How to put weight on a Young Macaw

[The Hills]

Hi We have a 9 month old miltary macaw named Red. Red is very energitic and loves to play(rough) He loves to roll over and over and over. He is very loving bird and loves people, unlike the others in the house. He loves nutriberries and dried fruit, he gets this and a mixture of seeds and pellets every morning and then he gets another helping at night. He gets veggies dried and fresh during the week and we have a powdered vitamin that he gets too. He eats good, its's just that I guess he runs it all off.
Any ideas on How to put some extra weight on him?
Thanks Hollie and Dusty

[The Hills]

Also I forgot to add that we've tried feeding him formula, but after a cuple of days he found this to be boring and decided it would be more fun to fed it to me. he just seem to be more intrested in trying to find somthing to tear up or hide under.
Thanks

[Irish]

You may want to consider having him thoroughly checked over and tested by an AV to rule out illness, and then ask his/her advice on how to fatten up your baby. There are a lot of "recipes" and ideas out there for adding weight to birds, but before anything else, you want to know that he's not thin because he's ill and needs treatment, because if he's ill, your efforts may not be successful. Good luck :-).

[Macaw Doctor]

Big Macs, Taco Bell, Burger King....

{just KIDDING, guys - LOL}

...have you given thought to any "oil-based" nutrients - {ie:Linatone, Vionate, etc:} ??

I MAY be talking outta class, but...

...don't our beloved "caws"...eat a lot of palm nuts in the wild ???

{PLEASE...PLEASE...CHECK ingredients FIRST !!!!}

[macattack]

what makes you think he is underweight? maybe he is just small for his size. if he's eating all you say he's eating. and has all that energy than i figure he's healthy. but if his metabolism is off, you can only have that checked by the vet. which is something to consider by pulling blood and have enzymes and metabolic stuff done.

Lets say he plays ALOT... bruises and hurts himself (that you can't really see but enough to tax his system) and then he eats. all that food is going to metabolize to help him recover, vs. helping him gain a few grams... this goes for anyone, if i have an extremely stressful or heavy lifting, day (bird day would be playful, etc) eat a banana or two.. the vitamin K offered up in a banana is good for muscle healing. and bruising. otherwise, birdie needs to pull that from his dailiy ration.

what you don't mention is do you feed fresh veggies and fruits? or just pellets and seed? and from those two, do you know for sure he is getting enough pellets for his nutritional needs? i would totally pull any seed for now. see how much pellets he eats. and supplement with some nuts (not seed) the big stuff. and add a few veggies, the darker stuff to help him metabolize it. or some of the darker red fruits...

The only way i can think of for any animal is add some soluble fat to his diet. oils. and you can get alot of that from nuts. peanuts. almonds. black oil sunflower, etc... Thats why they say don't feed peanuts haphazardly. They can become empty calories. (though they are more nutritious than most people give them credit for.) I don't think pouring oils on the food is a good idea. I've never heard of bird people doing that. but to put weight on my dogs / or horses/ goats, etc i do.

do you weigh him daily? or weekly? what does he weigh vs. what the breed standard is?

[Bonesy]

Personally I find most macaws to "feel" underweight when you pick them up, but keep in mind that big a bird needs to be light in order to still fly. You haven't given any weights or visual signs that make you think he is underweight, but it may just be you see him playing & rushing around all day & you imagine that his metabolism is going just as fast.

I find young parrots can tend to feel a little boney, but look at his legs. If he has plenty of muscle surrounding his drumsticks & his crop is plump & full (the breast bone should be feelable but not protruding) then I don't think you have much to worry over.

Start feeding him some nuts. With shells so he has some fun cracking them open. Big birds that stay with me get Peanuts, hazelnuts, Filberts, almond, the odd cashew or Brazil nut, or a bit of pecan or walnut. Don't feed stuff like pistachios as they are salted to hell & back.

Dont go overboard though. Assure yourself that he's thin before yuou go pumping calories into him. A bird that gets even slightly fat comes under great risk from fatty liver disease & organ problems. Especially kidney failure. So make 101% sure first. In the meantime introduce him to a single new nut every day, get him started on them. They'll be good for him in rationed amounts.

Wholewheat rice & pasta is also good.

Do you have any photos of your bird?

[The Hills]

Thanks for the replies guys! My wife posted this question about one of her mother's birds. When she gets home I'll be sure to tell her to read your posts and reply back. Thanks!

[The Hills]

He does get fresh veggies and fruits. I guess I could be worrying over nothing because he's in the house with a very mature B&G that is filled out very well. He has been introduced to peanuts, and he only recently figured out that there is actually a nut inside the shell!

Thanks for all your help. We will post a pic soon. He is quite a character!

[kensbuns]

What is his weight??? Peanut butter is good. We used that to but weight on a very underweight U2.

[Macaaaw]

I see this is an older thread, but what the heck.

A macaw goes through a period where he/she will trim a little weight as they go from nestling to young adult. That weight will go up again, but will most likely never top out at his highest weight. That is natural. Remember these guys need to get air-borne.

I agree with the peanut butter. Natural is better. Most macaws like it.