Picky Grey - Poor Diet?

[Pi_1]

Hi all,

 

Our Grey will be 3 years old next April Fool's Day. We have had her since she was a baby and didn't even have all her feathers yet. We bought her from a supposedly reputable bird store. They specialize in parrots and are the only store in the area that sells Greys. Although they are highly regarded, I have begun to wonder if they know what they are talking about since their suggestions on feeding are quite strange.

 

When we brought our girl home (name is Betsy), she was being fed the Kaytee Rainbow pellets and ate them occasionally. We introduced small amounts of other things, although she was very picky about what she would try. She doesn't like anything that is wet or gummy. She shakes her beak and wipes it off. She is terrified of anything green for the most part since it is moist. She likes a variety of nuts and seeds, however.

 

Shortly after introducing other things into her diet, even though it was a small amount, she ceased eating her pellets. We asked the bird store about this, and they told us not to worry, that she probably was going through a phase. They also told us that they feed their Greys anything and everything - it just so happened they had gotten Taco Bell that day - with meat and everything in it - and a Grey was on the counter eating it with the owner - chowing down. Since then I have seen them feeding Greys McDonalds fries, hamburgers, coke to drink - everything. I started to worry at this point.

 

As a couple weeks went by she still wouldn't eat any pellets. So I went back to inquire further about what we could do. The pet store then said to just stop feeding her everything BUT the pellets and she would start eating whhen she got hungry. We did this, but several days later she still wouldn't eat them. These were not a new variety either - these are the same kind she was always given. We felt after several days of not eating we had no choice but to give her other things.

 

Since then we have tried multiple varieties of pellets. She always tries them for a couple days, then stops eating them and will never touch them again, even if she is hungry and that is all that is in her dish. Even if I try to feed them to her she will just throw them.

 

We now try to vary her diet as much as possible on our vet's advice (she says not to worry) but we worry the lack of pellets and proper nutrition is detrimental to her health.

 

She now eats dry cheese, lots of nuts, seeds, dried out carrots, celery, banana chips, and some other various stuff. She asks for food and peanuts constantly and just throws the pellets out of her dish on the floor of the cage at this point.

 

She has never been food oriented - she is more interested in praise and attention from me. She has no interest when I give her treats when out of the cage and just throws them. I've trained her by using pets and positive reinforcement. I try giving her pellets and telling her "good girl!", but still no interest.

 

Any advice or thoughts?

[Dave007]

It seema that what's on your mind most of all is pellets. Many birds will eat pellets for a while and then stop. Pellets aren't the greatest thing in the world if you're looking for food that's packed with vitamins and other essentials. They're man made and recent studies have shown that pellets can contain different things that birds don't benefit from. For years parrots have survived very well without pellets. Pellets don't exist in the wild.

 

*** She doesn't like anything that is wet or gummy. She shakes her beak and wipes it off.***

 

Very common with loads of parrots of all species. It's nothing to worry about.

 

****They also told us that they feed their Greys anything and everything - it just so happened they had gotten Taco Bell that day - with meat and everything in it - and a Grey was on the counter eating it with the owner - chowing down. Since then I have seen them feeding Greys McDonalds fries, hamburgers, coke to drink - everything. I started to worry at this point.****

 

Reputable dealer?????

I doubt that very very much!!!!!!!

 

At the least, a hard kick in the arse is a nice thought .

 

All of those foods that they're feeding have fried ingredients that can cause liver damage and digestive problems. That's a proven fact.

 

*****She has no interest when I give her treats when out of the cage and just throws them.*****

 

That's not something you should worry about. After all, it doesn't provide anything important. That's why it's called treat and people don't give them constantly

 

****She now eats dry cheese, lots of nuts, seeds, dried out carrots, celery, banana chips, and some other various stuff. She asks for food and peanuts constantly and just throws the pellets out of her dish on the floor of the cage at this point.***

 

For a parrot who dislikes the things you're talking about, the present diet is quite satisfactory. Fruit doesn't really provide the greatest of things but it can't hurt either.

You should give varieties of nuts----almonds, walnuts, hazelnuts besides peanuts. The peanuts should be the type that are roasted and can be eaten by people and not too many should be given.

 

You can try giving veggies in different ways--raw. cooked, steamed, very cold or room temp. Maybe that'll work, maybe not.

 

I would suggest one thing--Vit A and Vit E are very important to greys. So, if you can get some red palm oil ( also called virgin oil) and put a little on the present food she eats, she'll benefit from it.

 

Type in SwansonsVitamins.com

 

Stay away from all fried foods.

 

I don't think your problem is as bad as you think but I do think that you've seen and heard bad things in the past from a so called !!!!Reputable Dealer!!!! He shouldn't be in business in he's gonna give out that insane advice.

[Pi_1]

Thanks for the advice. We probably worry too much but everything I read says that pellets should be the staple of a Grey's diet and anything else should be given sparsely as treats.

 

Yeah, we obviously didn't take the store's advice and have never fed her anything of the sort. All the pet stores recommend that place for bird items and bird advice, and it is the only bird store in the area - but once we saw some of the goings on we stopped going after we got Betsy. They charge an arm and a leg too - they wanted well over $1500 for a cage. We went elsewhere. I've seen their birds eating all kinds of things there. Once, when our Betsy was too little to bring home, the lady that manages the place was eating marshmallows. She gave Betsy one of them - Betsy wasn't even regularly eating pellets then. Her beak got so gummed up she could hardly breathe. I spent well over an hour trying to clean the mess off her beak while the lady said "well the bigger ones like it" and watched. I think her aversion to anything wet or gummy may have begun then. I don't think we've ever given her anything fried either. She always begs for any kind of potatoes we eat, and we've given her little morsels of baked stuff like that a couple of times - a little baked crispy piece of potato, toast, or pizza crust - she likes breads.

 

She would never eat any kind of raw, cooked, or steamed veggies nor fruit. Nothing wet outside or in. In order to get her to eat that kind of stuff we need to dry it out first or get "veggie chips".

 

As far as nuts, she loves peanuts (I think more for the fun of tearing them apart than actually eating them), likes in-shell and shelled almonds, and will eat walnuts, pecans, cashews, and pistachios. Never the salted kind btw.

 

For awhile when she was younger all she would eat is sunflower seeds. We limit them now, though.

 

When training, as I said, she could care less about treats. Even in her cage she really isn't very interested in food unless we're eating - then she wants to eat with her "flock", LoL. I bet she drops at least 3/4 of what enters her beak without actually consuming it. I often wonder if it is just her or if other birds are like this as well. It seems if they were all such inefficient eaters they would never have survived natural selection all these years.

 

She's amazingly smart - while still under one year old she had well over 100 word vocabulary. She now talks in fairly complete sentences, knows each nut by name, knows my fiance and I by name, does the noises of over 20 animals and then names the animal to which they correspond - and can do it backwards if we make the noise or ask her for a certain animal she will respond. Anyhow, she is very bright but I just don't think she was raised well by the pet shop. She viciously bites anyone other than me (who she has never bitten and will let me do ANYTHING to her - flip her upside down on her back, open her beak, move her wings and look under them, play with her feet, pet her chest area, grab her tailfeathers, etc). The bird store clipped her wings before she even had all her feathers, so she never learned to fly. If she tries she gets no vertical lift (horizontal only) and drops like a rock. She hates to flap her wings and only does when she is terrified. If I have her in my hand and do the downward plunge she'll just sit there and look scared, LoL. After she flaps (the few times she has done it) she shakes and breathes so hard it scares me. Anyway, like I said, I don't think the store did her any favors in the rearing department.

 

Anyway, now I'm going on and on. Thanks for the help and any more advice would be appreciated.......

[Dave007]

********As a couple weeks went by she still wouldn't eat any pellets. So I went back to inquire further about what we could do. The pet store then said to just stop feeding her everything BUT the pellets and she would start eating whhen she got hungry. We did this, but several days later she still wouldn't eat them. These were not a new variety either - these are the same kind she was always given. We felt after several days of not eating we had no choice but to give her other things.******

 

A parrot should have food present 24/7 because they don't eat like people. There is no breakfast , lunch or supper. Starving a people in order to get the bird to eat a certain item is cruel. Anyway, many people here will tell you that their birds never liked pellets from day 1 and all of those birds are surviving very well. Don't believe everything you hear or read. Anyway, good luck trying to find those special pellets.

[Pi_1]

We've given up at this point. I even ordered her a special kind one time that were fruit flavored but she didn't like them either, LoL. We still give them to ger but they just go on the floor of the cage. I figure I should at least give her the option though.....although I don't give her many since it's a waste of money. Perhaps I'll start taking her out to McDonald's? J/K.........

 

Any advice on other things she might like that would be good for her? Dry crunchy stuff, LoL?

[Pi_1]

Oh, and yeah, we tried the not feeding thing for a couple of days but then realized it wasn't a good idea......never did it again.......

[Vumes]

My Grey is attached to me as well, and will not let anyone else pick her up. When we adopted Annie, she was a very picky eater as well. She still is, but I did a lot of reading on here and tried some of the techniques mentioned. The one that works for Annie and I is this: I eat said fruit or veggie, and make a big deal of it. I take a few more bites, again making a huge deal about how good it tastes. By the 3rd or 4th bite, she is so anxious to try it, and she does, and then realizes that she likes it. We have made good progress doing this. Maybe this will work with Betsy?

[Pi_1]

Thanks for the idea - I'll probably have my fiance try it since she feeds Betsy - maybe I can eat the food and put on the show, but Betsy is so unmotivated by food she won't take anything from me - she just wants me to pet her or take her out. She just drops any food I try to give her. She gets treats from my fiance all the time though, and some of the things she now eats she wouldn't touch before she saw us eating them now that I think about it. Thanks again for the idea!

[abbie21187]

You might want to try this: http://www.mybirdstore.com/product.cgi?group=232972&product=241687

 

I feed both my birds this, I have a new TAG who was weaned onto it as her base food, and my BB was also weaned onto these blends as well. I really like the AG blend because it includes cuttle bone for calcium and cinnamon sticks which Eva loves and I've heard many Greys enjoy as well. It's great for picky eaters (like my BB) because there is just so many different types of fruit, veggies, pellets, nuts etc. so your bird can pick out what he wants to eat from it.

 

They've also told me that pellets are not a great base diet, and while they include them in there blends, they are not essential. I asked this this because my BB eats everything except the pellets. They also told me of the pellets with coloring aren't too good either, it's just more additives your giving the bird.

 

 

 

I'm lucky to live close to this place, but they ship everywhere.

[Pi_1]

Thanks, I'll definitely check it out! Btw, I think they put the colors in because they interest the birds. We had a rabbit (since passed) that would only eat one color of the Kaytee Rainbow pellets. She would pick them all out and leave the other colors sitting there, LoL. Amazing she had the dexterity to do that with her little bunny mouth, LoL!

 

I was worried since everything I read said pellets are the staple of their diet and other things should be kept to a minimum. Apparently that is not the case, however, so I won't worry so much any more.