Finding the right reward

[Quincy69]

First of all thank you to everyone on this forum for all of your input and information, it's very helpful to everyone in the bird community.

So our Quincy isn't quite 3 months old yet. But he sure is coming along very well. He is a very busy little boy. Climbing all over his cage, stepping up, laying on his back, hanging upside down from my finger........but, when I try to reward him with fruit, let's say apple, orange, banana he won't have any of it.

He's eating a mix of pellets, and Volkman Super that the breeder had him on.
But I'm having a hard time trying to figure out what to reward him with. Any suggestions?

A picture for his cuteness!

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[bingbing]

Bing Bing likes peanut's as a reward. He does flips on his perch for them. I sometimes take a bit of all natural honey mix it in water and float some rasberry bits in the water and he loves to fish for the bits.

 

[Violet_Diva]

If you feed a seed mix, you could see which seeds he picks out to eat first as this will likely be his favourite.

My guys like almond slivers, walnut, banana chips...

 

[DoubleTake]

My suns love walnuts, dried peas and air popped pop corn as treats... but my guys are pigs, they will try anything I hand them.

 

[Scott]

Small bits of almond and walnut are favorites. Plain Cheerios are beloved by many birds, and the least offensive of breakfast cereals. A bit more involved are cooked cereals, cooled. Virtually all of my birds love thick cooked oatmeal, nothing added.

 

[Inger]

Bumble learned her first few tricks for pieces of uncooked oatmeal (and she will still perform for it LOL). She also enjoys tiny bits of almond or pine nuts, and most of her training is done for/with millet these days (one seed per reward). I generally save the almonds for new things or more difficult tasks.

 

[clark_conure]

strawberries or apples, take the first bite to break the skin and make it flock food.

 

[itzjbean]

What a cuite! My tiel loves spray millet, sunflower seeds and straight up crackers!

 

[wrench13]

Salty LOVES pine nuts, and that what we use for rewards when we do training sessions, or other situations where a reward is needed.

Re: Volkman Super - it is mostly seed and nuts, and it is hard to use any of them for rewards ( your parrot already gets them for free in his food). I suggest you start to wean him off the Volkman Super. 3 meals a day, one should be a high quality pellet, one of mostly fresh fruits and one of fresh veggies ( or "chop" - we make it in large quantity and then bag a daily amount and freeze the whole lot of them, thawing one per day). This way you can use his favorite as a reward. Stay away from the peanuts - in the shell they can harbor harmful spores and shelled they are not particularly good for your parrot. Good Luck!

 

[Sunnyclover]

I vote pine nuts too...both my conuresgo crazy for them!

 

[GaleriaGila]

The Rb LOVES chiles more than he loves me!
Peppers are a great source of vitamins AND they're easy to offer.
You can chop them up into tiny pieces, or offer the seeds. Beware handling them and then touching your eyes or nose!
Common wisdom is that parrots have such poor taste and smell that hot peppers really excite and stimulate them. And they're very healthy (lots of good green and great nutrents)! So I give the Rickeybird lots! The only downside... when he eats a pepper, then preens, then wants to cudddle, it's a very incendiary experience.
I buy several kinds...
Poblanos, to stuff the end between the bars tightly (above a perch) so the Rbird can nibble at his leisure.
Jalapenos and Serranos, to toss into the cage's snack-bowl, to trick him into entering so I can shut the door. There's no such thing as a chile that isn't good for them. If he absolutely does NOT want to go back into his cage, a big fat Anaheim will always do the trick.
About pellets...

Harrison's Bird Foods
I feed Harrison's, supplemented by fresh healthy treats. My first, and later, my current avian vet recommended it. My bird loves the pellets now, but to get him converted, my avian vet suggested putting pellets out all day, and putting seeds (his old diet) out for two 15-minute periods a day. That would sustain him but leave him hungry enough to try new stuff. I presume the same technique could be used to get him to eat other healthy stuff, like fruits and vegetables! My guy was eating pellets in a couple of days, and now I can feed a good variety of other stuff, knowing he has the pellets as a basic. Pellets are out all day... fresh treats a few times a day. I also like Harrison's via mail because I never have to worry about out-of-date products.
Good for you, for researching and reaching out!

P.S. OH, THOSE COLORS! BEAUTIFUL BIRD!

 

[Quincy69]

The Rb LOVES chiles more than he loves me!
Peppers are a great source of vitamins AND they're easy to offer.
You can chop them up into tiny pieces, or offer the seeds. Beware handling them and then touching your eyes or nose!
Common wisdom is that parrots have such poor taste and smell that hot peppers really excite and stimulate them. And they're very healthy (lots of good green and great nutrents)! So I give the Rickeybird lots! The only downside... when he eats a pepper, then preens, then wants to cudddle, it's a very incendiary experience.
I buy several kinds...
Poblanos, to stuff the end between the bars tightly (above a perch) so the Rbird can nibble at his leisure.
Jalapenos and Serranos, to toss into the cage's snack-bowl, to trick him into entering so I can shut the door. There's no such thing as a chile that isn't good for them. If he absolutely does NOT want to go back into his cage, a big fat Anaheim will always do the trick.
About pellets...

Harrison's Bird Foods
I feed Harrison's, supplemented by fresh healthy treats. My first, and later, my current avian vet recommended it. My bird loves the pellets now, but to get him converted, my avian vet suggested putting pellets out all day, and putting seeds (his old diet) out for two 15-minute periods a day. That would sustain him but leave him hungry enough to try new stuff. I presume the same technique could be used to get him to eat other healthy stuff, like fruits and vegetables! My guy was eating pellets in a couple of days, and now I can feed a good variety of other stuff, knowing he has the pellets as a basic. Pellets are out all day... fresh treats a few times a day. I also like Harrison's via mail because I never have to worry about out-of-date products.
Good for you, for researching and reaching out!

P.S. OH, THOSE COLORS! BEAUTIFUL BIRD!

Thanks for the information! We haven't tried the chili's yet....but my mother in law gives them to her GCC.

Quincy also has a bowl with Harrison's that I see him munching on a lot.

I want to try chop, but he's not having anything to do with fruits. Maybe he's still too young? He's only 2 1/2 months......he hasn't even been eating at all for very long...lol

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[Inger]

Never too young! The sooner the better, in fact. Offer veggies and fruit prepped in different ways-small pieces, large pieces, cooked, raw, mashed, in a bowl, on a plate, from your hand, etc. until he likes something. I’m very fortunate that Bumble’s breeder weaned her onto chop, and I kept feeding her a variety from the start. She’ll eat new things from my hand. Sometimes I pretend to eat some first and tell her it’s delicious. Flock animals are social eaters. Most importantly, never give up. And even if he definitely refuses something now, offer it again later. They change their minds.

I sort of enjoy the adventure of feeding her. I’m always on the lookout for something different for both of us to try. [emoji846]


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[Gxg]

First of all thank you to everyone on this forum for all of your input and information, it's very helpful to everyone in the bird community.

So our Quincy isn't quite 3 months old yet. But he sure is coming along very well. He is a very busy little boy. Climbing all over his cage, stepping up, laying on his back, hanging upside down from my finger........but, when I try to reward him with fruit, let's say apple, orange, banana he won't have any of it.

He's eating a mix of pellets, and Volkman Super that the breeder had him on.
But I'm having a hard time trying to figure out what to reward him with. Any suggestions?

A picture for his cuteness!

Sent from my SM-T550 using Tapatalk

Praying your baby thrives and so happy for you all!! He's beautiful

 

[Quincy69]

Never too young! The sooner the better, in fact. Offer veggies and fruit prepped in different ways-small pieces, large pieces, cooked, raw, mashed, in a bowl, on a plate, from your hand, etc. until he likes something. I’m very fortunate that Bumble’s breeder weaned her onto chop, and I kept feeding her a variety from the start. She’ll eat new things from my hand. Sometimes I pretend to eat some first and tell her it’s delicious. Flock animals are social eaters. Most importantly, never give up. And even if he definitely refuses something now, offer it again later. They change their minds.

I sort of enjoy the adventure of feeding her. I’m always on the lookout for something different for both of us to try. [emoji846]


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Thanks for the input. I will be giving this a try. Sooner or later I will figure what he likes.

Thanks

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[Jolene7136]

Mine loves safflower seeds. Wish they sold them just by themselves so I didn’t have to buy a whole bag of seeds and pick them out.

 

[LordTriggs]

you could try raisins? My little conure was nuts for them, and apple bits but I often had a bit of apple in his cage so never understood why he would perform for them. Also often times a good bit of praise and a special scritch behind the ear is reward enough

 

[Quincy69]

Thanks all for the replies!

Quincy could care less about the treat....lol.....when I try to give it to him he just steps up..he would rather be on my hand or finger then have a treat...lol

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[Aratingettar]

Cytrynka loves pomegranate - but if used as a treat, it can be a bit messy as the juice splashes when the seed is pressed with her beak. Sometimes her feathers are also splashed, but it's not a big deal since she loves taking a bath