GCC eating too much seeds.

[HydrophobicWater]

I know it's unhealthy for a GCC to eat only seeds, so I offer the least of those. It's food bowl mostly consist of dark greens, fruit, and conure kibble, with seeds being hidden all around its cage and in the toys so it has to forage to find them. With it being stated I have other foods to give it, the issue is that all it wants to eat is seeds. The lil fella is only 3 months old, so I don't know if it's just an age thing or perhaps if it was brought up on seeds only. Any tips or ideas as to how I could introduce a more healthy diet?

EDIT: I feel like it's worth mentioning, outside of seeds it seems to enjoy bay leaf, watermelon, and sliced carrots.

 

[SilverSage]

Does he understand that the other things are food?

Have you tried sprouts? Sprouts are my go-to for healthy diet conversion.


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[Kentuckienne]

The Harrisons bird food website has some great suggestions for getting birds to eat pellets, but the advice works for other foods. There are two major concepts. One is that the bird may not recognize that those other things are food, and some will starve because they don't know they can eat that stuff in the bowl. So you take a bit of carrot, say, and crunch it up and eat it in front of the bird while making nummy sounds. If there is another person who can help by accepting the food and eating it happily, and you hand it back and forth, the parrot will usually pay attention. It may then accept the offered food, or try it if it's in the bowl. It takes time but this is the only way our Gus will try new food. He looks at me eating, sidles over to his bowl, looks at me, cocks his head and looks into the bowl, looks at me, picks the food up briefly and drops it back in the bowl....sometimes he will go ahead and eat it and do the pinning-eye-oh-MAN-this-is-GOOD thing and sometimes it might give takes long time before he tries it or he tries it but doesn't like it.

Second thing is the bird probably prefers the taste of the seeds, so you remove them completely from the environment. Have good fresh food and pellets available at all times. Continue to offer the seeds at least twice a day for about 15 minutes and allow the bird to eat as much as it wants. Also try smashing a few seeds onto something like cooked sweet potato or brown rice so the bird winds up eating some of the new stuff and eventually decides it tastes ok. Gradually expand the diet. Foods that are chopped small are harder to pick through and may get eaten more.

 

[HydrophobicWater]

Does he understand that the other things are food?

Have you tried sprouts? Sprouts are my go-to for healthy diet conversion.


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Yeah, it eats carrot, diced watermelon and bay leaf. that's all it seems to be interested in outside of seeds. I'll try sprouts, though. Thanks.

 

[GaleriaGila]

Harrison's Bird Foods
I feed Harrison's, supplemented by fresh healthy treats. My first, and later, my current avian vet recommended it. 30-ish years ago, Harrison's was still a small company. My vet was actually able to talk to Dr. Harrison about my bird's species and status, and they decided on the High Potency. 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. 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.

 

[Inger]

Does he understand that the other things are food?



Have you tried sprouts? Sprouts are my go-to for healthy diet conversion.





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Yeah, it eats carrot, diced watermelon and bay leaf. that's all it seems to be interested in outside of seeds. I'll try sprouts, though. Thanks.

Bumble, my parrotlet, will eat most anything, but sprouts are her absolute favorite fresh food. She always grabs for them first and rarely leaves any behind.

Her breeder weaned her on to seeds and fresh foods which has helped immensely. I also generally let her try food out of my hand when it's new. She'll try pretty much anything I offer her - maybe because she was hand fed. Or maybe because she's just a curious little piggie [emoji16]


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[T00tsyd]

My Green Cheek was entirely on seeds when I got him at over 3 months and after a thread on here I converted to chop and fresh and pellets. I have stood over him pretending to eat like it was a banquet, and he cocked his eye at me and tasted it then sprayed it all over me throwing it as far as he could. One day I mixed a small amount of seed in the chop.

After a week he finally ate the chop and since then hasn't looked back. Perhaps if you put the seed with what you want him to eat he will get the message, rather than making his seed hunt a separate exercise, reducing the seed slowly until its gone. I do veg etc in the morning and fruit at teatime. He loves the fruit!

 

[Scott]

It seems cliche, but seeds are roughly the equivalent of a burger and fries! High fat, great taste! While seeds can be part of a nutritious diet, the goal is to serve in proper proportion. This varies among birds (macaws need more fat) and your philosophy. As others have posted, pellets are more nutritious, and ideally IMO served as a triad with seed and fresh veggies/fruit. (aka "chop.")

I serve fresh chop independent of the seed/pellet mix. When the chop has timed-out due to temp/freshness, it is removed and dry food is offered. Many specialty bird stores provide samples. Mix with seed in decreasing proportions to eventually achieve the desired balance.

Check out some helpful threads!

http://www.parrotforums.com/parrot-...7-converting-parrots-healthier-diet-tips.html
http://www.parrotforums.com/parrot-food-recipes-diet/49831-chop-day-recipe.html
http://www.parrotforums.com/parrot-...afe-fresh-foods-toxic-food-lists-sprouts.html

 

[itzjbean]

Lots of great advice already given in this thread. The only thing I want to add is try giving your bird CHOP! It's a mix of chopped fruits veggies, cooked grains and beans and it's oh so tasty! You can incorporate all kinds of fruits and veggies so they get a big variety. I have detailed pictures and instructions in my thread - the CHOP CHRONICLES!