Is my parrot retarded or just different?

[mabdewn]

Hi,

 

Just a small question. I've had my grey for a few months now. He is 8 months old. All around a lovely bird. One thing that strikes me as odd, he doesn't hold his food with his foot like any other parrot I've seen do. He will just drop it in front of him. If he is standing on a table or eating with me. It's not that much of an issue. In his own cage, the bottom of the cage gets bombarded with the fresh fruit from his bowl, because he takes a bite and lets it drop, and moves on to the next piece. Funnily enough, if I give him a chew toy, he will hold it with his foot.

 

Anyone experienced anything similar?

 

Sammy

[pearllyn]

I didn't hear of this before, but that means nothing. I think as long as he will hold his toys with his foot, it means there is nothing terribly wrong with him, and that's just the way he prefers to eat. Maybe he just doesn't like to get his feet messy!!

[dhorje]

There is nothing wrong with your Grey. Mine behaves like yours too except when she is eating her favorites.

[mabdewn]

@pearllyn: haha not wanting messy feet. That may well be. I never thought about it like that

 

@dhorje: Glad to hear that I am not alone on this. Has your grey always been like this? or did she start using her feet more as she got older?

[dhorje]

My Grey is still doing it but not all the time. When she was not in eating mood, she would use her foot to pick up the chopped fruits, took a bite and threw on the floor.

[JillyBeanz]

Harvey does this all of the time - he's an out and out lazy git! Nothing more, nothing less! The floor of his cage and his java stand are covered with bits of food just with the odd "nibble" removed. He will hold things now and then - but not if he can help it!!! Don't worry - completely normal!

[jessdecutie18]

If Yoshi isn't that interested in the food, she will just take a bite and let it drop... but any of her favorites she holds and savors. They are funny aren't they?

[reggieroo]

Murphy does the same thing with 99% of his food, even goes as far as chucking most of it all over the place. I often give him bits of food by hand, he takes the smallest nibble, drops it then shakes his head as if to say "Ugh didn't like that" Gave him some corn on the cob the other day & he held it until he ate the lot so it just seems some are fussy about what they eat. Murphy obviously likes corn on the cob as he spent the best part of 10 minutes holding & eating it until it was devoured.

 

Sometimes when I inspect his cage I see the contents of a whole bowl of apple on the bottom of the cage with very small nibbles taken out of the pieces & I think wasteful little sod, how come he didn't eat that?

[Jayd]

Joey does this to, lazy bird, doesn't want to get his beaker dirty.... Jayf

[mabdewn]

I am glad to hear I am not all alone on this one! Thought I had a bird with "special needs". But he does seem very picky about his food. And even the stuff he really likes he wont use his foot to hold. He prefers the approach of sitting on my shoulder and have a bit or a sip of whatever I am consuming

[danmcq]

I am with all the other replies. Dayo will do the same unless it is something he lavishes down to the last crumb.

 

He loves grapes and apples. However, he does not use his foot to hold. They are so amazing at the way they can eat all but the skin using just their beak and then let the skin drop when finished.

[Luvparrots]

You think that's strange, my grey won't eat anything that's messy. If it is going to get all over her beak she won't touch it! Now my rescued ekkie is diffferent, he will carry his food over to his food bowl so if it drops it falls into his bowl. All food is precious to him.

[esknomoe]

I have a CAG, a White Eyed Conure, and an Indian Ringneck. Brutus, my CAG, is the most adept at holding his food with his foot. In fact, he will climb around the cage bars with his beak and one foot, while clutching a piece of food in the other. The Conure is also fairly adept. The IRN drops everything; but he is the youngest, at about 9 months old. I just don't think he's become proficient at it yet.

[judygram]

Josey will hold food in her talon especially something she really likes so she can get it all and the fastest thing she eats is slivers of cheddar cheese, she practically inhales it she likes it so much and she is not afraid to get her beak messy either, she loves chili beans and sweet potatoes and her beak shows it when she is eating them.

[Xtreme575]

Paco is right there as well, he will only hold foods that won't get his feet dirty (basically pellets), and even then, it's only if he's being nosey and wants to keep an eye out on what is going on in the room.

[Capster59]

My Syd almost always uses his foot, even with pellets. It's funny to see him hold a 2 inch hunk of corn on the cob and meticulously pick at each kernel and eat the inside of the kernel and let the kernel skin fall. He even holds things with his foot whislt he eats such as a big string of spray millet,,it will sit in his bowl and he holds one end up and picks at it.

[JJsHoney]

Rene doesn't like to get his beak dirty, like when I go to bring him lets say a grape as soon as he see's what I am holding he starts to shake his head, I have to hand it to him and will bite into it and try to shake all the moisture out of it lol, he uses his feet for dry things like pellets wood blocks and bells oh and karate kicks lol...

[harmar]

mine kinda does this to. If it something he doesn't care too much about he will take a bite and let it drop.

If it is a favourite treat he will hold onto it to not waste a bite!

[Georgiesmum]

Oh Janet what a posh grey you have lol

[Kaedyn]

I found the source of this behavior in my grays and solved it. As each pellet of Harrison's bird food dropped to the bottom of the cage, all I could picture was pennies and nickels hitting the cage floor. I imagined the ways I could impress upon my fids the monetary loss I was suffering due to their behavior, but alas they just couldn't grasp the concept. That stuff is expensive!

 

What i eventually learned is that it was a foraging issue. They weren't being challenged enough. They didn't have to work for their food and therefore couldn't appreciate that I actually do work for their food. So I decided that I was going to put them to work. I stopped putting anything in their food bowls. I hid food in puzzle toys and treat dispensers. Amazingly it only took a few days before I started to see a change in their habits.

 

It's been a year and a half since I placed anything in their cage bowls other than special treats. I've gone from about 50 percent of a half pound bag wasted to less than 5 percent waste. Sierra has even gone from being a bit on the low side of her weight to a more healthy size. I've also seen other unwanted behaviors disappear, such as a tendency to sometimes be too rough on their own feathers when preening. I suppose what I'm trying to say is that I am convinced that foraging is critical to our grey's well being and the behaviors that have been bought up in this thread are heavily tied to it. Your grey's will be happier, you'll hopefully save on food costs and probably vet costs too, so in the end you'll all be happier!

 

They don't appear to make this treat dispenser anymore--at least in the medium size, which seems the best fit for a grey. Luckily it's very durable and I doubt i'll ever have to buy another. It's made by Jungle Talk and called Find-A-Treat. It's the one that looks like a hanging cup with a lid. In my case, it was the miracle cure and has become their primary feeder. I still hide treats in puzzles and mazes, but I try to stay attuned to the fact that we don't always have time to construct an elaborate foraging quest while running out the door each morning. So much like I used to dump a scoop of pellets in the bowls which came with their cages, I now dump it into their Find-A-Treat. And speaking of those bowls that come with bird cages, they were not designed with the needs of a parrot in mind. I'd go so far as to say that they set a bad precedent and lead us astray from our duty to encourage healthy behaviors in our fids through foraging. That's just my opinion anyway.

 

If you are interested in seeing what the Find-A-Treat looks like, check out the link below. Scroll down to the bottom of the page to find the yellow and orange hanging cup. They appear to have more than one item with this same name, but it's the cup that I'm specifically referring to. For me it was worth it's weight in gold, or at least in 2 and a half pounds of Harrison's and two happy greys. I'm sure you can find something similar or even build something if you're the creative type. I encourage you to put your grey's to work. Make them earn their food! It's in their nature.

 

http://jungletalk.com/prod_treatdispensers.html

Edited May 30, 2010 by Kaedyn

[judygram]

I just want to say its good to see you back Jim, great post.

[Kaedyn]

Thanks Judy! It's nice to catch up with the Grey Forums community.