWEE- IT GWOWED!!!! OH MY GOSH, OH MY GOSH! CAN I EAT IT???!" LOL ---talk about the worst-yield for a plant ever---almost like an onion I guess ...with cookie trees, you plant 1 and get one back like a month later LOL-- at least with onions I am pretty sure you can someone grow a new onion after having used most of the onion itself as long as you save the root portion..Not so with cookie trees...maybe we should have fertilized it with milk or something (ew/LOL)!

I stopped reminding her to water it so that I didn't have to keep up with the "fruit" production, and a few weeks later, she was like, "oh no, I think it's dead!" (Me: "well, I guess you will have to remember to water your plants in the future..." LOL)

^totally off-topic but that comment reminded me if this moment in time ha!

 

[wrench13]

You can try moving the water bowl far away from the food bowl(s). Another thing to try is to gradually move the water bowl; to the top f the cage, ending with just enough room for the parrot to get his head between the top of the cage and the lip of the bowl, to take a drink. Make sure he can still get a drink of water. If the water bowl is built in, block it off and use an attachable one, so you can move it.

 

[Ira7]

But do they actually ever go back and EAT it!?

Like I said, I’m not examining his every move, which is a practice I wish my wife would adopt with me.

He might be dunking to make it softer, or he might be dunking and leaving there in hopes of growing Nutriberry Trees. That's how they grow them in the wild...

Off-topic moment, but I once told my little sister (more than 10 years younger than me) that if she planted an Oreo and watered it daily, it would grow a cookie tree (she was 3ish). So, she buried one in a pot and watered it for about a week or so. When she wasn't around, I found a small dead branch/stick in the yard and shoved in the pot (for evidence of clear cookie-tree-growing progress). That was in there for another week before I took a piece of string, looped it around the Oreo through the cream filling and hung it on a stick like an ornament (obviously when she wasn't around). Then, I told her to go water the tree, and I heard a 3 year-old-scream in LOUD astonishment: "MY COOKIE TWEE- IT GWOWED!!!! OH MY GOSH, OH MY GOSH! CAN I EAT IT???!" LOL ---talk about the worst-yield for a plant ever---almost like an onion I guess ...with cookie trees, you plant 1 and get one back like a month later LOL-- at least with onions I am pretty sure you can someone grow a new onion after having used most of the onion itself as long as you save the root portion..Not so with cookie trees...maybe we should have fertilized it with milk or something (ew/LOL)!

I stopped reminding her to water it so that I didn't have to keep up with the "fruit" production, and a few weeks later, she was like, "oh no, I think it's dead!" (Me: "well, I guess you will have to remember to water your plants in the future..." LOL)

^totally off-topic but that comment reminded me if this moment in time ha!

How is your relationship with her THESE days? HAH!

That must be a reat story to talk about together!!!

 

[Ira7]

You can try moving the water bowl far away from the food bowl(s). Another thing to try is to gradually move the water bowl; to the top f the cage, ending with just enough room for the parrot to get his head between the top of the cage and the lip of the bowl, to take a drink. Make sure he can still get a drink of water. If the water bowl is built in, block it off and use an attachable one, so you can move it.

Yep. It’s the position of the bowls. I have one of those cages with fixed outside access (3 bowls total, 2 one side, 1 on the other), and although I can move the water to the other side by itself, I’m not gonna bother.

Let Archie have his fun.

 

[noodles123]

He might be dunking to make it softer, or he might be dunking and leaving there in hopes of growing Nutriberry Trees. That's how they grow them in the wild...

Off-topic moment, but I once told my little sister (more than 10 years younger than me) that if she planted an Oreo and watered it daily, it would grow a cookie tree (she was 3ish). So, she buried one in a pot and watered it for about a week or so. When she wasn't around, I found a small dead branch/stick in the yard and shoved in the pot (for evidence of clear cookie-tree-growing progress). That was in there for another week before I took a piece of string, looped it around the Oreo through the cream filling and hung it on a stick like an ornament (obviously when she wasn't around). Then, I told her to go water the tree, and I heard a 3 year-old-scream in LOUD astonishment: "MY COOKIE TWEE- IT GWOWED!!!! OH MY GOSH, OH MY GOSH! CAN I EAT IT???!" LOL ---talk about the worst-yield for a plant ever---almost like an onion I guess ...with cookie trees, you plant 1 and get one back like a month later LOL-- at least with onions I am pretty sure you can someone grow a new onion after having used most of the onion itself as long as you save the root portion..Not so with cookie trees...maybe we should have fertilized it with milk or something (ew/LOL)!

I stopped reminding her to water it so that I didn't have to keep up with the "fruit" production, and a few weeks later, she was like, "oh no, I think it's dead!" (Me: "well, I guess you will have to remember to water your plants in the future..." LOL)

^totally off-topic but that comment reminded me if this moment in time ha!

How is your relationship with her THESE days? HAH!

That must be a reat story to talk about together!!!

LOL- We are really close, but this always pisses her off lol in a good-mannered way- E.G., "I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU TOLD ME THAT?!! I was so excited about cookie tress!" HAHA
She still isn't the best waterer of plants....not gonna lie lol!