My bird is throwing food out!

[dizzybird]

I have not had my grey long and have been on a steep learning curve but think we are progressing well.

He will now sit on my hand,head etc and talks loads (i have even taught him jingle bells!) but he cannot be out unsupervised as he has not had much opportunity in the past and needs real supervision.

He loves being out and will come over to me so that he can sit on my hand and i talk and wistle to him etc but when he is in his cage and i am sitting down he has taken to grabbing food from his bowl with his foot and throwing it out.He does this until the floor resembles a beach and he seems really cross that he is stuck in.

I try to have him out loads and his flying etc is improving and he now can land on things whereas previously he flew into walls etc but he has to be in sometimes.

Is there a type of bowl that stops this throwing or do i ignore it or tell him off? He currently has stainless steel bowls that slot through the side of the cage.I was even wondereing whether to put honey in with the food so that it cant scatter as easily!

[danmcq]

That is common in some Greys. They will claw at their food bowl and sling it everywhere. They do indeed want out and are displaying this by slinging food.

 

Atleast he's not screaming as he previously did. You could get a heavy ceramic bowl that is actually enclosed with an opening for them to put their head in and get the food. That would stop the clawing action.

 

It is truly exasperating to a Parrot to see you in the room, sitting, reading, watching TV and not understanding why they can not be out with you. :-)

 

 

Perhaps you could get a stand if you don't already have one so he could be out with you, but not necessarily "On" you. :-)

[Dave007]

You can also try removing the food and giving it back 3 times a day when he seems hungry. Let him eat and when

he decides that he's had enough and it's time to flip the food, remove the bowl. That's similar to what people do when feeding vegetables and because veggies go bad after a few hrs, people either remove the veggies or the whole bowl. The reason some people remove the bowl is because it's an item that a bird relates to as far as veggies are concerned.

[Carolyn]

As normal as "does the sun come up in the morning" just like babies at ther high chair when they have had enough it just turns into a fun time, and makes you come running to clean up:woohoo:

 

Just part of a Grey owning you:laugh:

 

Carolyn & Mika

[dizzybird]

Thanx will try the bowl idea but currently removing it when he starts throwing.I will probably buy a gym or stand thing but the top of his cage opens and we put in a perch but he always comes to me.Last week he tried to land on our six foot xmas tree-he had the finesse of a house brick and fell through the branches cursing which was funny.

He has not yet worked out that we dont want our leather furniture hole punched and that its rude to make holes in each piece of fruit in a bowl but he is making a sort of progress as he runs off laughing when you catch him up to mischief!

[Goralka08]

Our grey only throws the fruits or veggies that she doesn't like. But when she wants our attention, she does throw objects across the room and it's LOUD! lol We can see her cage from where she sits and we just chuckle to ourselves and ignore it. We don't want to go over to the cage when that behavior occurs because then she'll know that her tactics are working!

[judygram]

Josey does not throw too much of her food out but she does occasionally pick up some of her pellets with her talon to eat them, and some of them fall to the floor of her cage.

 

What she is fond of is throwing her toys off the side of her playtop to the floor and then looking to see where it landed, like she wants me to come over and pick it up for her to throw again, nope I don't fall for that tactic.:whistle:

[nims]

Ice does this when we wants attention. Also he use to tip his bowls onto the floor! :angry:

I got him crock lock bowls so he couldnt tip the bowls........and he has now stopped throwing his food.

[NASY]

My grey has the same behavior as every body else's grey from what I can read ,and I mean exactly the same.I put special bags for cages which keep the seeds and other food in side the cage and not on the floor. Of course I have to change the bag very often because he tears it apart when he can get to it.

[casper]

Yes, I use the ceramic dishes and the crook lock bowls as all mine used to tip them as soon as the food was put in!

 

I think they all love to make a mess though, just another grey thing that they do:P

[danmcq]

I believe the root cause of this type of behavior is very simple. They want your attention and act just like a child does when they want a parents attention.

 

The striking part about an African Grey parrot behavior, is that this bird species is intellectually as bright as a five year old kid would be and his emotions too are similar to what you can expect in two year olds.

 

Thus, his behavior is governed by his intelligence which causes him to demand a lot from you and that means that he will need constant attention and also an environment that will help in stimulating his brain and senses so that he feels happy and contended and thus will remain on his best behavior at all times.

 

This all boils down to, your out of the cage, he's in it. He is going to do everything he can to get you to open that door so he can come out, get full attention and be with you.

 

If the food throwing, chirping etc. does not work, then many times the acrobatics in the cage will begin which are quite entertaining followed by an oratory discourse of everything they know. It's the kisses, what are you doings and I love you's that gets me every time. :-)

[dizzybird]

Thanks glad to know its normal! He actually throws it at people who walk by and calls them names.He is learning to talk so fast its like having another child, but will be buying special bowls etc.

[MazyAK]

Give him a sippy cup to play with . Mazy liked to play with it when she found out it contained a small amount of juice. They are like kids.Once in a while Mazy throws food out of the bowl onto the floor outside the cage and then after a few minutes she climbs down and forages on it. Birds are natural foragers so encourage it in controlled ways such as putting goodies in things and bird toys they can get out and eat. You may find your bird throws a lot less.