10 months and still suckling

[raehamilton]

Hi,

 

Some of you know who I am and some of you don't. I just started posting again.

 

I have a question. Angie is 10 months old, she is my first Grey (first bird/Parrot), she is still suckling and I can tell when she is hungry because she does a single chirp that sounds like a baby bird. When I rub her beak she starts to suckle on my finger like a baby to a bottle. She is on regular food and has been since I brought her home. Once she is full she starts to whittle the Andy Griffith song, wolf whitle, and a few other ones. She has practiced her vocals every now and then but not too often. She said MOM once but hasn't done it again. She only gets very vocal once a day and rarely will do it twice a day. She is not noisy at all.

 

When will she stop suckling? It doesn't bother me and I think it's cute but I am wondering if I am not feeding her enough. I put a cup full daily of a mixture of pellets, seeds and oatmeal. She finishes the whole thing quick and if it's all gone and she gets hungry the same day she will call out to me like a baby bird to it's Mama.

 

Am I making sense?

 

I get nervous about feeding her regular food peoples I am afraid if I feed her the wrong thing I will make her seek or kill her. I do give her scramble eggs with cheese, bananas, apples, spagetti, peas and broccoli.

 

Any feed back (no punt intended) will be greatly appreciate it.

[judygram]

You should be feeding her people food, lots of vegetables, some fruits and whole grains and of course her pellets. All of what you do give her is fine just go easy on the eggs and the cheese. I feed Josey off my plate at the evening meal of whatever I am having but there are certain things you do not give them, and we have some threads here that deal with those very ones.

 

I guess she is a little slow in wanting to give up the feedings but you should try to wean her off of them gradually. I do feed Josey some oatmeal with a little baby food in it in the mornings with a spoon and she enjoys that, it also has a little red palm oil in it too. This way if I ever have to give her some meds by spoon I know I can do that.

 

Most greys are not noisy but they can be vocal several times a day and Josey is no exception, she will go thru all her words and phrases she says and a lot of other sounds she comes up with.

 

Some of the other members will have some other ideas and suggestions for you also.

[danmcq]

Hello Rae,

 

Your Grey is acting normal when performing the baby jackhammer when hungry or maybe even just enjoying some intimate time with you.

 

Even though they are eating an adult diet of seeds, pellets, veggies and anything else you wish to feed them. They will continue that baby feeding frenzy for a while. I would imagine if you actually prepared some baby formula, he might eat little, but probably none at all.

 

We thought perhaps we should feed our Grey - Dayo, some formula maybe once a day, due to his continued jackhammering when he became hungry after being weaned for 2 Months.

 

But, He would just gurgle it out and not want any at all. Then we would put him back in his cage and he would dive into the seeds, veggies etc. like there was no tomorrow.

 

Hope this helps in answering your question. :-)

[ziggy]

Hello,

 

This is normal behavior for a 10 month mold bird. Ziggy is almost a year and still does it.

 

As for the foods you need to start feeding her some fresh veggies and fruits. More veggies then fruits. Fruits have natural sugars called pectin and to much is no good. Pellets are good and stay away from seeds and alot of nuts. Peanuts,almonds,cashews are all high in saturated fats. They are good only once in a while for treats. The suckling will soon stop it will not hurt her at all and she does not need to be fed. She is trying to get a reaction from you to see what she will get away with and what you will allow here to get away with. Greys are very very smart and love to test the waters to see what they get away with.