Fussy b&g

[JAYE]

Hello!

Do any of you also have a fussy B&G?
My Rio has all the mixtures and varieties needed ie nuts, seeds, harrisons pellets, fresh fruit, veg and the occasional chicken etc but I'm finding that she's very fussy with her food.

I'm aware that most parrots tend to chuck alot of their food out, and i don't always see what she DOES eat to be 100% certain...but I have to wonder if shes getting the proper amount of goodness! What are your babies faves? She's only 1 years old, enjoys the odd grape and sugarsnap, LOVES pine nuts (but they are her good girl treat nut) but won't go anywhere near bananas... dandelions... or anything red in colour! With shelled nuts shes more interested in breaking the nut and will just disregard the contents too. Shes also learnt to tell me when she wants water.

Any thoughts you lovely lot?
You can see her pictures on insta - rio_the_macaw1

 

[noodles123]

Well, I had the same concern about my cockatoo. I have found that she changes preferences from week to week, so do keep trying (even if they don't like something).


I have also found that if I present a favorite food with other less-preferred foods that the less-preferred ones get tossed out of the bowl. That having been said, when presented alone, she doesn't do that.


You can mix baby food (no citric acid, no sodium, no dairy, no avocado) into wet foods like oatmeal in a pinch. I give mine a bit of oatmeal with fruit mixed in daily because that is the only way I can get her to eat her probiotic and vitamin supplement.


When I expressed the same concern, the vitamin supplement that my vet recommended was Nekton-S. It is a powder and it gets very good reviews on Amazon. Just be careful to dose properly as you can overdose a bird on certain vitamins.

 

[itzjbean]

It's actually pretty common to have a picky eating macaw! They do what they want and they know what they like!

Some have found better success in only offering chop in the morning because that's when they're the hungriest and they're less likely to throw, and then nuts and/or other stuff (seeds, pellets) later in the day. You could also mix it up by making a batch of birdie bread with corn bread muffin mix and adding in their chop into it. And as stated above you can even add in baby food to it.

 

[ChristaNL]

Yup, itzjbean got that right:
timing is everything
(and presentation, noodles got that one too)


Mine is having a love-hate relationship with cauliflower atm.
One day it's the fluffy-crispy toplayer she likes,
the next day it's stems only
(and she is not subtle in letting me know I got it wrong!)
Sometimes its "give me this first thing in the morning" or could be "the perfect afternoon-tea-snack"
... really, parrots .....

I am lucky: at the end of each day she just wants to munch pellets and slobber some water.

 

[JAYE]

They're just fussy/funny little buggers aint they!

I'm an overthinker & worrier and I just want to be sure that shes getting all the goodness she needs... she STILL has a small patch on her crest where feathers dont seem to be growing and as the internet has soooo many meanings for each one thing in macaws, i'm just going through the motions trying to rule things out.

Otherwise shes a happy bird... She doesnt scream all that much and always coos/dances. Shes friendly and shows love towards most people (Ive had a couple of regurges - yay but yuck haha). She gets lots of time out of her cage (generally only sleeps in there or at dinner time) and we take her outside most days!

Shes getting very good at telling me what she wants... ie when she wants to poop, if shes on me she will nudge me... and if she wants water she will pant until i say drinkies and she will run and stand on my shoulder... dont get me wrong there is always water available to her... but it doesnt taste as good as straight from the tap in a human cup does it? :34:

I knew being a macaw owner wouldnt be easy... and every day im still learning - but theres nothing i wouldnt do for my feathery friend and shes part of the family now and forever