Your thoughts on Feeding

[Dreamline]

Short sweet and simple question...

Open feed or training schedule?

Sapphire had 8 years of open feeding so I am just wondering - although
I want to start training her to do stuff...

Thanks

[ROYJOY]

food managment isnt nesesary if the reward is something she really likes, whether it be treats, love, or a favorite toy. some birds love the interaction so much, they will keep preforming, and taking treats, after the are full, and just take the treat and set it down, then do another trick, and so on.

[silvercb67]

I agree! I have clicker trained Scarlet to do tricks & she would much rather get praise than a treat. Keep us posted on your progress. Good Luck!

[chapala]

Parrots do have crops to store food, and in the wild they do not eat all the time. The two main feeding times are first thing in the morning, and again late in the afternoon. Personal opinion is that having food in front of a bird all the time can make them picky eaters when it comes to eating vegetables and such, an important part of their diets. I don't leave any food in the cage at night, and they all are good eaters in the morning when they get their Shauna's Mash (sprouted grains and legumes, mixture of food-processed raw vegetables, a little fruit, and some natural supplements like alfalfa leaf powder). Actually, they're good eaters all the time. I give a dry mix at noon, and a cooked mix with fresh vegetables late afternoon. Nuts last thing before bed.

Exceptions are some of the little, active birds such as Budgies, who need food available more often than most parrots.

[Greycloud]

My birds have pellets available at all times. They get many foraging toys full of treats that really bring out thier natural foraging abilities. This also keeps them busy and entertained,

[MissV]

Ditto on the not needing to restrict food for training...treats and/or praise work really well. I reward tricks only with lots of excitement and praise. Without constant repetition and just a couple of days, Etienne will do a 360 turn on his perch with only the word "turn" because he knows I'll lavish scritches and attention on him for it. ^^

Honestly I think it borders just a smidge on cruel to restrict food throughout the day....for optimum vitamin intake, high quality awesome pellets (I use Harrison's course pepper adult lifetime pellets) should be available all day--changed fresh daily. Sometimes birds won't eat as much as usual or skip out on a meal, so I feel it's important for them to be able to grab something when they're hungry, just like we can.

For instance....a bird might expend a little bit more energy from getting REALLY involved with a toy or doing some activity that they found particularly fun. Then they've burned more calories and they may need to replenish some. Most of the experts and particularly the actual companies that make pellets suggest that you keep them available all day.