wasted food

[jeffisme]

hi,

I'm wondering how others deal with this. I prepare fruits and veggies for my LCA every morning. She pokes through it and takes what she wants. In the afternoon, seventy five percent of it is still there when I go to replace it with a more seed based meal. That's a healthy combination of different things, no sunflowers. She eats nicely, although she picks through what she likes but. Still, most of it is left over in the morning. It just seems like we're wasting an awful lot of food. Does anyone else have this problem and/or a solution?

thanks,

jeff

 

[JerseyWendy]

I 'portion' my home-cooked foods/chop/raw foods. My flock gets a good 2 heaping tablespoons in the morning, and whatever is left 2 hours later is taken out and put in the fridge. I offer the same mix again in the evening (heated), and 'usually' have very little leftovers. Sure, some gets tossed out, and I toss some into the garbage (or compost bin).

As for the dry mix, all my fids have access to that 24/7. Do they pick and choose? Sometimes yes, sometimes no. They definitely have their preference, but aren't too awfully nit-picky.

 

[henpecked]

Welcome to the forum. I rarely have much fresh foods left in the dish with any of my many zons. I don't leave dishes of fresh foods in the cage for more than a couple of hours. So they are pretty quick at eating it. I also don't feed a seed based diet to any new world parrots. Why should they eat healthy fresh foods when they know the fatty foods they crave will soon be served?

 

[Scott]

My experience is that captive parrots are quite cavalier with their food. Eat a bite of bean, drop it to the floor. Graze on a piece of yam, toss it overboard. Gnaw on a carrot for 15 seconds, all done! And on and on. On days when they have a pellet/seed mix, they swish their beak through the bowl to toss unwanted components. Perhaps I've spoiled them to a degree, but quite a lot of edible material gets swept away twice daily. Good human servant!!

To paraphrase the many Geico commercials, "its what they do." Or more accurately, what they've been conditioned to do!!

 

[Doublete]

My experience is that captive parrots are quite cavalier with their food. Eat a bite of bean, drop it to the floor. Graze on a piece of yam, toss it overboard. Gnaw on a carrot for 15 seconds, all done! And on and on. On days when they have a pellet/seed mix, they swish their beak through the bowl to toss unwanted components. Perhaps I've spoiled them to a degree, but quite a lot of edible material gets swept away twice daily. Good human servant!!

To paraphrase the many Geico commercials, "its what they do." Or more accurately, what they've been conditioned to do!!

I actually read something recently somewhere that said they evolved to do this to feed the smaller animals on the jungle floor that can't reach the things that are up with the birds...

 

[Kiwibird]

How much are you feeding her? Parrots are pretty small creatures, thus only need small portions. A lot of people give them WAY more than they need because they feel uneasy or like a bad owner not giving them a big, full dish (not to mention the dishes that come with cages could hold a portion size suitable for a human). An overabundance of food leads to picky eating behavior and possibly not getting adequate nutrition when they pass up some foods in favor of others.

Generally, Kiwi gets about 1/8-1/4 cup of food (depending on what kind of food it is) at a meal (2X a day) and only gets small amounts of seed and nuts for foraging throughout the day. He consumes most of his meals with little waste because he doesn't get such an abundance he can be super picky and still fill up. He has learned to eat what he's been given (which is nutritious and usually contains at least one thing he's crazy about). He consistently maintains a healthy weight, healthy plumage, is VERY active and is in good health overall.

 

[AmyMyBlueFront]

Amy prefers real goodies over seed..i swear by the end of the day there are only crumbs left. She does on occasion throw some fruit out and maybe a piece of veggie but most of the time its all gone..a hearty appetite that lil zon


Jim

 

[AmyMyBlueFront]

How much are you feeding her? Parrots are pretty small creatures, thus only need small portions. A lot of people give them WAY more than they need because they feel uneasy or like a bad owner not giving them a big, full dish (not to mention the dishes that come with cages could hold a portion size suitable for a human). An overabundance of food leads to picky eating behavior and possibly not getting adequate nutrition when they pass up some foods in favor of others.

Generally, Kiwi gets about 1/8-1/4 cup of food (depending on what kind of food it is) at a meal (2X a day) and only gets small amounts of seed and nuts for foraging throughout the day. He consumes most of his meals with little waste because he doesn't get such an abundance he can be super picky and still fill up. He has learned to eat what he's been given (which is nutritious and usually contains at least one thing he's crazy about). He consistently maintains a healthy weight, healthy plumage, is VERY active and is in good health overall.

my rule of thumb with all the birds I had is two table spoons of everything,unless I know that they REALLY like it. Smokey just LOVED corn kernals..her eyeballs would light up the minute she saw them in her bowl..also pineapple chucks..I'd cut three chunks in half and they'd be gone in a few hours..Jonesy wasn't that much of a nummie bowl eater..so I gave him a piece or two of what the others got..and yea I'd find his bowl with stuff still in it..he was notorious for winging things out his front door!

Jim

 

[BIRDIGIRL]

To date I have been binning Mr Biggles's excess food and will continnue to do so for another while even though the vet has said he is healthy now but Peter Pans ( quaker) excess food goes to my chickens and also to the wild birds who love the treat....the wild birds in my garden are growing pretty tame since I started to do this and indeed some like the robins really come almost onto my hand demanding their food...nothing gets wasted what the small birds dont eat the wild doves eat. I slso have a Jack daw and a Raven who come and of course some crows and magpies. I love the crows and Magpies they are real fun to watch as you can make it difficult for them to get to the food and they have to work at it to get to it. I will be doing likewise wit Mr Biggles's (WFA)food in a few weeks but for now as he is still quaranteened from Peter Pan I will afford the wild birds the same protection.