reducing food--as training method

[Exitos872]

I am not very experienced with birds but from what I've read I have to agree that your bird should be dropping some of its food. Also if your a fan of michaels you will see that he recommends that the bird should have a little left over after its done eating. This insures that the bird has enough to eat. Just give him some extra. The cost is negligable so why not?

this is true if your taking food away after an hour... i am not if i had there would probably be about 20 left over pellets

This would be like if your kid had crumbs on the floor after eating a meal then you would give him less next time to ensure that next time he will be more careful and get it in his mouth and also save you from having to sweep.

My Amazons throw empty almond shells on the floor and drop some of the food they are holding while perched on the top of their cage. My cockatiels don't do it deliberately but they really get into their food. I gave them chopped up raw broccoli yesterday. Maggie loved it. She had it all over her.

That is why brooms and dust pans were invented.

Not sure how that was useful, Im glad you feed your cockateil broccoli?

[Pajarita]

My dear, you don't sound to be willing to even consider constructive criticism which does NOT bode well for your birds for the simple reason that, if you want to be a good birdkeeper, you need to be extremely humble, keep an open mind and be ready to change your position often because we are in the process of learning about them so change is inevitable. And you are wrong about what kind of diet a sun conure would eat because they do eat fruits, veggies, leafy greens, whole grains, etc with alacrity and without becoming obese.

[Exitos872]

Parajarita
I Never once said sun conures don't eat what you have listed. Nor did i once say i did not give my conure said foods. Nor did i say they would become Obease from eating those foods I think its fantastic that you have great knowledge to share. Im pretty sure that your so dramatic your not reading anything im saying. Im also pretty sure i know what my conure turns his nose up to better then you do. I do give my conure veggies and the like... never said i didnt. so im not sure where your getting that from. What i did say is that i use a proven good base food for my conure, so im assured hes getting the vitamins he needs and i use fresh stuff to supplement that instead of visa versa. WItch i think is the point Wolf brought up that he disagrees with me on, and thats fine. You have no right and are way off base saying im starving my bird. He is behond spoiled and very well fed and taken care of. I do have an open mind when you come at me with something constructive, as wolf did. we disagree, but thats ok... i dont think hes a bird torturer for his opinion. and mine is of that in a perfect world where my bird eats what i give him and not what he likes then yes Wolfs way is better.

[Exitos872]

"Sun conures are considered to be “the most beautiful of neotropical parrots”. Adults are typically 30 cm in length and weigh between 100 and 123 g. The wings measure 146 to 162 mm in length and the bill grows to somewhere between 19 and 25 mm. They have medium-sized bodies and long, pointed tails."
Soure EoL.org
Yeah Niko falls right in there

[Hookturn]

I'm a new parrot owner (well owner doesn't sound right cause I'm sure he owns me) so take this for what it's worth. The people on this forum have your little guy's best interest at heart. Sometimes the delivery might seem harsh or insensitive but believe me regardless of the delivery they do have good advice particularly when it comes to nutrition. I've had my share of disagreements with folks here but I do know that regardless of their position they do want the best for my little buddy.

There really is some good advice here on the best food for your little one. Whether you take the advice or not is up to you but know that the advice is given in your birds best interest. As for me, I would rather my conure get a "base diet" that is grains rice veggies fruits etc. than pellets. But I do give mine pellets too in the evening.

And I could be wrong but it sounded like you said your bird won't eat much of the fruits and veggies you provide. Might I suggest that is because your bird has a choice between eating those healthy options or the pellets. I don't know very much about birds but I can tell you that my little one would go for pellets every time given the choice. Just like my 8 year old would go for chocolate cake for breakfast over any healthy option if given the choice. You're the parent and as such you decide what's best.
Again, you can choose to follow the advice given or not. But please don't make your decision based on the tone or method in which the advice is given. Everyone here just wants you to have a happy healthy well-adjusted friend.

[Exitos872]

hook thanks for your input
I choose to give my bird a pellet based diet supplemented by fruits and veggies.and thats not going to change. The type of pellet i give my bird is not a frooty tooty pellet filled with sugar and candy. It is a well balanced stable food for him to eat. He also gets offered fruits and veggies on a daily basis, witch sometimes he eats...aaand sometimes he doesn't. Alls i said is that i portioned his food so that he finishes it in an 8 hour period and there is not much waist. Rarely at all. Then all off the sudden im torturing my poor bird. My bird is a sun conure with a fantastic personality. i spend between 3 and 4 hours a day playing with him. More then that on weekends. He does pretty much everything with me. I was with him when he first came to the pet store an visited him every day while he was there. I had him trained to wear a harness, step up and fly to me before he ever even came home.
I did do my research on what I feed him. My opinion varies from people on this forum so im a bird torturer. BELIEVE me if he is hungry, wants something he is not scared at all to let me know. or the Neighborhood for that matter. He DOES get offered fresh stuff also. He IS a healthy weight. He IS a happy, spoiled bird. Im often accused of taking better care of him then i do my kids. Before passing judgments on me go read something about rodybush maintenance and california blend. take a look at a medium pellet.

[Wolf]

Although I don't agree with your chosen diet for your bird, I don't believe that I have ever inferred that you torture your bird, especially as that is not what I think at all, I just commented because I am stupid enough to care. You are always welcome to disagree with me as I too have much to learn and am doing the best I can to do just that. I really don't mind if anyone agrees with me or not as we all have to walk our own path and in doing so sometimes we are in a crowd and other times we walk in solitude and either way all is good.

[Pajarita]

Parajarita
I Never once said sun conures don't eat what you have listed. Nor did i once say i did not give my conure said foods. Nor did i say they would become Obease from eating those foods I think its fantastic that you have great knowledge to share. Im pretty sure that your so dramatic your not reading anything im saying. Im also pretty sure i know what my conure turns his nose up to better then you do. I do give my conure veggies and the like... never said i didnt. so im not sure where your getting that from. What i did say is that i use a proven good base food for my conure, so im assured hes getting the vitamins he needs and i use fresh stuff to supplement that instead of visa versa. WItch i think is the point Wolf brought up that he disagrees with me on, and thats fine. You have no right and are way off base saying im starving my bird. He is behond spoiled and very well fed and taken care of. I do have an open mind when you come at me with something constructive, as wolf did. we disagree, but thats ok... i dont think hes a bird torturer for his opinion. and mine is of that in a perfect world where my bird eats what i give him and not what he likes then yes Wolfs way is better.

This is what you wrote about your bird's diet:
" I mean i know if i had a perfect sun conure menu that Niko would eat all the time and finish all his vegies, id Totally agree. but chances are he wouldn't." And " i know what my conure turns his nose up to better then you do"

What I said was that yes, sun conures would eat a perfect sun conure menu and, although they might start as 'turning their nose up', they all do in the beginning but end up eating the same healthy stuff they rejected. Only it takes time... and that doesn't mean the three or four months you've had your bird.

And no, you are not giving a "proven good base food" because nobody has ever proven that pellets are good. You might believe they are and that's your right but it's most definitely not 'proven'.

Then "I do have an open mind when you come at me with something constructive, as wolf did." but, in reality, this contradicts this other statement "I choose to give my bird a pellet based diet supplemented by fruits and veggies.and thats not going to change" You either have an open mind and do research based on the argument your interlocutor gives you or don't and say that you are not going to change, regardless.

But I am done with you. I am sorry that I (and everybody else which posted they did not agree with your diet) could not make you reconsider or even look into the subject in more depth because I sincerely believe your bird is not getting the best but, unfortunately, the law says that your bird is your property and that you can do whatever you want with it so that's that for him and this argument.

[Exitos872]

Never said ya did wolf. As a matter of fact i agree with you in a perfect world.I actually said you were the only one who can answer without being a drama queen and actually be informative!

[Wolf]

Ok, I misunderstood, I apologise.