Throwing seeds

[bennepa2003]

I just got a baby greencheek conour, she has just started today to kick her seeds out of her dishes, I thought she wanted new and replaced and she still did this. She was actually upside down kicking them with her feet, reminded me of a dog digging a hole seeds flying everywhere, I assume she is entertaining herself, I let her out for awhile and she returned to her throwing seeds.
She will be 2 months July 1, 2017

 

[wrench13]

Welcome and be welcomed. If she was eating delicious veggies and some fruit, she won't have seeds to kick know out, now would she?

 

[Anansi]

Hello, and welcome to the Parrot Forums family!

Hahahaha! Yes, there's nothing like when a parrot discovers the joys of gravity! Watching things fall seems to bring some endless entertainment.

And as wrench13 mentioned, if seeds are making up the majority of her diet, you may want to start transitioning her to some fruits and veggies.

 

[takito]

And I thought mine were the only ones that do this ,
One in particular was especially bad about doing that, when they are actually hungry they don't
do this, they eat what ever is there, it is after they have eaten , if there still is enough to play with,
it ends up on the floor.
The same with any fruit or vegies, they eat what they want, then anything leftover end up on the floor.
Deeper containers , that are big enough that they can get to the food, but deep also deep enough that it does not fall out so easy,... How ever they still will take pieces, or seeds some where else
and then drop them,...
I started using a bowl that has little pebbles, stones, and sticks the stones are not big, but big enough that they can not accidental swallow then, they sticks are from non toxic brances, mostly
mesquite,... they enjoy chewing on them, and playing with them, and to them it seems to be very entertaining to get the pebbles out of the bowl, and push, carry, or roll, over to the edge, and then it falls, I can recover the pebbles and wash them occasionally,..the sticks gradually get smaller and smaller, but are also easily replaced with new , fresh ones ,,...they really enjoy the fresh ones.
It seems if they have other things to play with, they are less interested in playing with their food, and only go to the food containers when they are really hungry.
---- edit --- additional note --- They really enjoy it if and when I am there, I put some things in a container, especially Takito, likes this game, and he was the worst one about throwing the seeds out,.. I put some sticks and stones in a container,... he comes to see what
I put in the container, he will select a stick , twirl it around in his "hand' (foot), like a little baton, then carries it to the edge, and drops it,
and looks at me, like "Gee whiz, what happened ? ",.. I pick it up and he is very happy, plays with a few seconds, and then drops it again,
"fetch" he says,... actually not fetch, but " dame ", and I pick it up,... he say "garry bueno, bueno garry", so next time , when I pick it up,
instead of giving it to him, I put it back in the container,..he gets furious,."garry feo, feo feo garry," rushes ove to the conatiner , gets
the stick, and repeat, until one of us gets bored.
Sometimes the other conrues get inerested and join the game , it gets interesting then, but often end up in a fight,..one will take the things out of the container, another will actually try to put them back, or take the stick or pebble that the other has away,.eventually
it ends with each one carrying a stick or pebble off to some where else, and chew, or play with it by their self, a while until they drop it or decide to take a nap.

 

[Skittys_Daddy]

This is one of the MOST annoying parrot traits. Skittles will do this with pellets and sometimes even with fresh fruit and veggies just so he can get a 'new' piece of fruit/veggies. But its the pellet messes that bug me the most. Harrisons HP pellets are NOT cheap and I hate seeing him waste them so when I catch him doing it I give him a firm "NO" & "Stop it!" and he usually does obey. But he also likes to 'test' the limits and especially wait til I'm not looking to do something "naughty". If he weren't so cute, I'd have strangled him by now. lol. j/k, I'd NEVER do that (don't mean I haven't been tempted! lol)

But yeah, its frustrating. But not just the waste- the pellets (and especially the powertreats) have peanuts in them which is a GREAT rat attracter. I actually had a few rats (not the only one in the building to get them) but the landlord sealed up ALL the entry ways and the problem is gone- but the pellets could still attract bugs- so I vaccuum every day and often times have to move furniture to get other discarded pellets out from under (only if I can't sweep it out with a duster first.

 

[Jottlebot]

There is nothing quite as defeating as the sound of scrummy, healthy veggies hitting freshly changed newspaper from a great height. Oh no, my mistake, that would be 30 Harrisons pellets hitting the newspaper one after each other!

 

[Shoegoo]

I think throwing food about is part of the parrot eating ritual. That's why I don't feed veggies and fruit to my GCC. If I place a bowl of cut up grapes in her food dish I will inevitably come back and say "oh wow she ate it all" when in fact it is all on the bottom of the cage and on the floor.

I gave up trying to be a birdie chef. Now its pellets and nutriberries. A lot less mess and she eats it. Saves time as well.

 

[DoubleTake]

I tried to give a whole grape to my tiel one once. He tried to sit on it... I miss that little bugger.

I think my suns make a mess just to watch me clean it up. They get very excited during the cleaning process and when I am done putting down clean newspaper.. the fun starts again!

 

[Inger]

Bumble loves to shred and fling food - especially crunchy veggies like carrots, peppers, etc. she is obviously having so much fun that it just makes me laugh. Parrots like to play.

The cockatiel sitting on the grape is priceless.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Shoegoo]

I tried to give a whole grape to my tiel one once. .................

Hoping it would hatch?

 

[wrench13]

Salty's not a flinger, and that's good cuz he is right in the middle of everything in our house, his hanging round boing is directly over a nice 32" Dia stainless bowl, and he gets his 'wet' food there... fruit, and chop, and yams, etc. 90% of what he drops falls in there and a stainless round barbecue grill keeps him out of it. Some gets a foot or 2 away, but under it all is a plastic floor protector, like from staples. Pellets are served in the cage, so cleaning that is way, way down.... but it's the odd dried piece of banana behind the couch that gets me.

 

[Skittys_Daddy]

I tried to give a whole grape to my tiel one once. He tried to sit on it... I miss that little bugger.

I think my suns make a mess just to watch me clean it up. They get very excited during the cleaning process and when I am done putting down clean newspaper.. the fun starts again!

"He tried to sit on it" - lol, priceless. I tried to put 'dummy' eggs in Peaches cage once years ago and she wouldn't sit on them, she kept laying her own eggs. It's like she was too smart to fool. She did used to fill my pill box for me. Even put the right pills in the right sections.

That is SOOOOOO true about sunnies! I swear, right after I vaccuum around his cage and play areas (where he 'throws' his food) he will make single 'cheep' sounds while I vaccuum and as soon as I'm done he'll go back in his cage and toss more out. It's like clockwork.

Sunnies can be such little stinkers!

Skittles will also do this thing whenever my hand is near him, he'll raise his wing to show his pit. I had always assumed it meant his wanted a 'pit rub' but some times he gives me a hard time about it. It happens often enough that I think he is saying "talk to the wing, cause the face ain't listenin'!". Either that or he's saying "just cause I want you to scratch me doesn't mean I'm gonna let ya!"

 

[DoubleTake]

"He tried to sit on it" - lol, priceless. I tried to put 'dummy' eggs in Peaches cage once years ago and she wouldn't sit on them, she kept laying her own eggs. It's like she was too smart to fool. She did used to fill my pill box for me. Even put the right pills in the right sections .

Tried and was unsuccessful. The grape was too big for him. Poor little guy was on his tippy toes while on top of it and kept rolling off of it. He gave it the good ol college try for about 30 mins until he wanted nothing to do with it.