Spock

Good morning Tanya, it's so nice you keep all of us posted and keep doing what your doing with the twins...Jay asked me to remind you to be as active witn them as you can, and have you weighted them. Maggie, Spock and Jayd

OH, wonderful photo's and story....Maggie

It's gotta be Grey!!!!!!!!!!! You did it, I'm so happy for you...Maggie

That's great Bonnie...have patience in these trying times...hahaha...sometimes they are worse than finicky two year olds (lol) For quite a few months, Spock would only drink out of a certain blue shade cup and a certain ashtray and that was it...oh, the things we put up with in the name of love...hahahahahahahahaha Maggie

Hi Bonnie; don't be discouraged about the veggies...Joey, our rescue, took 6 months before he would eat any veggies at all. Keep offering a variety even though it will go to waste for a while. It may sound silly but sometimes, you might want to cut the veggies into funny or different shapes. Some of our fids like the different shapes than others. Have you thought about adding cinnamon, a drop of molasses or anise seed (not star anise; anise gives food a licorice flavor) to cooked veggies like Butternut/Acorn squash, rice, Orzo pasta, etc. Sometimes they get rice with cinnamon, anise, cooked frozen mixed veggies and cooked split peas all mixed together. Have you thought about frozen mixed veggies thawed or steamed? Have you looked into sprouting? Honestly, I would love to if the day could be extended from a 24 hour day to a 30 hour day lol... Maggie

Your correct, It's cleaning house, they do it in they're nest in the wild, it's cute...I'll check into the pink beak...Maggie

That's GREY'T. Your dry food choices are good, just keep trying with veggies, I'll get back to you, a little white tater won't hurt, it has to be cooked. Maggie

Thank you, have you tried a plain baked potato? There are 2 types of sweet potatoes, yellow and orange, some of our fids prefer yellow. Have you tried "Pretty Bird" species specific CAG food? I believe Judygram and a few others use it. How about the birdie bread or 1/2 slice of hard hard boiled egg? With no seeds in the cage, what does he eat? Changeing diet takes a long time! keep trying everything the veggies. You can also put a little baby apple juice on some pellets, less and less every few days. Maggie

We run a boarding house more than a house with birds Hahahaha....To keep your birds healthy and happy you do not need to go to the extremes we do...just a thought, if you bake the sweet potatoes, it might be too dry; try chunks and boil them until soft. Our "smash" is pureed and our mash is chunky. Snacks first; we have snacks (in small amounts) available to give them on a rotating basis (or the mood I'm in after Spock have sampled all that I have...) salt-free pretzels, cheerios, Rice Chex,Corn Chex, Low sodium Wheat Thins, walnuts, pine nuts, pistachios, almonds, Brazil Nuts, Hazelnuts, plain yogurt,cottage cheese, hard cheese, non-dairy rice milk (if we have cereal, we always have Spock and Salsa joining us so they get a few cheerios in a bowl with rice milk. Spock slurps, Salsa eats hers with a spoon),tuna, cooked chicken breast and cooked drumstick bones. This is all in moderation...this is what is available...Besides the breakfast foods listed, we also substitute instant oatmeal (all flavors per Dave007)or red Incan Quinoa and an extra-extra hard boiled egg with shell. The afternoon veggies consist of Broccoli, (stems and flowers) Mustard, Dandelion, Beet Greens, Collard Greens, Swiss Chard and Spinach are used occasionally due to binding calcium in birds. Peas (sugar snap and Snow Peas), Green beans, corn on the cob (occasionally-corn goes right through them), Carrots, (raw or slightly cooked), yellow squash, zucchini, Yellow-red-orange Bell Peppers, Anaheim/Jalapeno Peppers and dried Red Peppers. Red grapes are also served (with seeds preferred), pomegrates in season (juice out of season), cantalope, orange, apple, pears, rasberries, blackberries, blueberries, apricots in season. I also make a birdie bread with corn bread mix, eggs, two jars of organic baby food-grated cuttle bone, and you can make this varied with frozen corn, mixed veggies, seeds, chopped broccoli, cauliflower, formula (whatever you'd like to add) They get this 3-4 times a week with their afternoon snacks. A typical plate for Spock or Joey is a leaf of one of the greens laced through the cage bars, one inch piece of bell peppers, a piece of fruit or two grapes, a pea pod, a small chunk of carrot and chunk of broccoli (for example-we subsitute one inch of corn on cob for bell peppers) Everything is washed in organic apple cider vinegar. Their evening meals include Gnocchi with tomato sauce,[aka dave007] they also like the tomato sauce on brown rice and Orzo pasta. They also get a mash, basically everything above but the fruit and birdie bread, ground up in the blender with the addition of cooked chick peas, mung beans, adzuki beans but not pureed. This is chunked. Broccoli is strong tasting so a little is added to the mash. You can substitute what your fids like or don't like. All our Fids from our parakeet up eats variations of what is listed here. I have bent your ear enough...if I have forgotten anything, please let me know... Maggie

Spock here! Rene, you have to eat a nutritious balanced diet...it's only logical...you must remain strong to stay in control of your parronts... Spock Live Long and Prosper I had to wrestle away the computer from Spock so I could make a post in Foods and write in my own two cents here....If I may suggest, it is okay for our fids to have about 1/2 a teaspoon of sunflower seeds a day. I'm sure you are trying to get him to eat a balanced diet. You might want to try to put a good seed mix for two to three hours a day in the afternoon and then remove it (leave the pellets and food you feed him in there). Sometimes, this will help stimulate feeding habits. Lord knows I have my hands full with Spock and the rest of the Fids...and trying to get Jay to eat a balanced diet...aaarrggg! hahahahahaha)

Spock...give me the computer....Whew! :rolleyes: All our large parrots get a warm breakfast, approximately a tablespoon of each item listed, naturally they don't eat everything on their plate...(Spock, Joey, Tango, Freddy and Salsa). They get "Smash" (sweet potato, banana, peanut butter-for dinner, I substitute apple sauce or pear for the banana and add cooked carrots or squash), brown or basmatic rice, orzo pasta with a touch of no sodium tomato sauce, cooked split peas (Yellow and green), lentils and warmed in the microwave. Parrots, like humans, are selective in their food choices on a daily basis. Pellets are kept 24/7, seeds in the afternoon along with their fresh veggies and a fruit in the afternoon. In the evenings, they are given 4 pieces of Wacky Macs, raw (spinach, beet, tomato and wheat flavored) as a treat. Spock, being sick, gets 1/2 tsp of organic peanut butter with his meds mixed in with his breakfast and 30 to 60 cc's of baby formula at bedtime. Salsa and the 'Too's, being on a low fat diet, get veggies also at bedtime. (They also get their toast for breakfast. Spock and Joey do not care for toast.) Maggie

Spock here! nice post.......[shhhh Yoshi, HeHeHe, keep quiet a little longer, I'll tell you when! Soon!!!Spock] Spock Live Long and Prosper

Spock here! In case you didn't know, I tell Jayd every thing to write, I was there....Some times Maggie doe's threads and makes post, I always edit them... I'm setting up the twins so they will know how to control you when they're older, they're responding well, it's only logical..... Spock Live long and prosper

Spock Here! Thank You, We demand only the best Whole grain or oatmeal with those tasty tidbit on top, you know 7-8-9-12 grain breads, low sodium, yum, gotta fly, breakfast time, lets see, plain pasta, pasta with tomato sauce, smash, split peas and yellow lentils, peanut butter with my vitamins mixed in, That's all???? Spock Live Long and Prosper

Greetings Subjects: Spock here...my humans know they can't bribe me with treats and toys...I will have none of this! There are no treats yet made or tried that will temp me into my cage at night, only subterfuge and treachery...I pick and choose my treats only when I want them and that is usually when Maggie is making up trays of food. Then, I pick and choose from the bounty, throwing off what I don't like and flying off with the food I do...and if she gets too hard on me, I just give her my sad face that says "oh, I'm a sick birdie" and the guilt trip begins... Spock Live Long and Prosper

More Grey Cognition; Joey's treat rewards are pine nuts and salt-free pretzels which are only given to him on special occasions, as training rewards and as treats sparingly. Joey is very weight-conscious and is careful to only eat what he needs and does eat a balanced diet of all that is offered to him. We, as does danmcq, use all interactions (as much as we can) for training . So, after breakfast, (since Jay does that the majority of the time), Jay asks Joey if he wants a "good nut" and shows him the bag of pine nuts. After a pause, Jay will give him one at a time (he gets two altogether) which Joey savors. Then, later, after play time, he is shown the pretzel bag and is asked if he wants a "good nut" and then he gets a pretzel. (We only started this a few days ago) Well, today is my day off and I had the breakfast duty today. After breakfast, I was cleaning up and preparing veggie plates when I heard Joey say "WANNA GOOD NUT!". OOPPSS! I had forgotten his routine of getting a pine nut after breakfast...as I headed over to show him the bag, he reminded me "Good Nut!!" My bad...he certainly was letting me know in no uncertain terms that he was upset he didn't get his nut. So, I went back to what I was doing...I then heard Joey again say "Good Nut!" I explained to him that he already had his nuts and again he said "Good nut!" I offered him a pine nut and he pushed my hand away and said "Good Nut!!" Jay yelled out, "He wants his pretzel". Sure enough, he took his pretzel and took ten minutes to savor that pretzel. Then he started whistling his own tune and danced to it before turning to his toys to play....amazing... Joey is our 3 year old rescue and it's taken us a long time to get to this point. I wish we could have had him as a fledgling... Spock; Tango, our 'Too says "Whatcha doing?" at which we answer "cooking, getting babies' food, cleaning, etc.". So now Spock will fly over to our shoulder and say "Doing?" and he will be looking down at whatever you are doing and expect an answer, such as "on the computer", "fixing breakfast", "fixing veggies" (at which time he will climb down to examine the process further and if it is veggies, he will help by tossing out what he doesn't want or like and eating whatever he does LOL). Other than a few phrases like "Gimmee a kiss", "Good Water", etc. he still using single words to get across his meaning. He is still a bird of few words...lol! Maggie

Good decision!!!!! keep till weaned and flying.....Yes a little noodle won't hurt, cooked, and in a week or two, raw will be ok.......Good job....Jayd

hahahahahaha....sounds familiar indeed....Spock throws himself off backwards and hangs by one foot while he mock-attacks the hand he's holding...it passes you say? Hope so...hahahahaha... Maggie

Spock here!, No, all 5 vet's say same thing...Luv-Ya Spock.............I weight 433 grams this morning,

Spock Here! That'll work.......

Dave's right! He wouldn't tell you wrong......Be Happy, sit back and observe you new gift.........Maggie

Tango still cleans house, now 2 times a day. just before lunch, she'll start throwing everything out of her cage, except her toys which we have a plastic tub for her to put them into, it's purple, her trash tub is orange, out they go,twice a day now....Maggie

You've got a feather stuck up your...............Nose, that's all............... Spock Live Long and Prosper

Spock here! The dumb Doc's say my system won't hold and separate the nutrients my body needs.......but don't know what to do about it!!! Not logical! Spock Live Long and Prosper

Spock here! Can humans except more then one correct answer? It looks to me that everything written is more than logical!.. Spock Live Long and Prosper..