red palm oil!!! What am I doing wrong???

[Karcar]

Help,

Everytime I put red palm oil on something for the birds to eat they won't touch it. HOW are ypu guys getting your birds to eat the stinky stuff, I almost don't blame them....LOL...And thank you Dave for your info earlier on everything. It's just they know I have put it on their food and it will sit untouched.

Karen

[KimKim]

When I first started the red palm oil, my grey didn't like it either. I put very little on a small piece of toast with peanut butter, that was the only way he could get the toast was with the oil on it so he began eating it. Then I would put a couple drops more. Then I started mixing it in with his veggies and heating it up. Then after reading how others serve it, I tried putting it in the fridge and cutting out a small chunk and he ate it! And it smells less not being heated up. Now he love eating it in solid form, well most of the time:)

Edited November 9, 2010 by KimKim
spelling error

[Dave007]

You should start off with the tiniest amount. Yes, it isn't the prescribed amount but it may take you a while to build up to that amount. Many greys HATE palm oil so trickery is the only way to go. I've spoken about melting it down to a thin liquid. I put pictures in but there is another way to do it. Instead of putting the thin oil on pellets ( I assume you've been taliking about pellets) what you can do if you're giving your bird parrot mix, simply put it directly on the parrot mix and stir it. The seed will have the oil on it and he won't have any choice but to eat it. The good thing here is that parrots love parrot mix. I've been doing this for years with one of my greys who at one time in the past was totally bald and vitamin deficient ( I'm talking about ALL vitamins). He needed different vitamins plus thepalm oil because I need to get VIT A and VIT E into his system. He hated the oil back then and he hates the oil to this very day. So, that's the trickery I use. He likes pellets and will eat them as long as the pellets haven't absorbed any extras like palm oil. Plus, in your situation, only give the oil once a week and work your way up.. Take a very thing item as thin as the tube thatr holds ink in a pen or a thick toothpick. Stick it in the oil and drip it over the food. Roughly 15 drops is enough. As he accepts it more use about 20 drops. That's enough. With my bird, I give him about 40 drops 2x a week mixed in with parrot mix.

[Guest]

Karcar, I do it just like KimKim does. My AG haaaaaaaaaaaated red palm oil when I first offered it, too, but now she GOBBLES it down, especially if I leave it cold and just dig a little chunk off with a knife. Both my AG and my 'Too refused it at first but both now readily chow down whether it is in solid, straight-from-the-fridge form or if I've placed it atop their food and it has melted once it has come to room temp. (Or occasionally I will place it atop some warm food that I'm offering and obviously it melts then right away.)

 

Keep at it - in TINY doses at first - and try different ways. My prediction is eventually your grey will love the stuff, too. (And am I the only person who doesn't find the smell objectionable? To me it just smells like plant matter. Oh, well, lol.)

[Vamppire]

If greys could change their facial expressions like we can, I could really imagine the look of horror and disgust Spencer wants to give me every time I try offering the stuff to him. I don't blame him at all... it horrifies me to be honest LOL I got some on my hand and I couldn't rinse the stench off and it drove me nuts! I've since put it in the fridge and will try offering it cold.. I think I was being a little too ambitious with it and offering too much at once.

 

So, yeah, you're not alone! I'll be following the advice here too!

[Azzie]

I first added palm oil to warmed up vegetables, so the vegez were coated in it, much like Dave suggested. Then I added a liberal helping of chili powder to it, since I knew Cleo loves the taste of it! Now, she eats palm oil no problems.

[JillyBeanz]

Harvey used to LOVE palm oil (ours in the UK is thicker and more like a play dough consistency) and used to actually eat it from the spoon. He was the same with palm nuts too (sorry, bragging again - I know you can't get them in the states!!) and would strip them right to the nut. He won't touch either now! The only way I can get it into him is in plain old mashed potato! He loves mashed potato and therefore will scoff it down with the oil! Little sods that they are!

[Greywings]

We can get Palm Nuts in the USA now. You can also try making a little whole grain pasta to toss with those veggies some ginger and a touch of red Pepper flakes to disguise that Palm oil and it should work.

[Karcar]

So it isn't just my birds...LOL... well at least that is good news. I am off to give each suggestion a try.

Thanks, Guys

[katana600]

Karen, is there any possibility your palm oil is outdated, maybe it got too warm in shipping or something. I have a really acute sense of smell and have to get my nose right up to the jar to smell mine and it smells like olive oil, just a really light scent. Do you have any bird friends who have it so you could smell a different batch. I would hate to think yours could be rancid, but that would explain their aversion to it. Sometimes I will have vegetable oil in the cupboard too long and when I open it, I couldn't bear to use it because of the strong smell. My favorite way to deliver the palm oil was to warm little pouches of cooked mixed beans and stir a little into it and my birds loved it. It is hard to wash off the spoons and dishes, but Dawn dish detergent is the best thing I found to dissolve it to clean up.

[Karcar]

It has the manufactured date of 10/10 but not the expiration date, I could call them I suppose and ask about it it does have a lot number.

[judygram]

If you just got it I doubt it has turned rancid already as that stuff has a long shelf life, some people think it stinks and some don't, just depends on who has the more sensitive nose.

[Codys Mom]

I give Rudy and Cody their Palm Oil from a syringe,they only get a very small amount but they take it real easy , I tried putting on their veggies and it was a no go then I read something about giving to them in a syringe and it worked Cody still thinks he is getting formula which he does sometimes but if he eats alot of his food and veggies then he doesn't get formula that night , he is down to 2 or 3 handfeedings a week

[Vamppire]

I also doubt it has gone bad. I've read a lot of customer reviews of red palm oil that say the stuff stinks (and a lot think it tastes about as good as it smells LOL).. but like a lot of things, some people find it offensive, while other people don't and think it's great stuff.

[Dave007]

It has the manufactured date of 10/10 but not the expiration date, I could call them I suppose and ask about it it does have a lot number.

 

That shouldn't lose it's strength for at least a year, maybe even longer. I doubt you're gonna have that container for a whole year especially if your bird likes it and you're feeding it frequently.

[Xtreme575]

The palm oil wasn't a big hit around my place at first either... However, by heating it up and pouring it over the Pretty Bird, Birdy Banquet I had success. Now I can just pour it over his veggies and he loses his mind for it. It's too bad it costs more than gold in Canada.

[poochbabe]

I put it over poached eggs and scramble it in. Ganesha loves it that way but over veggies...she turns her beak up to it and won't go near it, even her sugar snap peas.

 

BTW, I had the feather biopsy done and they detertmined she has inflammatory skin disease, which is mostly likely an allergic reaction to something. Antihistamines are the next step and I have made some big changes to her feeding habits. My vet is brilliant and told me no more free lunch for Ganesha. All her food is hidden and wrapped up so she has to forage for everything. She is really feathering in.

[Buffy]

Thank you Karcar for starting this thread and to everyone who answered it! Neither of my Greys would touch the palm oil despite every trick I thought of. However, I tried the refrigeration method after reading this thread, and thumper gobbled it up and begged for more! Echo still wouldn't touch it, but now have a 50% success rate. Thats better than 0%!

[Barbara2]

How long can you leave pellets (or any food) in the dish after you have put the refrigerated palm oil on it? I put some on Neo's food this morning and then left to run errands. The food is gone now but I was wondering how long it is safe to leave it in there.

[KimKim]

How long can you leave pellets (or any food) in the dish after you have put the refrigerated palm oil on it? I put some on Neo's food this morning and then left to run errands. The food is gone now but I was wondering how long it is safe to leave it in there.

I don't put the cold/hard palm oil chunk on anything, I feed it to him off a spoon. Sorry, that didn't really answer your question though...

[Barbara2]

I don't put the cold/hard palm oil chunk on anything, I feed it to him off a spoon. Sorry, that didn't really answer your question though...

 

That's O.K. I think it's good to have all the different methods on here that work. What might not work for one fid just might work for another.

[Dave007]

How long can you leave pellets (or any food) in the dish after you have put the refrigerated palm oil on it? I put some on Neo's food this morning and then left to run errands. The food is gone now but I was wondering how long it is safe to leave it in there.

 

It won't go bad. You can just leave it there. It'll just become softer and soggier and mushy. That's the same exact consistancy that the oil is in the wild. There's no refrigeration in the wild.

[Guest]

Buffy! What a great pic of your sweetie!

[Sigh Queen]

I buy Harrison's Juvenile powder formula and make a pancake batter consistency...I add the oil in that and feed it to my Grey via syringe. Works like a charm.