What our Fid's eat...

[Spock]

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

[JJsHoney]

OK here is a list of what I have tried to feed Rene, and each time, he looks at it and then shakes his head "no" and then walks away....Broccolli (raw and steamed) Baked and mashed sweet potatoe, Brown rice with green beans, chillis dried and fresh, banana, apples every kind lol, pasta wheat cooked/raw, scambled egg with some egg shell (that he will eat as long as it is in his seed) peanut butter on toast, he is afraid if big pieces of bread lol, and he runs from me if I am holding an english muffin, cheerios and wheat chex,. oh and he growls at any kind of leafy green... so I would love for him to eat any or all of this, but he won't... so I what do I do now?

[Jayd]

Good morning, you can try: collard and mustard greens, slightly steamed carrots,sugar snap peas or snow peas in the pod,Orzo pasta cooked with a dab of tomato sauce,[ala dave007] Email Zurpreem, Lafaber, Harrison's, and ask for "free samples" make sure to tell them you have a Grey. After 4pm today Maggie will make a extended post. Jayd

[judygram]

Thanks Jay and I look forward to reading Maggie's post.

[Spock]

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

[JJsHoney]

Maggie what dishes you must have during the day!!, I will try boiling his sweet potato instead, but I just can't get him to eat it... I tried again in vain to get him to have some carrots slightly steamed, he puts his beak on it then raises his head quick shakes "no" and immediately retreats, I mushed up a banana for him (I was told this was his FAVORITE and warmed it slightly, once again touched it said no and walked away, I even tried feeding myself some of what I was offering to try to "tease" a bite out of him and nothing.... I just don't know, he was displaying some sexual behavior today does that have anything to do with it? I ate some pasta last night while he watching, and he never came down to sample but he rushed down to attack James' coffee cup!

How long should I keep his seeds out of his cage? a half a dish lasts him 2 days before I have to refill. We are still learning each others "quirks" but he is getting much more friendly, I actually got to pet him outside of his cage for the last 2 days!!

Maggie your advice is very much appreciated and I would love more feed back! thanks sooooo much Bonnie

[judygram]

Wow that crew you got keep you hopping trying to feed them all and they are getting the cream of the crop, thanks for sharing what the fids get and when, it will be ever so helpful for all the new members with their first greys wondering what to give them. Its also gives me more ideas of what to feed Josey so she has a varied and healthy diet.

[Spock]

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

[JJsHoney]

Sorry Maggie I neglected to say that he eats 3 different types of pellets, and right now he is eating https://www.birdsupplynh.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=22_25_50&products_id=1519&osCsid=9d25bb4ec081bc6f35cb0ce7d2da3fac (no sunflower) I had to switch him from the sunseeds that he was eating because I could not order a bag smaller than 25 pounds lol... I have not tried white potato I was afraid of the starch but will try, it is basically the fresh foods I am having an issue with...

[Spock]

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

[Jayd]

Apricots:

Mash

Joey Greens

Dinner Share

Peanut Butter

[judygram]

Those are some great pictures Jay, thanks for sharing them with us.

[JJsHoney]

I love the pictures thanks for sharing them Jay, I like the one where you can see Salsa in the back round, she looks like she is impatiently waiting for her dinner too!

[JillyBeanz]

Goodness me - I have enough dishes to clean with ONE BIRD - these birdies eat better and healthier than most humans!!! Love the picture of the peanut butter!! Yummy

[Spock]

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

[JJsHoney]

Maggie, I can't thank you enough for all this help, I bought some mustard greens today and a huge variety of fresh veggies, Rene has been very fresh today so he wasn't receptive to me at all I put another food bowl in his cage today and filled it with a bunch of foot toys and that scare set the mood for the whole day, I tried some boiled white potato with a little red palm oil on it, when I picked up a small chunk to offer him he gave me a good bite, and that was the end of his meal, he spent the rest of the evening pouting standing where his "seed" dish usually is. I couldn't find any tuna in spring water, all they said was just water, so I bought the low sodium kind and will offer some of my sandwich tomorrow, I am also going to try feeding him out of a coffee cup as those don't scare him anymore but the plates or bowls do... I have a few stir-fry frozen medleys (no onion) in the freezer and other frozen veggies so I will try again, I will keep at this though he will definitely benefit once he realizes that real food is just as good. Bonnie

 

Oh and on a side not I was just talking with my cousin about borrowing some of his sprouting boxes!! I'm going to do some learning on the subject and see if it will be something I can squeeze into my already to short of a day lol

[Spock]

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

[judygram]

Hang in there Bonnie as it will get better but it just takes time but you are offering him some great stuff and he will come around, yes please do have a go at sprouting and make enough for you to enjoy, its not just "bird food"