Can your grey crack nuts?

[reggieroo]

I have given Murphy some almonds & hazelnuts in the shell but he is unable to crack them, he just ends up dropping them. I've also tried walnuts but they are just to big & hard for him, only thing has been able to get into is chestnuts as they are a little softer shelled.

 

I thought they would make good boredom breakers.

Right now he's having a good go with an almond but with no luck!

 

I was wondering are they too hard for a greys beak or is it maybe he's still young at 8 months & hasn't mastered it?

 

How do other peoples greys handle nuts in the shell?

Edited August 11, 2010 by reggieroo

[CathyJr]

Ive given My Hannah almonds before, she just cant get them to crack so she just drops them . She is 8 months old also. with walnuts i crack them in half and she loves getting the nut out of the shell.

[Jingles]

same here...mine about a year and a half though

[Dave007]

Most greys can't crack open almonds or walnuts. Some are too hard or big or just not soft enough for the shell to be cracked.

 

An easy way to accomplish that is simply take the almond and crack off the pointier end. As far a walnuts, simply crack the walnut in half and feed 1/2 ppiece at a time. Doing both nuts this way allows the bird to hold it and eat out the insides of either nut. It greatly lessens the chances of the bird dropping it.

 

[danmcq]

My Grey cracks Almonds with very little effort, except on the hardest and largest ones Dave mentioned. He could not do this until around one and a half years old. Until he was able to, I partially cracked them as Daves photos show.

 

Walnuts, hazelunts forget it unless you have a Macaw or crack them as Dave illustrated.

[KimKim]

Mine can crack most almonds, and if course peanuts, but he drops sunflower seeds and pine nuts. Weird.

[reggieroo]

I'll keep trying him with the almonds, didn't think he would ever be able to do the walnuts, I'll just keep cracking them open for him as I have been doing.