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My parrot won’t eat from my hand

Discuss the methods and techniques of clicker training, target training and bonding. These are usually the first steps in training a young parrot.

My parrot won’t eat from my hand

Postby ZZ.Z » Wed Aug 21, 2019 7:34 pm

I have been visiting my parrot, a peach front conure, for about one and a half month, and I just brought him home a couple of days ago. I was told that he has been fed by his bird mom for a little while so he’s kinda shy. He only let me scratch his beak sometimes but he’s willing to step up and perch on my finger for a long time. I know it takes time for him to trust me so I’m just here to collect some more information then I can do things right...(this is my first bird so I really want to give him a good life:)) the main problem I want to solve is that my parrot does not eat food from my hand, not an aggressive way. He will just pick up the food and let go... maybe he’s just kinda nervous? Pease help, thank you! :hatched:
ZZ.Z
Parrotlet
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 24
Number of Birds Owned: 1
Types of Birds Owned: Peach Front Conure
Flight: No

Re: My parrot won’t eat from my hand

Postby Pajarita » Thu Aug 22, 2019 9:46 am

You don't say how old the bird is and, if it is a young baby, he might not be able to eat on its own yet.
Try handfeeding him with a syringe and, if it doesn't take it, bring it back to its mother because baby birds die very fast when not fed. Also, a parent-raised bird is not the same as a hand-fed one - you do know that, right?
Pajarita
Norwegian Blue
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 18701
Location: NW Pa
Number of Birds Owned: 30
Types of Birds Owned: RoseBreasted too, CAG, DoubleYellowHead Amazon, BlueFront Amazon, YellowNape Amazon, Senegal, African Redbelly, Quaker, Sun Conure, Nanday, BlackCap Caique, WhiteBelly Caique, PeachFace lovebird, budgies,
Flight: Yes

Re: My parrot won’t eat from my hand

Postby ZZ.Z » Thu Aug 22, 2019 1:34 pm

He is already weaned. And he eats food from his bowl pretty well. And he started eating some oranges from my hand now, just not other food or common bird treats.
Btw. I noticed that every time I came around he would start reaching to his food bowl and start eating. He does not do this to anyone else.
ZZ.Z
Parrotlet
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 24
Number of Birds Owned: 1
Types of Birds Owned: Peach Front Conure
Flight: No

Re: My parrot won’t eat from my hand

Postby Pajarita » Fri Aug 23, 2019 9:23 am

If he is under 5 months of age, he is not weaned. Petstores and breeders tell you they are but they are not. And the fact that he eats by himself does not translate into the bird being weaned. A two year old child eats by himself but mothers don't just sit the toddler at the table and put a dish of adult food in front of them, right? Well, it's the same with baby birds, they start eating on their own but the parents still supplement their intake feeding them in the beak. So, please, tell us: how old is the bird?

Young birds need special food, just like puppies, kittens, colts and human babies do. They need to eat soft food served fresh and warm twice a day. What are your feeding the baby, aside from oranges?

When he starts eating as soon as he sees you, it means that he is asking you for food (isn't it actually begging by chirping and making head movements?) and that he considers you its momma so make sure that he does not regard you as a momma who is not giving it the food it needs.
Pajarita
Norwegian Blue
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 18701
Location: NW Pa
Number of Birds Owned: 30
Types of Birds Owned: RoseBreasted too, CAG, DoubleYellowHead Amazon, BlueFront Amazon, YellowNape Amazon, Senegal, African Redbelly, Quaker, Sun Conure, Nanday, BlackCap Caique, WhiteBelly Caique, PeachFace lovebird, budgies,
Flight: Yes

Re: My parrot won’t eat from my hand

Postby ZZ.Z » Fri Aug 23, 2019 10:54 am

He’s three month old. I feed him a mix of seeds, veggies and a small amount of pellets. Orange is the only fruit he eats for now, I’m currently trying to introduce kiwi to him.
Thank you for the information about how he’s asking me for food, I have no idea that’s a thing. What should I do for that?
Thanks again!
ZZ.Z
Parrotlet
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 24
Number of Birds Owned: 1
Types of Birds Owned: Peach Front Conure
Flight: No

Re: My parrot won’t eat from my hand

Postby Pajarita » Sat Aug 24, 2019 9:41 am

Cheese on rye! At only three months of age, that bird is most definitely NOT weaned, the breeder or the petstore lied to you, my dear. You can't feed a baby adult food, he needs baby food and, at only three months of age, he needs baby bird formula given to him in a syringe at least twice a day (and I would do it four times a day, actually). You also need to provide it with soft food because all the protein food you are giving is too hard for a baby. Please get yourself some good quality baby food formula and mix it as they recommend only add fruit puree to it (from baby food jars). Also, you need to make it two types of soft food that needs to be served fresh and warm twice a day, once for breakfast (after he gets his formula) and again at dinner (before he gets his formula which should be the last thing he eats before going to sleep). Soft food is what the name implies, food that is soft and easy to digest and eat. Gloop (which you should continue feeding for the rest of the bird's life) is one kind but you can make polenta, whole grain couscous, pastina, oatmeal (better if you get Irish Oatmeal) and mix it with veggies and fruits pureed (again, baby food).

PLEASE PLEASE hurry up with this because there are studies that show that baby birds that went hungry (and your bird IS going hungry!) grow up with eating disorders.
Pajarita
Norwegian Blue
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 18701
Location: NW Pa
Number of Birds Owned: 30
Types of Birds Owned: RoseBreasted too, CAG, DoubleYellowHead Amazon, BlueFront Amazon, YellowNape Amazon, Senegal, African Redbelly, Quaker, Sun Conure, Nanday, BlackCap Caique, WhiteBelly Caique, PeachFace lovebird, budgies,
Flight: Yes

Re: My parrot won’t eat from my hand

Postby ZZ.Z » Sat Aug 24, 2019 5:19 pm

OMG I have no idea about this! Thanks a lot! I’ll definitely take care of that as soon as possible.
And one more question, should I keep his food bowl in the cage all time or I give him food only at specific time?
Btw, he eats a lot
ZZ.Z
Parrotlet
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 24
Number of Birds Owned: 1
Types of Birds Owned: Peach Front Conure
Flight: No

Re: My parrot won’t eat from my hand

Postby Pajarita » Sun Aug 25, 2019 9:49 am

All birds, babies, juveniles AND adults, should always have food available to them all the time. Herbivore birds (which is, pretty much, what we all have because there are only two -possibly three- species of parrots that are omnivores but they are not normally kept as companions) are not like predators, they pretty much have some type of food or another right there where they are (trees!). The trick to keep them healthy is the type of food they have available. For a baby, as I said, you need to have soft seeds (a good quality budgie mix works because it has mostly millets), raw produce (one type of fruit, one veggie, one leafy green or a cruciferous like broccoli) and two types of soft food like gloop (which is easy to make and freeze so you don't have to make it fresh every day, just thaw it and warm it up in the microwave) and something else like the coooked corn meal (polena), couscous, pastina (this is the teeny tiny pasta they sell for babies or soup), oatmeal mixed with pureed fruit/veggies which need to be made fresh because they harden and dry easily. As the baby grows, it will start eating more on its own and will naturally gravitate toward the more 'grainy' food (this is why gloop is so useful, because you can use it as baby AND adult food) until, eventually, it will reject the formula. And this is the point when the baby is truly weaned - when it no longer wants to be fed and NOT when it can eat on its own.
Pajarita
Norwegian Blue
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 18701
Location: NW Pa
Number of Birds Owned: 30
Types of Birds Owned: RoseBreasted too, CAG, DoubleYellowHead Amazon, BlueFront Amazon, YellowNape Amazon, Senegal, African Redbelly, Quaker, Sun Conure, Nanday, BlackCap Caique, WhiteBelly Caique, PeachFace lovebird, budgies,
Flight: Yes

Re: My parrot won’t eat from my hand

Postby ZZ.Z » Sun Aug 25, 2019 11:09 am

What is gloop and how to make it?
ZZ.Z
Parrotlet
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 24
Number of Birds Owned: 1
Types of Birds Owned: Peach Front Conure
Flight: No

Re: My parrot won’t eat from my hand

Postby Pajarita » Mon Aug 26, 2019 10:47 am

There are several recipes of gloop on the diet section - from very easy to the more complicated one. But, basically, it's a dish made out of whole grains cooked al dente (soft outside but hard inside), pulses (cooked thoroughly) mixed together and allowed to cool before mixing with frozen veggies (either chopped -as in chopped broccoli- or in small size -like corn or peas) and cooked sweet potatoes. This is all mixed together and split into daily portions which are then frozen individually so you can use one at a time (people that have only one bird use ice cube trays they fill up and then cover with plastic to freeze, taking out a single 'cube' to thaw for the daily portion).

I use oat groats, hulled barley, kamut, spelt, wheat, red and black rice, black or brown lentils as grains/pulses - and frozen chopped broccoli, corn, peas, carrots (the ones that come diced), butternut squash (it already comes diced into littel cubes) and cooked sweet potatoes (I bake them in the skin in the winter and nuke them in a Potato Express bag in the summer) that I then peel and cut into small chunks. The final product should be about 50% grains/pulses and 50% veggies.
Pajarita
Norwegian Blue
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 18701
Location: NW Pa
Number of Birds Owned: 30
Types of Birds Owned: RoseBreasted too, CAG, DoubleYellowHead Amazon, BlueFront Amazon, YellowNape Amazon, Senegal, African Redbelly, Quaker, Sun Conure, Nanday, BlackCap Caique, WhiteBelly Caique, PeachFace lovebird, budgies,
Flight: Yes

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