Sunflower Seed Junkie!

Mike72

Mike72

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Hi Folks... This is Rosie a 3 year old Military that came home with me recently.. Complete seed junkie that had no idea what a piece of fruit or veggie is! 🤨 some tough live is needed so looking for some advice please.

Pellet diet? If so what would ye recommend for a Macaw? or just a good quality seed mix and just leave it there until a hungry belly forces her to eat the good bits!...the Amazon's are in top condition as I can add all the veggies with couscous and I do 2 days of seed mix, but no, this very clever Macaw is not having it! Jesus these are clever birds! 😮 first macaw for me so new territory..almost get the feeling she havin a laugh watching me coming with a bowl of veg.IMG_20200128_105422.jpgIMG_20200128_105338.jpg
 
Hi Mike and Hello sweet Rosie, ok a sun flower junkie, with many birds that have been brought up on a bad diet it can take time to change there ways, she looks very active, that is good as macaws can get lazy. ok I will say try different mixes that do not contain sunflower seeds but get some separate to use in training. I use J&J lean and fit for Jackie but apart from fruit and veg that she loves she dose have other nuts that I give her separately. when trying to change any diet I recommend weighing your bird to make sure she dose not loose too much weight. you need patients and perseverance. and its a normal reaction for a macaw to throw other foods to the floor while she will search for her favorite.
 
Hi Mike, as Michael has already said, time and patience. You've got to out-wait the bird which can be hard when they're such determined creatures! I would agree to move to a high quality seed/pellet mix for now to get her off the junk food. Ours used to be on a good seed mix (can't remember the name sorry!), and a lot of it did get wasted. Originally, we used to leave the food in the cage also, but others and our vet reasoned that wild birds who are very active don't have food constantly available, so a caged bird should especially have to work/forage for food to avoid weight and boredom issues. We then got them onto Harrison's High Potency Coarse Pellets, and gave them mealtimes. A foraging breakfast, then a bowl of food for their evening meal. It took a couple of false starts, but it was easier using the birdy bread that they do, that's a good way to transition to other foods. Adding blueberries to the bread mix for example to introduce fruits. Eating fresh veg and fruit in front of her and sharing so that she thinks she's taking yours. The Harrison's Power Treats also seem to be irresistible to ours, the same excitement level as offering a walnut! Ours are now on the pellets, with limited nuts. Then fresh veg and/or fruit added to their dinner every day. They're allowed the odd egg, and birdy noodles are their treat night. It did take a while to get the quantity ratio of pellets and fresh food right, as they do tend to put weight on easily, but regular weighing and you'll get a good balance. When we're home, we'll give snacks in the form of banana or apple for example with a nut reward too. We don't tend to get food waste now either (other than the peel, or if one of them really doesn't feel like eg.. carrots that day :lol:), they eat all of it! Having said all that, I know not everyone likes feeding pellets, but with a good selection of veg, ours love it.
 
I will agree that using pellets with Macaws there is less waist and I also use pellets but I mix it with there dry mix as I still believe that it is important that my birds get a full variety of foods. this is mainly encase they ever escape and need to find foods out side, as I free fly as well. I pick as much local foods as possible to feed to my flock. even if they do not free fly, I know they will have a better chance of living if worst comes to the worst and they go missing for a while, birds fed on pellets will have a lower chance of surviving in the big out side world.
 
Thank you, great info there.... Will have Hawthorne berries, mountain ash, blackberry from the garden that I'll introduce during the year too. So many different seed mixed out there with dodgie advice to say the least. I use deli nature amazonas 22 at the moment which smells great if a little strong with sunflower seeds. Pellets are expensive aren't they!!!!! I'll start introducing pellets and kaytee and zupream if I spelt that correctly seems to have good reviews...local pet shop has some small half kg bags I'll try out before I spend the big dollar.. Must inquire about pellets for the kids too, they as bad as the macaw 😂
 
dianaT said:
What a lovely bird. I only ever holiday homed 2 macaws a Greenwing and the Hahns. Maybe our members who have them can advise. @MJGB - MikeJenGaryBeckyBoo @Michael Reynolds ....anyone else please.
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Thank you...she's a smasher...settled right in here and she has plenty toys. Her previous home was spacious but that was about it unfortunately. She seems to have a great nature, already I can feed her by hand which is good since I only have her since sunday and she was broke and bred aviary bird!
 
Nutribird tropical gone in the bowl with a little seed without sunflower...unimpressed...little hungry and a tad grumpy 😂
 
Wouldn't bother with supreme or kaylee absolute rubbish try tops or Harrison's crush pellets into powder wet it into a paste and mix it with her seeds she will get the taste of it gradually put some chopped pellets in with seed over time slowly take seed out takes times but it's worked with all 7 of mine
 
It's surprising how long a small bag of Harrison's lasts to be honest, so if you did want to try for pellets I reckon it would be better to start with what toy ultimately want them on. Between our 2 macaws, we use 1 small bag (1lb/453g) every month or so. (£10 ish per bag) Each bird has a total of 20 cubes each a day, plus about 5 each of the Harrison's power treats. The smaller bags are best for us because they fit in the fridge, and as they are organic pellets, they have about a 5 week shelf life after opening and refrigerated. Long story short..... it doesn't cost aff much as you think! Obviously as well as that they have fresh stuff too.
 
What a lovely macaw. As you probably know, soaking and sprouting the sunflower is also a great and easy way to get much better nutrition into your parrot quickly. My Dusty was a bit of a seed junky but quickly took to eating sprouted seed, after which her condition improved very quickly. My Hahns macaws loved sprouted sunflower too. I also really recommend Harrisons pellets and power treats, bit it might take a while for them to be accepted.
 
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