Fussy Eater

[Shades Of Grey]

I wonder if you have a meal time routine for your grey and if you have any ideas on how I can get Tui to eat more of a variety of foods? In his previous home he ate pellets, seeds, peanuts, apples and the occasional vegetable. It wasn't a horrible diet compared to some rescued greys but there is definite room for improvement! I offer him cooked foods and fresh foods every day but he only shows minimal interest by picking at a bite or two off his plate. Every morning I offer homemade bird bread with palm oil and a dab of peanut butter for enticement. He eats a couple bites then the rest goes to waste. His vegetable plate usually sits around untouched and at dinner I give him either his cooked bean veg mix or a bit of what we are having. Again, he only picks at it for a second and goes to do something else. When I first got him, he loved apples and seemed more willing to try a bit of new foods. Now, he doesn't eat apples anymore (not that apples are all that important for greys, but it is an example ) and its like he is bored of human foods and he is happy to eat his pellet mix. The only exception to this is the occasional peanut treat or a dab of my cool whip. He will jump through hoops to get these foods and he eats the whole thing lol. Oddly, if I hold his plate, he seems to eat more dinner, but the second I leave him with his dish, he is off doing something else. Since Tui is afraid of the dining room, he can't eat dinner with us. I put his plate on his cage top and he eats there. I am also hesitant to take away his dry mix for any length of time to see if he will eat more, because he was slightly under weight when we got him and I don't want to leave him without food at all. I wonder if there is something else I can do to get him eating more of a variety of foods?

[hammco]

Same thing with timmy...he likes his seed/pellet mix and thats it! Grapes and apples are the best treat but thats it...cant wait to hear responses

[Ray P]

Tui is a rescue so just keeping offering her new things and one day she will try a new food and she may like it. It may take time but do not give up.

Corky our CAG will try anything she see us eating and always will come back for more.

[MarcusCAG]

At the moment, our boys are waiting for their pellets to come via the friendly UPS lady and so I'm streeeeetching what we have remaining in their five-pound tub. So there's been more Birdie Bread and beans/grains mixes and such in their bowls these past few days. At this point, because I haven't been putting pellets out all day (don't have that many left, and I want them to get some per day until this taking-forever tub gets here), I've been peeking in their bowls rather frequently and will give them fresh people food if I see they're near empty and/or much of it is on the floor of their cages--or on the rug, haha, I found Birdie Bread halfway across their bedroom this morning! Anyway, a few days ago Marcus would barely touch his grains and beans and veggies, but today I saw him eating happily along with Beaker (in his own cage) a little while after I put their new bowls of food in their respective cages. It made me feel pleased about that, because apparently he's allowing himself to enjoy more varied foods anymore. He doesn't seem to be losing weight either, which I was a little concerned about at first. I will admit the other day I had to sit and eat certain foods within sight of them and offer them to them both for at least Marcus to try--oh, what was it? I think it was semi-thawed frozen broccoli and squash. So maybe that was a stepping-stone to enjoying garbanzo beans and such today... perhaps something like that might help Tui too, if he sees you eating these strange foods and make a big production out of how 'yummy' they are.

[Shades Of Grey]

It's funny because we make the biggest fuss over food around Tui. I even eat some of his cooked bean mix with him, and I hate cooked dried beans :rolleyes:. I think the problem with Tui is that he wants to eat with the flock but he is such a big grey chicken that we can't get him to sit with us. I see that the best answer for all of his quirky behavior is to give it more time. This is not my favorite thing lol, but I will continue to have patience and wait things out.

[Lambert58]

Here's an option: I feed my flock a mix of:

 

1 part kaytee baby parrot food

1 part oats

1 part harrison's fine adult food

little peanut butter or

dash of cinnamon

Mix with warm water until it's the consistency of oatmeal.

 

I offer this twice daily. They go crazy on it.

 

They get a full bowl of harrison's pellets and other organic pellet mix 50/50 filled every morning.

 

I supplement this with ShanLung's mash, fresh fruits (grapes, bananas, apples) in the afternoon and fresh peas/green beans/boiled yams in the evening. All the vet checks over the last two years indicate that this is fine, and they're all pretty healthy (meaning: omg they're huge... but not FAT huge:) ). Occasional almonds and seeds for treats and variety.

Edited November 22, 2010 by Lambert58