AG throws food around?

[tkirsch9368]

My grey grabs his food by the feet full and flings it, is he mad at something? He eats it normal, 1 at a time but he also does this. Is it wrong of me to take it away when he does this? There is plenty of food at the bottom of his cage so it isnt like he doesnt ever have any. He also will eat all night long so I have started to take his dish out at night. I used to give him a bowl full of food since that is what the other owner did. I think she did that cause she was gone 10 hrs a day. So now that he has someone here I only give him a little before I go to work then a little when I get home. What is the general amount a grey should have to eat in a day's time?

I have been told that a Conure will approx. 3 table spoons per day?????

[LovelySydney]

I dont limit food intake for my birds. They always have pellets in their cage, all day. I believe that like humans their appetites vary so I never really know when Neko or Oliver will be hungry. As far as fresh food goes, tablespoon in the morning, tablespoon in the afternoon and tablespoon at night. Like you said, 3 sounds about right. LOL I can see him just throwing the food - Im glad my Neko only drops it!!

[nanmadpad]

My grey does exactly the same thing, he stands in his bowl and throws his food all over. There was a thread about this on another board and apparently alot of greys enjoy doing this. When i get annoyed with the mess he makes i replace his dish with grapes and apples and return his regular food after a few hours. Thank goodness he doesnt do it to often. When he does it he looks directly at me so it seems he does it for attention. I try not to react because if i do he does it more.

[tkirsch9368]

what kind of "pellets" do you feed him?

[Nuesha]

haha, yes its normal, I think most birds do it (I know all of mine do). If they don't like something out it goes!

[Tobysmom]

potter does this all the time while toby dont do it ,,,,i just dont do anything it seems like a normal behavior with some greys

[Congobongo]

My CAG's don't pitch their food, they dunk it in their water. And they make pellet soup out of their water! I give them about a 1/2 cup of pellets daily which they eat as well as fruit, sugar snap peas, unsalted peanuts and broccoli flowerettes. They eat most of it. I will also offer other fruits like apple too. They both seem to eat a pretty good variety for me.

You could get a deeper food dish and just put a little at the bottom that he can't just toss out easily or their are some food dispensers that prevent the scattering you could look into as well. I do this with my cockatoos that love to scatter their pellets. I just put a small amount in a deep bowl that keeps most of the pellet in. But then I feed them twice a day to ensure they get enough. And same thing, they get fruits, veggies and nuts daily.

[KimM]

The only thing I can tell you is my Newton does the throwing the food with his foot too.. I think Newt does it to be a snot or when he is "demanding" his attention. He likes his food and eats like a pig, but I think his is just behavioral. He's pretty high strung.
So I guess you would need to determine if it's behavioral of if he really doesn't like his food?

As far as eating all day long, and in the wild they are foragers so they're constantly looking for and eating food. From what I've seen of CAGs, they scratch the ground a lot too because this is what they naturally do in the wild searching for minerals/food in the ground.

Maybe you could make it more of a game for him and hide his food in small buckets, empty cereal boxes, etc. in different parts of his cage. Then he may actually eat more of his food vs. dumping it. CAG's are really, really smart and need the brain stimulation.

Just a side note - I wouldn't let him eat the food dropped on the bottom of the cage.. not really healthy for them as the food may become contaminated with bacteria from their waste, etc.