New B&G Macaw

[LordTriggs]

or he's just being a unpredictable baby. I don't know of a single bird who doesn't have their moments. He was probably just all "I'm happy, here's my toys lalalala NO! NO STEP! Only play!"

 

[Phill]

Hi all,
Just thought I’d give everyone a bit of an update.

We’ve come along in leaps and bounds! Douglas has settled in great and is now obsessed with me to the point where when he’s out of the cage he won’t part from me for 2 seconds!

He’s a very fussy eater and has gone off most of his fruit and veg (other than green grapes). He loves his nuts but hates his pellets and just wants sunflower seeds !
Any ideas how I can get him back on the pellets again?

He had his first appointment with his avian vet yesterday she said he’s in perfect health, gave him his microchip and weighed him in at 953g.

Here are some pics for you all!

 

[wrench13]

You HAVE to wean him off sunflower seeds, a steady diet of mostly those will eventually kill Douglas. And too long either. Please tell us his feeding times and how much of each he is given. Does he have access to anything all day long?

Wash the grapes off good to remove pesticides. THey also are not that good for him, better then sunflower seeds, but not much in the way of vitamins. Does he like peppers? Any kind, the hotter the better. They are very good for your baby. We change the veggies offered to Salty every day, so he always has variety, and his favs change almost weekly. Also HOW you present the veggies is important too. If he does not like big chunky pieces, try smaller ones, or long skinny ones. Salty hated apples until we made them into little diced pieces. Hated carrots til we tried long thin strips. And these too will change. Wash everything off well before cutting them up, pesticides are on almost all fruit and veggies these days.

 

[Phill]

He has access to the pellets all day. I have big bowls of them in his cage at different levels and next to all perches to make it easy for him.

I wake up at 6am and he gets fed his breakfast of fruit and veg being a mix of about 15 different items. He takes the ones he wants being grapes and corn and mostly leaves the rest. I’ll try cutting in different shapes and see how we go with that.

He then gets more fruit and veg at dinner time.

Should I remove sunflower altogether and just leave the pellets? Leaving him no option but to eat them?

 

[wrench13]

I would slowly reduce them. Funny they tend to like what's not good for them, like sunflowers seeds and grapes and, you guessed it ..... corn. Corn is not BAD, it's just like grapes, lots of starch sugars, not much vitamins.

Use the seeds as treats or training aids. I use pine nuts like that with Salty.

Honestly , get some habenero peppers, the Lil orange ones, don't worry about the heat. Parrots have like 1 taste bud to 40 of ours.

 

[Phill]

Thanks for the reply.

I’ve given him all different types of hot peppers so far but he hasn’t eaten them yet.

I’ll keep trying and I’m sure we’ll get there.

I’m trying to work on some training target with him but it’s a bit difficult as he doesn’t have doesn’t react to treats. He’s favourites are pine nuts but he will follow the target for 2-3 times and then get sick of it. Any suggestions?

 

[DiscoDuck]

Thanks for the reply.

I’ve given him all different types of hot peppers so far but he hasn’t eaten them yet.

I’ll keep trying and I’m sure we’ll get there.

I’m trying to work on some training target with him but it’s a bit difficult as he doesn’t have doesn’t react to treats. He’s favourites are pine nuts but he will follow the target for 2-3 times and then get sick of it. Any suggestions?

Keep changing up the variety..

Remember these old adages..

Try everything once, the things he likes, try them twice..
Variety is the spice of Life!
Everything in moderation....

Just my 10 cents worth..

 

[wrench13]

Training. Do the targeting 2x and stop. Do that for a few days then try to do 3x. I would reward w/pin nut, shelled, after each time. You can pick them up shelled in the supermarket. Other easy tricks to try, shake hands, wave hello, turn in circle (let him follow the pine nut).

Your doing well with him, all things take time, with 2 steps forward and 1 step back.

 

[Phill]

Yes, I try to give him different variety every week so he doesn’t get bored of it.

I have seen him eating the new type of pellets that I bought so here’s hoping he starts eating them enough where I can slowly wean him off the sunflower quicker rather than later.

 

[DiscoDuck]

Just a thought. Need the Macaw experts to chime in here.. From what I have read and pictures seen. In the wild the GWM and the B&G flock together.. If I were in your shoes, I would try all the variations of food between the species.

The more finer point is that both these species are well known to eat clay at the river banks. The reason for the gizzard is that they can eat some things that may be more toxic to others.

Now I am not going to counter the non use of peanuts and sunflower. only allow those items very sparingly. If he really likes those things. If you are training, you might condone using those foods as some sort of reward when training..

THis is an area is where I should probably NOT be venturing into... in that.. I am by no means an expert. I am only conveying first hand success with a GWM

Remember this.. Everything in moderation!

Report back your results, with your successes!!

THanks!