I am fairly new to all of this so i have just one question i need to try and find the answer to. I have a baby Alexanderine parrot who is 9 weeks old today. I have had him for a week now and have been feeding him 3 times a day with the Passwell hand rearing formula for parrots. Now that we are at the beginning of the second week i need to wean him down some more by reducing his feeds to twice a day. The local breeder/avian store said to start introducing him to peas and corn kernels as well as some seed such as sunflower seeds as well as his twice a day mixture feed. Well the bird still eats the mixture as normal but the moment i offer him a piece of apple or corn or peas he will touch it with his tongue and immediately back away from my hand and go to strike with his beak as if he is afraid. But when i offer him a sunflower seed he will happily chew on it and devour the lot.
Am i expecting too much out of him at this age or is it normal for a bird of this age to reject fruit ?
is there anyways i can try and encourage the bird to eat it without forcing it?
Any information or help would be greatly appreciated.
P.S : one more issue i am having with my Alex is that he does alot of random biting. In between feeds he strikes and bites whenever he can. I spend a good 5 to 6 hours a day with him maybe even more. I have taught him to step up onto my hand whenever i say "step up Rico " he will happily do so. But the moment i bring my hand up from underneath and go to put it near his feet he will just reach out and go for me. Then once he has been fed he will just eagerly want to return to his cage. He does the so called "happy dance" rocking back and forth getting into position to project himself back towards his cage without hesitation. Is this all normal behavior?
I apologize if these questions are a bit simple but i am learning all that i can.
Thank you in advance.
*also next week he will be cut back down to one feed of formula a day, this is his final stage of weaning so i need to try and find out ASAP*
Am i expecting too much out of him at this age or is it normal for a bird of this age to reject fruit ?
is there anyways i can try and encourage the bird to eat it without forcing it?
Any information or help would be greatly appreciated.
P.S : one more issue i am having with my Alex is that he does alot of random biting. In between feeds he strikes and bites whenever he can. I spend a good 5 to 6 hours a day with him maybe even more. I have taught him to step up onto my hand whenever i say "step up Rico " he will happily do so. But the moment i bring my hand up from underneath and go to put it near his feet he will just reach out and go for me. Then once he has been fed he will just eagerly want to return to his cage. He does the so called "happy dance" rocking back and forth getting into position to project himself back towards his cage without hesitation. Is this all normal behavior?
I apologize if these questions are a bit simple but i am learning all that i can.
Thank you in advance.
*also next week he will be cut back down to one feed of formula a day, this is his final stage of weaning so i need to try and find out ASAP*
