Hi there,
I have an 8 month baby which I have had since he was 14 weeks. What sort of veges are you giving him and what others things are you giving him ?
He was on mainly carrots, peas, beans, bannanas, brocolli, and sweet potato. I recently introduced Volkman seeds to him and then he lost all interest in the veggies. He still eats bannanas though
Maybe try and few different veges and see if that gets his interest again ? I give jack snow peas, snow pea sprouts, bean sprouts, celery, baby corn and corn, apple, pear, grapes. I also give him dried banana chips , I prefer to give this than fresh banana, he never really took to fresh banana and I also found he made a huge mess, dried banana chips he loves and was so much cleaner. He also seems to like fresh uncooked beans , crunchy and he loves munching those. I also give him some parrot seeds and sometimes he gets a small amount of sunflower seeds but not a lot of the seeds.
I used to make him breakfast and a dinner each day but he seemed to just want the food I put in his bowl for the day and he has never complained once he got into that routine.. I know many make brekky and dinner for their birds but Jack seems just happy with the food I put out in the morning and any treats I give him through out the day. So I just do a mix of all the things I mentioned and sometimes I add a few nuts or some other dried fruit, he never really took to stone fruits and they always got left and mashed, so I sometimes give him a bit of dried apricot, he seems to leave sultanas.
I found cutting up everything into small pieces easier than big pieces as he tends to drop a lot of things , so its less waste. he used to be a big grape eater, mainly grapes and rarely anything else and that got me a bit scared as to whether I was doing the right thing with his diet.
I did take him to a vet and got advice in regards to breakfast and dinner and he said it really wasnt necessary and that Jack was quite a healthy little boy and a healthy weight. I dont hear any complaints from him at all, more than anything little squeals of excitement, so I know he is happy with what he gets.
I have tried mini cucumbers too , he is a bit fussy with those. He also likes chicken, but I rarely give him some. He likes to eat the same food as us.
Just dont give, chocolate, rhubarb, apple seeds, avocado and I did hear not to give them iceberg lettuce or just lettuce.
Just try different types of veges and see what happens ?
I dont know what Volkman seeds are , but if he is just eating those, maybe you should reduce it or take them away , I heard too many seeds isnt good and they can get fat , like eating Mc Donalds, but unsure if these seeds are like it or not ?
My puffin loves weetbix with mashed banana ans honey for breakfast and sometimes as a treat I put some peanut butter in it. During the day he grazes on a mixture of fresh fruit and vegies. I rotate them each day so he doesn't get sick of the same foods. He loves chillis, grapes, spinach,silverbeet, sprouts,mung beans, green beans, broccoli,corn,peas,apple,grapes,mango,nectarines,pears,melon and figs I just started giving him a whole Pomegramite on the days I leave him at home and he loves them!!
He also eats seeds and nuts but he likes his fresh food best.
Puffin certainly has some foods he doesn't like and others that he has come to like so just keep trying and se what happens.
Seeds for a bird are like us going to Burger King. Offer infrequently as a treat only. Once they get into seeds it is hard to switch to good pellets which should be at least a greater percent of the birds diet.
I've tried a variety of fresh veggies/fruit with Alcatraz and have had limited luck. He does like some dried fruit and last night he actually seemed to be eating the fresh peas I gave him. But for now, I'm counting on the pellets to provide balanced nutrition with hopes that over time he'll start eating more veggies.
Thanks for the replies. But I'm concerned with a couple of food that u guys are referring to like spinach, and raw beans. I've heard that those food are actually bad for eclectus cause spinach inhibits the uptake of vita C and raw beans has something that I don't remember but I'm pretty sure I read from somewhere that it is bad for the bird
I can only assume that the avian pallate is similar to the human pallate meaning that some don't like certain flavors and on some days, veggies just do not sound good.
Quality pellet diets are best especially when supplemented with fresh fruits & veggies, nuts and occassionally seeds.
I've found with my bird, that if the food can double as a toy - like cob corn and (the current favorite) Brussels sprouts - that's even better. He also thinks veggies taste better if he has to work for them, like getting them out of a foraging toy.
They're like children, we kind of have to trick them into it until they realize that veggies are actually good.
Referring to the last post by HRH Di , I too use something to have him work for his food, you may have heard of it or seen it , a kebab or kebob stick which hangs from the top of cage. I put things on it especially cobs ofcorn and loves hanging all over it and swinging off it to get the food.
And as for raw beans , I dont remember seeing anything in regards to this, I feed them to Jack in small pieces in his bowl and he loves crunching on those, he has never been sick or anything. I was initially giving him some lettuce until I read somewhere that you shouldnt, so this stopped instantly.
As I did say though, not a lot of seeds as other posts have said also , this can make em fat. Just try and lot of different varieties.
I used to give Jack breakfast and dinner and he loved weetbix with bananas and a bit of honey or apple sauce thru it.
Just a matter of trying different things till u see what he really likes, trial and error I guess .
Hmm... About pellets, I've read so many things of how bad pellets are to eclectus so I never gave him any pellets. Most of the sites I've looked at says to feed them alot of fruit and veggies and stay off pellets because of the extra vitamins it has. I had a grey before and he was fine eating pellets all day but I didn't want to feed my ekkie something that would hurt him so I figured it's best to stay with veggies and fruits.
Last night I gave him some peas, collard greens, brocolli, and mustard greens. He ate everything but the greens and brocolli
You might try Teasing the bird eating veggies in front of him/her and Saying yummy in an excited voice like its the best .
Thats how i got Baby to eat them .
Tammy