I'm a bit confused...(another diet question)

[MandysBlackRoses]

Ok, after reading all the recipe threads on what you all's birds are eating, I have to ask...Do they really eat most of the things you give them?

Gypsy hates most everything. She will only eat the corn out of frozen mix veggies. She won't even touch pasta. She will eat some of her Beak Apitet and Kitchen Sink. But picks out the corn first, and then a few other things. She does the same with the birdy bread, picks out the peanut halves (are peanuts good or bad? because she eats like 5-10 a day)... Do I have the worlds most picky eater or what???

Also, should I take the other food dishes out when I offer "new foods"? She has been a real seed junkie. Should I take the seed out when better food is warmed and ready? , She barley touches the bowl of pellets. I put the good stuff in a bowl up near her high perch. (way up in the dome top) the others are all level with the main perch. (the one that runs the whole length of the cage) I figure put the good stuff where she sits most of the time.

She mostly plays with the fresh fruit and veggies I put on her kabob. Rips them aparts and they fall to the floor wasted. She will not take anymore handfeedings, flat out refuses. So I guess you could say she is weaned. I added some I had left over to her birdy bread. Ohh, and I got her some macadamian nuts (sp?) Are those good? I give her two a day. She loves them. What should I do with this seed junkie???

BTW, Gypsy weights 1405 she gained quick! Her keel feels so much healthier,Her chest is huge, as well as her head...She has almost doubled in size.

[The Outlaw]

Mandy:

Seed junkies are difficult to convert. However, remember this: the more dependent they are on seed, the shorter their life expectancy. So, you have to improve her diet. I don't even offer seed daily. Nope, I offer it every third day. I always only have one food dish in a cage at any time UNLESS I'm going to gone for more than 8 hours. That's not often, for I'm a stay at home mom.

Feed your fresh foods first thing in the morning. Remove them within 2 hours. Offer a mid day snack (light) and offer another fresh meal in the evening. Right before bedtime, you may want to offer a few tablespoons of seed. You may, however, offer nuts earlier in the day.

Weaning her away from seed requires determination and getting her hungry. If she can always just hold out for seed, she will. That's not healthy. Feed her just enough so that she gets what she needs from seed mixes, but not enough to fill her up or feed her addiction.

You must remember that in the wild, plants don't produce seeds year round. By providing too much of a good thing, you encourage poor feathering, sexual frustration and liver disease. It would be better to switch her to pellets than to allow her to hold out for only seeds, and I'm no pellet fan.

My greenwing came to me very underweight, with a nasty bacterial infection and poor feathers. She has stress bars everywhere and lots of raggedy feathers. It took a month of determination on my part to get her converted to a better diet. She still has her moments: after all, she ate only junk for 25 years. I can't wait for her first molt. I'll take lots of pictures so you can see what a good diet really does for your birds. People often comment on how irridescent and shiny my bird's feathers are. Its all about good diet and lots of showers.

That's an excellent weight for a scarlet. In fact, she's huge. You must be doing something right.

[MandysBlackRoses]

Nancy,

I'm going to try what you say tomorrow. I was so nervous of her being under weight that I just put everything in there with her. Now that she is at a good weight I will try to convert her away from so much seed.

What do you mean by stress bars? I have never heard this, but for some reason I am thinking you are talking about the feathers being almost cut straight across, or looking weak in a straight line?? If so, Gypsy has them. What kind of stress could cause this? She came home this way. Maybe it was the handfeeder rushing her weaning??

Gypsy is a greenwing though not a Scarlet. Is 1405-1410 ok for a 6 month old GW as well?

[The Outlaw]

Mandy:

I'm sorry. I forgot. Everytime I see your avatar with the scarlets, I think you have a scarlet. That's an excellent weight for a GW. Its the high end, as a matter of fact.

On red feathered birds, stress lines will look clear or white. They run across the long feathers. They are indicators of things that stressed the birds along the way as the feathers were being formed. Its like a little diary. In very young birds, stress bars are common. After all, lots of things are stressful to babies.

In blue and green birds, stress bars usually appear as black horizontal lines.

In adults it usually has to do with poor diet, stress or illness. It can also show if a bird was injured. All birds will from time to time have a few stress bars. They fall, get scared, don't feel well, who knows. However, if your bird has a lot of them especially if you have fed them properly and can't interpret what may have made them develop, a trip to the vet may be in order. It may be an early indicator of a vitamin deficiency, liver or kidney problem.

[MandysBlackRoses]

Hmm, yup she has some. Her next apoinment with the A.V. is the end of this month, But I will give them a call and see what they say. I just knew she was under weight when I got her, and the vet agreed with me. He told me to keep handfeeding, but she don't want it anymore.

I will take the seed away tomorrow, and just give her a couple peanuts with breakfast. She has some cream of tweet Beak Apitite. I will leave the pellets in, and maybe she will eat them if she gets hungry in between meals. Im so use to free feeding my dog, I did'nt think that maybe you should not free feed a bird.

[The Outlaw]

Mandy:

Well, you can "free feed" your birds IF they will eat everything you offer. If they don't, its like giving little kids cookies all day and wondering why they won't eat dinner.

[bgmacaw]

Ok, after reading all the recipe threads on what you all's birds are eating, I have to ask...Do they really eat most of the things you give them?

If we ate what we feed our birds, we probably wouldn't be dealing with the health issues.

[MandysBlackRoses]

Ohh I hear that...trust me. I'm always on my kids and husband and now my pets about eating right and good health. And of course I'M the one over weight. ~grins~ Wish someone would choose my meals for me!

[svolk]

Does anyone have a picture of what stress bars look like? I've heard of them but I have yet to see any pictures.

[Machelle]

I am SUPER lucky in that department. My fids are great eaters. Caesar is almost 3 years old and I've only had him since Christmas. His previous owners were awesome with giving him a variety of foods. He will try anything and eats almost everything. The only he will not eat is carrots. Throws them out of the bowl. SO far thats the only thing I've found that he doesn't like. Kiri will try everything too. I dont think there's anything she doesn't like, actually. Merrick...he's been my picky eater but I kept trying. He FINALLY started trying what I was giving him. Everytime I gave something to the others, I always gave to him even though I knew he would just throw it out of his bowl. Well it finally paid off. He actually tried some birdie bread and was even holding it with his foot! He's a cockatiel and since I've never seen a tiel do this I'm assuming its because he watches the others. LOL! He's even trying the pasta dishes now. It's taken me 6 months to get him to east anything other than his food mix and millet but he finally has. The baby, Merlin, he's still on formula but he does try everything. Haven't run into anything he doesn't like yet, but I've only had him a week. All I can say is keep trying! I honestly didn't think Merrick would EVER get to eat anything else but he FINALLY has. I just kept giving it to him. It sure didn't hurt that he was seeing the others eat it as well. I think that helpd ALOT. Are you eating when she is? Have you tried something in front of her? Sometimes if they see you eat it they will try it. It does take awhile though. Be patient. Good luck.