Hand feeding adult parrots

[Mumio]

Hi there. I'm new to this board and have searched and searched the internet but can't seem to find an answer for my question. I hope someone here can help.

Has anyone done any hand-feeding of an adult parrot? My Congo African Grey is 30+ years old and just won't eat the things that are good for him. He's mostly had seeds over the years because other than a piece of fruit or veggie here and there, just will not eat any other fresh veggies or fruits...picks it up, bites it, drops it. It goes without saying that he wants nothing to do with pellets either, no matter what brand I've tried. After a recent vet visit where he had to have a vit a/d/e injection, I decided that he must have veggies and fruits no matter what. What I ended up doing initially was giving him baby foods (via feeding syringe since his health wasn't as good as it should be) but I am now mixing up the veggies myself and using a feeding syringe. He's very good about eating this way, seems to enjoy it actually, and I am in a position where I can do this every day without any problem. He's being fed like this twice daily: 1 tsp of veggies, 1 tsp of fruit, and then he has seeds with Tropican or Zupreem pellets added.

My question: how many teaspoons of veggies/fruit should he be fed daily? I weighed him recently and he weighs exactly 1lb. Is there anyone out there who might be able to tell me the amount he should get of veggies and fruit? I am planning to take him back to the vet to have the blood work done again to see what his levels are but I want to see if I can get his vitamin levels at a good point first. Thanks to all who can help, I appreciate it very much.

 

[MonicaMc]

He should eat as many vegetables and some fruits that you can get him to eat, daily.

Have you considered sprouted seeds instead of feeding dry seeds?

Pellets may be easier to feed if you crushed them into a fine powder, mix 50/50 with seeds, and add a small amount of water. You want it to be a thick paste. You can then make little balls of food, 'cakes' or just smash it to the bottom of his food dish. Feed this for two weeks, then cut down the amount of seed by 1/4 of the amount. Feed the new mix again for two weeks and once again cut back on the amount of seed.

Once he becomes reliable in eating the pellet gloop you can start adding in whole pellets along with the seeds. It wont actually matter if he eats it, as long as he can get a taste for it as he goes for his beloved seeds.


After a while, you may be able to phase out the seeds entirely. During this process, you'll be needing to weigh him regularly, in grams. Weighing in pounds is not accurate, so you'll need a kitchen/postal scale that weighs in grams.

 

[BillsBirds]

Two things I've been able to get finicky eaters to eat are: birdy bread made from cornbread/muffin mix with baby food added, and what we call "chop", a mixture of finely chopped fruits & veggies. Can be also made into a pulpy mash. The fruit makes the veggies taste sweeter. I've tasted both, and both actually tasted good!

 

[Featheredsamurai]

you should try the birdtricks cookbook, it's amazing for picky eaters and for parrots in general.

 

[Mumio]

Thanks everyone for your tips and advice. I'm getting a coffee bean grinder to try to pulverize the pellets into powder that can be mixed with either the veggies or the fruit I'm already giving. I'm due to take him back to the vet in another month or so to have blood work done again to check vitamin/mineral levels to see if that problem is resolved with our current feeding regimen. If we are doing well, I'll consider trying the fresh veggie/fruit route again to see if he wants to investigate again.