Hi,my African Grey Parrot is now 13wks old,and does not want to eat on it's own.I have to feed it twice a day?

Question

I need help to train/learn him to eat on his own. He does eat his "poridge" (if I handfeed him!!), but does not want to eat his parrot food (seed). What do I do? He's got a huge cage-and his always outside it climbing and playing.

Answer 1

It is easy for the porridge- you are coddling him. He will eat the seeds if he is hungry. It is a lot easier (and a bonding moment) to eat the baby formula. I would first slowly decrease the amount of formula you give him (over a couple weeks) and then start mixing some seeds and pellets (you do not want to feed an all seed diet- poor nutrition), as well as some tasty soft fruits/veggies (corn is usually a favorite) with the porridge and leave it in his enclosure for a while. If he is hungry enough, he will eat the formula from the bowl (and believe me, he will make the most pitiful begging noises to you). Work on getting him to eat formula out of a bowl, and gradually increase the amount of hard food. Once he is doing this, you can probably decrease to two very small hand feedings a day. Just keep increasing the hard foods and slowly decreasing the formula to one hand feed a day, and then eventually none. Probably will take another month or so (depending on your bird), but is less stressful for both of you.

Answer 2

13 weeks old is much too young to wean an African grey. Did you raise this bird yourself from the parents or buy it ?

If you bought it, I'd call the owners right away and tell them "Shame on you for selling an unweaned baby"

If you raised it yourself, just understand he's still only a baby. Just like people, they can't eat solids all at once. You wouldn't feed a six month old baby steak and potatoes, so you can't expect him to eat grown up food all the time either.

Force weaning a baby by refusing to feed it baby food until it is so hungry it will try and eat anything is cruel and wrong. It will cause all kind of behavioral problems later on. Don't rush the baby, he needs time to learn to eat on his own.

It is not unusual for any large bird like African greys and macaws to take up to 6 months to wean fully. There is nothing wrong with his preferring baby food right now.

The best way to help him learn to eat on his own is by feeding soft foods like cooked veggie pieces, fresh fruit pieces and even pasta cooked without salt or butter.Offer it from your fingers, if that's what he likes. I've had great success in making a small dish of fruit/veggie pieces, and sitting down with the baby on my lap or arm. Offer the baby little bits of the soft foods from your fingers. It will be messy and take time, but keep at it. Spend at least 10-15 minutes offering the bits of soft food before you give in a let him have a few bites of baby food.

Keep repeating this process daily, and soon he'll be reaching for his favorite bits right out of the bowl, which is what you want. Once he reaches that stage, you can put him on a tabletop perch and feed him from his bowl. It won't take him long to reach into the dish from his perch. Once he makes it that far, the battle is half over.

Seed diets are not suitable for African greys as a sole means of nutrition. Small amounts of seed once a week or so is good as a treat, but he really needs a good quality pelleted diet and plenty of fresh fruits and veggies like:
corn on the cob, green beans, peas, beans, steamed carrot, sweet potatoes, broccoli, apple, banana, halved seedless grapes, raisins, oranges, pears, peaches. My birds like the commercial mix called Bean Cusine, and they love the three color spiral pasta.

There are many good recipes for "Birdie Mash" to be found on the internet, and I use these a lot with my weaning birds with great success. Just be sure to use fresh veggies and fruits, not canned! Canned foods are ok in a pinch, but are no substitute for the fresh stuff. If you MUST feed canned, make sure there is no sugar, salt or other nasty stuff in the can, and rinse the foods well before feeding. .

I wish you all the best with your baby.

Gale

Answer 3

I know it feels like hand feeding will never end, but it does.
Thirteen weeks is still quite young, he's just a baby. I remember mine at that age wanted to be hand fed as well, today she still enjoys it. As for seed, that should not be an African Grey's diet staple. Spoon feed her at night for a time. Keep pellets in her cage, (a good brand like 100% Organic Nature's Choice Essentials) at all times, sprinkle a little seed on top, becareful, not too much seed. Mine generally eats them at night. He should have a veggie mix (frozen veggies cooked with black beans, or any kind of bean and some brown rice, whiz in the blender to make a mash) and a little fruit during the day. Continue to feed him his baby food at night with a spoon eventually adding a little to his veggie mix.
Here is a sample diet for your bird. This is my Grey's diet: Pellets always in the cage, low-fat granola and organic low salt cereal (like cheerio's) for breakfast (no milk), mixed baby greens, a diced strawberry, a few frozen blueberries, small cubes of watermelon (basically a fruit salad and greens) for dinner she has something warm, maybe some brown rice cooked with organic veggies.

Answer 4

don't worried your African Grey just need more time that's all,my was almost 17 weeks old and still was getting hand feed twice a day.he will let you know when he is ready,just stay to the feeding and over him everyday some seeds and lots of fruits and veggies...like one day cooked sweet potato's and carrots (carrots a bit cooked that they are soft), you need to find out what he likes or don't likes,that needs time and when you have a parrot you have to be very patient :)

http://www.avesint.com/diet.html here you can find a good diet for your Grey and maybe find some tips for your baby also, but like i said 13 weeks its not that old and its OK that he still want to get hand feed,some need 20 weeks before they are weaned :)

Answer 5

He is too young you will have too feed him little longer, you can try give him less baby food, don't make him completelly fool because he is not gone to try a different food since he is fool, instead feed him 3 times a day. if he needs 1 once of food divided in 3 portion for the day. that way he will be available to rich more food if he needs it. I have raised different parrots and one of them take longer to learn to eat but she finally made it.
Good lock

Answer 6

Keep offering foods, but for the bird's sake, PLEASE don't force him to wean! Feed him when he is hungry and show him that the other things are food too. Plain Cheerios are great weaning munchies, but not for the sole diet.

Please take the seed out!!!!!!!

Wean him on to a good pelleted diet that is reccomended by your vet. Seeds are the equivalant of birdie junk food and can cause severe health problems later in life if that is their sole or main diet. Once they are on seeds, it is harder to get them to convert to something better for them.

Ideally, he should be on about 80% pellets, 15% fresh foods, and 5% seeds and treats.

Answer 7

You need to beat it, moderatly hard.