Their dinner & brekky

[Robyn]

Hiya ,
Have a question concerning brekky & dinner. My 6 month eclectus Jack seems to have gone off having his breakfast and dinner. I give him plenty of food throughout the day. Every morning before I go anyway ( I only work 2 half days pw now) whether work or elsewhere, I make sure I fill his cage with 2 huge bowls with heaps of fruit and veges and there is a metal container attached to the cage which has seeds and another with fresh water. I do try and find new things to add to his food bowl and sometimes I do.
His food consists of a large variety of snow peas, snow pea sprouts, bean sprouts, grapes, celery, apples, baby corn or corn on a metal kebab hanging from the ceiling of his cage, lettuces, some banana chips on odd ocassion, rare times I throw in walnuts. He doesnt seem to go for stone fruits and they have been left each time, so I dont bother with that anymore. I also hang a huge thing that has all seeds on it that he loves to hang off. So each morning I fill his cage with this, I was getting him breakfast of weetbix mixed with a tiny bit of honey and a bit of mashed banana. Now he goes to his table top perch , maybe takes one mouthful and as soon as his cage is filled with food he is there munching on it and not bothered with breakfast, same goes for dinner. Throughout the day he might get bits of chicken or whatever Im eating but never any junk. Should I just forget the breakfast & dinner times , he seems happy to not bother with it. Initially he would screech and we found it was due to hunger , but he doesnt do this anymore. Is what I fill his cage with for the day enough thru brekky & dinner ? I assumed they had to have a " breakfast" & "dinner" just like us, but he seems to want to bypass this.
Thanks

 

[parrotparent]

Hi Robyn, I have found with mine that I have to mix up their breakfast and dinner otherwise they get bored with it. The only reason I give them a specific breakfast and dinner is those are both warm meals, but the rest of the day their bowels are filled with different things to munch on if they desire. I would say if you can, give him longer to eat breakfast and dinner before you put the things in his cage. Mine are as bad as my children, they will love something for so long, and then just flat out refuse to eat it any more!

 

[Auggie's Dad]

If you want him to eat what your serving for breakfast then yes, leave more time with just the breakfast food before putting in all the other food. But it sounds like he is eating very well. Birds do not naturally eat meals like we do, in fact it would be dangerous for them to have to get all their nutrition in a few concentrated meals - that is not how avian physiology works.

 

[Beatriz Cazeneuve]

Birds eat two major meals: breakfast and dinner so, yes, you were correct in your assumption. The trick is not to give them such a huge selection at the same time but offer different things every day of the week. Mine get a different flavor of gloop, fruit, vegetable and a leafy green each day for breakfast and all day foraging (no seeds or anything else) and, for dinner, they get a small, measured portion of a dry seed/nut mix. Once a week they get birdy bread for breakfast instead of the gloop and, on occasion, they get a treat (dry fig or date, fresh sugar cane, palm hearts, a bird cookie, etc). I never feed them any kind of meat or any other animal product except for grated hard-boiled eggs (the eggs are from pastured hens fed an organic vegetarian diet with no antibiotics or hormones and the frequency they get them depends on the season).

 

[Robyn]

Thanks for all your input. Much appreciated.

 

[antoinette]

Hi there, your bird sure is getting enough to eat. He sure sounds healthy.
My AG Mishka gets cereal am, fruit at lunch time, nuts are 3pm, then veggies or whatever is on the menu for dinner.
I do leave pellets in her bowl, which she eats between meals.
Take care