introducing new food

[deds]

how do you introduce new food to and adult grey? she ONLY eat peanut and that's it.

tried several times to take away the food dish in the afternoon and place new food in the next morning.

mixing nuts/seeds/fruits doesnt work either as she only eat peanut and leave everything else.

so far have tried: papaya, apple, pear, orange, mango, pomegranate, passion fruit, grapes, banana, melon, vegs, cashew nut, almond, millet, canary seed, sunflower seed, corn, sweet potato

thanks

 

[melinda]

I just got a amazon that is 12 years old and the only thing she would eat was sun flower seeds and peanuts. I got her to start eating fresh fruit and veggys by offering it off of a plate i was eatting from. Once she was eatting that when i put it in her cage i started mixing in pellets in her food bowl and took away more of the seed each day until it was just pellets. On the first day she only eat the fruit and veggys. On the second day i didn't give her them. She begged for about 3 hours, i didn't give in to her and she started eatting the pellets. I am not going to promise it will work for yours but you are doing the healthy thing to get her to eat better. Good luck

 

[oled]

there is to ways of introducing. Mix together with food she/he is use to or just take it away and put the new food in the bowle. Normaly it takes 2 to 3 days before he/she is starting to eate.

 

[deds]

I just got a amazon that is 12 years old and the only thing she would eat was sun flower seeds and peanuts. I got her to start eating fresh fruit and veggys by offering it off of a plate i was eatting from.

tried that many times ..she would bite whatever im offering then throwing them away

there is to ways of introducing. Mix together with food she/he is use to or just take it away and put the new food in the bowle. Normaly it takes 2 to 3 days before he/she is starting to eate.

mixing not working ....

you mean take away the food she use to eat altogether for 2-3 days? is it ok to starve her for that long?

 

[critterman]

Hi I just converted my 2 CAG parrots from a total seed n peanut diet to pellets and a mixture of veggies n fruit called Quacker Jax from MY SAFE BIRD STORE.COM and they loved it right off the bat. I have had these birds for 9 yrs and tried several times to get them off seeds with no luck. I got this mix of fruits n veggies and they loved it. I also add in Harrison's pellets which they are eating very well. I did it by cutting the seed off from day 1 and only giving them the mix and pellets. Thank goodness they ate it right away so it wasn't so hard to convert them. I give them plenty of fresh fruits n veggies also daily in between. Limit the peanuts to 1 in the morning and 1 in the evening as a treat and try the mix and be sure to give them lots of fresh fruits n veggies also. It may take a day or two but they will eat it. It is hard to break a bad habit but it will work. Good Luck!

 

[deds]

so 1 peanut with pellet + vegies & fruits for morning and afternoon feeding.

what if she wont touch pellet/vegies/fruits for whole day? do i repeat the same thing the next day? that means just 2 peanuts for whole day ...

 

[melinda]

You will have to let her get hungry enough to try the new food. If you give in say aroung 1:00 then tomorrow she knows she won't get breakfast but if she justs waits you will give her lunch. It is harder on us changing birds over to a healthy diet than it is on them i think.
Don't feel bad about her throwing food it is just part of the change over. My amazon does that to everything new too. It takes her about a week of seeing and throwing it before she will taste it. Your bird could just take longer

 

[deds]

i usually feed all my birds at 7am and 5-6pm.

tomorrow i will try (again) fruits + vegies in the morning then little peanut (2-3peanuts) + fruits + vegies in the afternoon.

is it safe to do it for 2-3 days ?

 

[melinda]

i am not a vet but before you withhold the only thing she will eat make sure she has a little fat stored up. Easy to check just feel her breast around the bone if it isn't just bone you feel and it don't feel sharp she should be just fine for 3 days by then i am almost sure she will find something she will eat. Just keep you eye on her and check her daily. If she loses to much weight to fast you might need to give in and take her to a vet to be checked out and see what they suggest. But if all she has eat is peanuts i would say she has a goog layer of fat like my amazon did. She didn't lose but half a ounce when i changed her over. I bought a postal scale to weight my birds with. They are great to have so you can keep up with your birds weight easy.

 

[Kawaii]

Hm, this probably sounds disgusting to some people but have you tried letting your bird feed out of your mouth? :6_tongue:

At times, that was the only way my bird wanted to eat. Of course he was never very picky about foods. Although now that I think about it… my bird was a small lovebird rather than an African Grey, which is much bigger in comparison. I'm not even sure if that would be a good idea with a larger older bird either.
I'm sorry, this post should probably be ignored. heh...heh… :19_indiff
I wish you luck!
-Leia

 

[deds]

day 3

she ate a little bit of fresh corn ...along with 4-5 peanuts/day

 

[melinda]

Hey fresh corn is a start! are you feeding the peanuts in late afternoon? That might help her try pellets in the mornings if you did. My birds love any kind of cooked pasta that is warm and eggs any way i fix them. Soft food that is warm most of the time works great during a change over. Stay strong you are doing great!

 

[Remy]

Kawaii - LOL! My cockatiel when I was growing up would try to eat out of our mouths whenever she she saw anyone chewing! She'd also drink whatever was in our cups, etc. I'm glad I'm not the only one that's done this. Puck hasn't tried to eat out my mouth yet, lol. I think he sees me more as a mate than a mommy. XD

 

[deds]

im feeding her in the morning and late afternoon

1 bowl of seed, pellet and nuts (almond, cashew and 2-3 peanuts)
1 bowl of fresh fruits and vegies

she gets peanuts both morning and afternoon.

tried warm oatmeal and hardboiled egg ...but she didnt even look at it

 

[Remy]

And deds... It sounds like you're doing okay! Corn is a start.

If Puck doesn't know something is food, I eat it in front of him, and then he'll eat it. He LOVES to eat off plates. If he sees someone with a plate, and he wants some, he'll run for the plate and jump on it! I got him some little plates of his own (little sauce dishes), and he likes to eat from them.

 

[deds]

just handfeed her papaya and edamame .... she threw away most of them but she did eat a little.