eating/drinking

[darkchi]

What is a good way to find out if my CAG is eating and drinking.

I know she is eating sunflower seeds and peanut, because she ate them out of my hand. She also likes eggs, I made her some eggs and noodles w/a splash of OJ... she didn't like to noodle except for playing and throwing them, but she liked the eggs. I can't tell if she is eating any of the seed, pellet mix I gave her. It is the same stuff she was weaned to.

 

[ordenrahl]

When I take the food dishes out I look to see what's been chewed up. Pellets are easy, because there are no crumbs in the bowl when I put them in, and there's plenty when I take them out. Lucky usually eats when I put the food in, so its not hard for me.

Water I was concerned about until I happen to see him drink some.

 

[Peta]

Water is a hard one to work out unless you see her drinking. When I first brought Bucc home I was convinced he wasn't drinking anything, so I would put some on my finger and he would drink it off there, Im sure you know that sunflower seeds/peanuts are fattening, you could try to take some of her food from her bowl and feed it to her. As she likes egg I would make sure that shes always got some of that to nibble on. Do you crush the shell up with the egg, thats really good for them (Bucc ususally spits that out though ) Have you tried her on fruit and veg yet? What does she make of them?

When you change her food can you see any crumbs or seed husks, thats usually a good indication.

 

[darkchi]

Yes I know they are fattening, I was using them to warm her up to me . Maybe about 3-4 peanuts and 10 or so sunflower seeds. She was weaned to a mix of seeds, corn, dried veggie stuff with a small amount of pellets (very small) so I added a half and half of the old food with some health pellets...
I tried to hand feed them to her but she played with them and then tossed them. I them got the bright idea to wet them and give them to her. She then ate them, although I still don't think she is eatting anything out of her bowl. She is sneaky about it I have only caught her once near her bowl (flinging eggs) and when she saw me coming she went back to the top of the cage. No veggies yet, I am going shopping today and to try to get a little of every thing to see what she likes. Any ideas for start out food? I was thinking some peppers, carrots, beans, apple, orange, grapes and some mixed frozen veg/fruit.

 

[Peta]

Those fruits and veg sound good, you'll have to try with different things, as not all birds like the same thing. Bucc will not have oranges, bananas in his fruit bowl, but when we feed them to him he will eat the whole lot. The same with veg, they will all like different things, so its just a case of finding out what she likes best of all.

It sounds as though your clever little Grey is training you well, why feed herself when Mum will do it for her. :18: I think its something we can all relate to there, I know that I did the same thing for Bucc when I first got him.

Pellets well don't go there, Bucc would not eat them at all, until I made such a fuss of pretending to eat them myself and telling him they weren't good for him. I now have them in a biscuit (cookie) tin and when he goes in his cage like a good boy he can then take a biscuit out of the tin all by himself, Which he does and eats the whole thing up. When I put them in his food bowl he picks every last one out and throws them to the bottom of the cage. Silly ol' thing.:18:

 

[darkchi]

Ok, I went through her food bowl and she is deff eating the seeds and I am thinking thats the only thing she has been eatting. So I doubled up on the pellets and hand feed her a few (dry this time)

For the water I am thinking I am going to measure the amount I give her and remeasure it at the end of the day. About how much should she be drinking a day?

 

[sunconure]

You can measure out how much pellet you are adding into her bowl. I only give a teaspoon of seeds for my two suns a day...if that. It is a lot harder to get a bird off seed later on. Try to limit how much she gets. Those veggies sound great and just keep on trying...also try to eat them infront of her or let her sit at the table while eatting dinner. They will often try to eat what you are eating. What sort of pellets and seeds are you feeding her?

 

[Peta]

If Cricket thinks the pellets are human food she will eat them, I would keep the seed in for her, I made the mistake of not letting Bucc have seeds when I first got him, he never ate anything. As long as they are getting a lot of goodness in other forms its not the end of the day if she has seed. Bucc will always have some of what we are eating and eats it all up. He now has his own plate, bowl, and even spoon. (Crazy, I know but that way he eats his and leaves us alone to eat ours)

Hi Emily, nice to see you again. What you been up to.

 

[darkchi]

I got the zupreem, fruit shapes and colors, for parrots
(smells like fruit loops )

the food she came with is a weird mixture it has a whole bunch of stuff in it (I might take a picture to show you what I mean) But she only seems to pick out the seeds (mostly sunflower seeds) Maybe i am putting too much in her bowel?

Yeah I will try that, I will measure out the pellets and try it with no seeds. If she doesn't look like she is eating I will give back the seeds in the afternoon (3:30) when I get home from work, in a small amount, with some of the eggs and stuff.

thank you for that advice. I will let you know how it is going.

 

[sunconure]

I really like the Fruitblend Zupreem. Mine love it...esp the tiel size because it's slightly smaller than the conure size. I also really like Harrison's which in my opinion is the best out there. It's all organic and is GREat! For seeds try GoldenFeast. They give GREAT samples and are ogranic as well as great variety.

 

[bill]

Just give a wide variety and you cant go wrong. Go easy with the sunflower as Peta said it is fatty and can cause some health issues such as overheating because of the oil and then result in feather plucking. good luck.