BABY BIRD FORMULA FOR ADULT BIRD AS A TRETE?

[Guest jamalbirdbiz]

I want to provide more enticing tretes for my greyz to get them to do what I want them to do and I thought baby bird formula would be a good idea. Doez anybody have any first hand experienze with this? If I HAD to I would mix it with fruit if that would help accomplish my goal. Not only that, but my two greyz were too old for formula when I got them so I never got to bond with them in that way so I want to hand feed them to create that SPECIAL bond that I missed.

 

please help, I am getting desparate.

 

THANKZ JAMAL

[chimaysmommy]

Have you ever considered giving them a warm mash of veggies or fruit instead? Seems to me like baby formula is more of a sustaining foodsource for babies and not so much a "treat" for adults (calorie content, etc.). At least once or twice per week I heat up a sweet potato and puree' it in my food processor with some of his favorite veggies--broccoli, snap peas, and some carrots.

 

Hopefully someone here can comment more to the effect of how handfeeding ADULT greys could or couldn not impact the bond between human and bird. Sounds like your greys are independent adults, and would naturally not be as "clingy" as they were as babies. Not that they don't love you, but they're just grown ups.

 

Chimay and I have special time set aside every day to play together...for at least 1/2 an hour when I get home we play on either his basket, or I put a sheet on the coffee table and we spend time together with no distractons (TV, radio, phone, etc). If it's bonding you want, I'm not sure that it can be accomplished SOLEY by treats.

[Dave007]

You have adult birds that have developed personalities from the past owners. Those personalituies are permanent. That's the way it is with birds who've developed their own likes and dislikes about people, places, routines plus their own abilities. Giving an adult baby formula won't help any bonding to take place nor is giving baby formula to adults very healthy. It causes digestive problems. Whatever relationship that's gonna happen will be from the way the bird is treated from now on. Adult birds don't revert back to a bonding process like when they were babies. They're adults. You can give a bird a favorite item that they love but it has nothing to do with bonding. Giving fruit is a standard practice with birds. It's given for health reasons. All potential parrot owners are told to give fruit and veggies because that's their normal diet. It has nothing to do with bonding. Even when the bird is a little baby, bonding doesn't take place because of good food that's being given. You can give a baby bird bad food and it will not descrease the ability of the bird to bond. It's simply a diet.

With pre owned adult birds that have lived in different atmospheres, the bonding you're speaking about should really be called friendship which should be worked on if it doesn't exist. You can give special things but it won't make the bird bond. Bonding is in the past. Friendship is what's important. If you wanna give your bird treats they like, give some nuts or as has been suggested some other mixture or give pasta or chicken bones or other items that aren't unhealthy. Just remember that the birds are adults.

It's the same thing when a person gets an adult bird that doesn't talk. If the bird won't talk, there's nothing that can be done to make it talk even if the owner desperately wants it to talk.

[judygram]

Like Dave said in so many words you cannot bond with your bird by giving it handfeeding formula, that is for very young babies.

 

You bond with your bird by treating it with kindness, providing for its needs, spending time with it and behaving consistently so that it learns to trust you and then the bonding comes right after. This happens very quickly in a very young bird but an older bird will take longer, sometimes much longer since it has had relationships with other people before coming to you.

 

So that "SPECIAL" bond you missed, forgetabouutit, you haven't missed anything, you have to make it happen all by yourself.

[Guest jamalbirdbiz]

Thankz for schoooling me on subject. I have been looking at some of the preweaned birdz in the baby forum and I just got ahead of myself :blush: I gueezz I will have to stick to nutz for them I suppose we will have to create r own u neek bond that will have nothing to do with hand feeding. :unsure:

 

Jamal

[chimaysmommy]

I really hope you can create that unique bond with your birdies...just keep in mind that just like human babies, they'll bond with you by means that has NOTHING to do with food! They bond by interaction. You wouldn't want a pet that will only interact with you because they know they'll get an almond out of it...it's so rewarding when they want to play, talk, and cuddle with you because they want YOU and the fun they have with you.