Doesn't like nuts ??

[Kasperhm]

Has anyone experience with a Grey not liking any sort of nuts ??

 

Jason loves to open them, walnuts, hazelnuts, almonds, peanuts, macadamia etc, and destroy the shells, but has no interest in eating the nuts themselves.... regardless which type.

 

Am aware nuts not essential for good diet, and they even can be bit fatty, but am still intrigued.... :-)

Edited January 10, 2017 by Kasperhm

[SRSeedBurners]

You have an imposter. Do a double check in those feathers and make sure there isn't a cat or something masquerading as a Grey bird.

[Kasperhm]

You have an imposter. Do a double check in those feathers and make sure there isn't a cat or something masquerading as a Grey bird.

 

Exactly..... hehehehe. Have to say the disguise is very well done, in such case... ;-)

[Timbersmom]

I feel you pain. Timber isn't a nut lover either. Feathers and parts checked, he is definitely a grey. He will eat a nut occasionally, but isn't crazy about them. Even sunflower seeds leave him cold.

[Luvparrots]

Mine love the best, raw and unsalted pecans and pistachios. Frankly they eat better than me. No salt for mine unless it is naturally in their food.

[BaileysPapa]

My guy loves pistachios & pecans. He also he loves to chew up almond shells, but, not the nuts. All nuts unsalted, of course!

[Inara]

HRH Inara loves walnuts, pecans, and almonds in the shell. I crack them to get them started for her and she gets 1 whole nut per day right before lights out. I have never been concerned about fat in my birds' diets as just like hoomans it is necessary for healthy skin, etc. and to carry fat soluable vitamins. Fat from nuts is quite different than fat from French Fries, etc.. She turns her beak up at sunflower seeds, and Baily's Papa and Luvs ... she just won't go for pistachios either (???!!!). Can't say that makes me sad, though, as it leaves them all for me me me!

 

Kasperhm, your Jason may change his mind over time. What our companions turn their beaks up and snub at at one point in their lives, can easily become their latest favorite down the road.

[Acappella]

I've tried all kinds of nuts with Dorian. He only likes walnuts and almonds. I was really hoping he'd take to pine nuts because they're a nice size for instant rewards but he totally turned his beak up at them. Oh well, I guess I save $!

[birdhouse]

We aren't very excited about Brazil nuts or hazelnuts. They're okay to play with sometimes. But most if not all of it actually ends up on the floor.

 

Cashews, pecans & walnuts are great. Peanuts are probably the universal fav. But because Phenix came to me addicted they were taboo around here for the longest time. Now it tends to be that they're going to get whatever the humans have. Besides not being the best nutritional value, we're just aren't that into peanuts.

 

So just because of the novelty, peanuts may stay the fav forever. But the thing is, over the course of such a long life, tastes change. In the early years, Phenix thought "appoos" (apples) & peanuts were everything! Now, meh. They pick things up & drop them like we do. That goes for food, toys & activities as well.

[Greytness]

Have you tried pine nuts? All 10 of my fids like that one the best.

[Kasperhm]

Just a small update, from our our mr. Picky.

 

Ibarra was absolutely right, and Jason has now started actually eating bit of the peanuts, which perhaps he know best of all, but likewise occasionally seems to taste - at bit - of both walnuts and the occasional pisctacchio. The latter being the new preferred thing to destroy!!

 

Perhaps a grey parrot after all.... ! :-)

[birdhouse]

Just a reminder, peanut shells can have Aspergillus sp. fungus, which can be lethal to parrots. We've had a few sad threads here over the years. So much better to throw away all the peanuts from bird food to be safe.

 

If you're going to feed any nuts especially in shells, reasonably fresh, human grade organic is probably as safe as you can get.

[Kya]

The first 10 years of his life, Kya was only offered peanuts, and I am pretty sure he ate a ton of them. (He also had a penchant for pop tarts, but that's another thread altogether.)

 

He will not shell a nut. He will take it from me, but he will throw it straight to the bottom of his cage. At first I thought he was a lazy eater, then I realized that his diet had been so bad that he never learned to eat them.

 

He gets pine nuts, almonds and cashews as treats, and he will eat them, but would rather have a banana chip. He will eat pistachios if I shell them first. It really surprises me that he isn't more excited over them. But, he was raised on junk food, so getting him to eat healthier has been our biggest challenge. He demands fruit, mostly, but I think it's because he has a sweet tooth. Needless to say, his fruit intake is monitored and we have many arguments over what is on the menu for the day, after having him for a year.

[birdhouse]

Kya, have you tried feeding Mash or Chop? That's actually the best way I've found to get them to eat almost anything because the yucky stuff is so mixed in w/the yummy stuff. Also, in bits like that, it's nearly impossible to fish out all the "poisonous" foods to fling against the wall. ")

[Kya]

birdhouse, he gets chop and birdie bread all of the time, but he still manages to sift through it and pick out what he deems "the good stuff". He's been a real challenge, diet wise. But, I'm undoing 10 years of eating whatever he wants, so in reality, he's come a long way. He seems to prefer warm foods, so I try to comply.

[birdhouse]

I can relate. Phenix is a wild caught. As far as he was concerned anything that wasn't mother approved would kill him. But then we discovered how much he loved to drink from a cup. So we started w/fruit & eventually added veggies to his juices. Then we moved to smoothies & more chunky smoothie like concoctions & eventually mash. Meantime, I used to grind things together in a paste to hide in his oatmeal & camouflaged it all w/Red Palm Oil. lol

 

No actually I didn't know about RPO 30 yrs ago. Back then it was melted peanut butter.

 

You might get some others to share their tricks if you start a thread so as not to hijack this one.

 

My bad. I started it - sorry Kasperhm.

Edited February 12, 2017 by birdhouse

[Kya]

Hmmmmm, Kya loves to drink from a cup, too - grape/cranberry juice is his favorite. I never thought about throwing some veggies in there. Now you've got me thinking. Are you using veggie juice or just adding the veggies to his regular juice?

[LNCAG]

My CAG isn't overly fond of nuts. I have to shell anything offered or it's simply thrown. And even shelled, I may still find them when I clean out the papers on bottom.

I found the unsalted dry roasted more of a hit. Maybe he just hates raw nuts. Dunno.

But my macaw and amazon are huge nut fans. I always figured it must be a grey thing. :confused:

[Kya]

I have a really hard time finding nuts in the shell in this area, except around the holidays. Gracie loves to shell her own nuts, I'm not sure Kya would know what to do with anything other than a peanut, which he doesn't get anymore since coming to live with us. Both love almonds, those are their favorites. I'd always heard to use pine nuts for bribery, they really don't excite either of my greys. They will eat them, but are not good blackmail.

 

Do you all order your nuts online, or are you just smarter than I am and stock up when available?

[LNCAG]

I stock up at grocery store during the holidays. In fact, sometimes I see them discounted after the holidays and buy out the grocery store. But I don't chance them running out and stock up at full price since one year, there were no after-holiday nuts for sale. lol

Anyway, when those run out, I purchase from Amazon.

[thegars]

We too must have an imposter…the only nut Debbie will eat is an almond and it has to be in the shell! Won’t even try them shelled! Won’t go near peanuts! 
Finding a treat to use for training so far has proved nearly impossible! 

[Timbersmom]

Timber's favorite is almond as well. He wants it in the shell, but I have to partially crack it. He's too lazy to crack it himself, though he is capable of it. He also will eat peanuts and cashews sometimes but I haven't found another nut he likes.

[neoow]

Alfie likes walnuts (shelled) and pine nuts. I reserve pine nuts for training, as that's the only treat that motivates him. I do give him a couple of pistachios in his food bowl occasionally but I'm not 100% sure if he actually eats them or not. He doesn't seem to like any other kind of nut. Other than peanuts, but I don't give him those.