Getting Rid of Food Bowls | Topics

[@connied8507]

I bought tiny food bowls and placed them on perches. The only one they've found is the one on top of the cage. Baby steps. A lot of things are new to my parrot rescues.(hulled sunflower seeds to hulled sunflowerseed/hull mix to sunflower seed on half shell to precracked sunflower seed) Now sunflower seeds are their first high value treat. Baby steps for 15 year old rescues.😅

[@DatBeautifulNightmare]

What a brilliant idea. My birds had pellets given from the start. I did a conversation with help. Im newish to bird companionship. So people like you are diamonds. Thank you for your valuable time ❤

[@BirdNerdSophie]

Enjoyed this video and has definitely given me inspiration to keep going!

[@phoeline]

Haha, the frustraton is so real. My husband once did not put any food in the wol, only hid it around the cage and Sorin was SO PISSED. He constantly was banging the food bowl and then knocked it off the feeder :D

[@wendycottingham8011]

What do you do for the veggies or chop? I usually feed chop in the morning when they are the most hungry. But it seems like that wouldn't be something you would want hidden around. Would you just hide the treats and pellets for the afternoon??

[@FlockTalk]

I still serve fresh foods in a bowl to keep the bacteria and mess contained but there are metal wire foragers for that purpose as well! Sometimes I’ll hide the cleaner produce like greens around the room or tucked in cage bars or I’ll make the produce fun by making a burrito, cutting different shapes, or serving it tucked in to artichoke leaves I hide all their dry food in the morning for them to search for all day, the produce also gets served in the morning and removed after a few hours, they can have a second serving in the evening if they’re really looking for more veggies

[@wendycottingham8011]

@FlockTalk I have one bird that seems to prefer his veggies and then just kind of picks at his pellets, Then one that hardly eats his veggies and loves his pellets but he dunks every pellet in water. I guess if he still foraged for pellets if he wanted to dunk them he could fly to the water bowl. Maybe he would enjoy his veggies wrapped up and being able to forage for them??

[@FlockTalk]

Toto currently finds a nice big pellet and flies it over to a water dish to make some soup, if there’s a will there’s a way 😂 Veggie enrichment can be a lot of fun, mine love when I use large lettuce leaves like a tortilla and wrap up their chop! Like ripping open a present on Christmas

[@susannemichelsen8879]

What could it mean when my bird walks and is swaying? Beak is closed, but he makes kinda clicking noises. He hasn't done it for a long time, and I saw him doing it again a few days again. No changes, everything calm around him. Do you have any idea?

[@Saffran0spice]

Is there a way to teach your bird to also hold bigger food? I have two rescues (parrotlets) that has never ever worked for their food and I've noticed that they are only willing to eat food small enough for them to barely chew. Food that's bigger they throw away and they never use their feet to hold food (or anything else). Any ideas on how to teach them to eat more ''challenging'' food and use their feet more?

[@FlockTalk]

Parrotlets in general don’t tend to hold food with their feet, the occasional odd one out might but a whole lot of them don’t. You likely could individually train them to hold things with their feet but it’s not something I would consider to be essential to their well-being. In terms of generally rejecting larger foods I’d experiment with different textures, demo breaking it up in front of them, and gradually serve them marginally larger pieces each time. They absolutely can eat larger pieces they often just won’t recognize it as food or don’t realize how much extra beak pressure it takes to break off a piece. Foods that crumble apart when bitten are usually a good stepping stone (I find caitec oven fresh bites pellets to be a good texture for that)

[@tuliplouart]

I’ve been trying to get my bird to get my cockatiel to do this, it’s so frustrating bc he’s gotten really good at foraging itself, but has no interest at all in foraging for his pellet. Now he’s become super hormonal bc all he forages for his millet and doesn’t eat his veggies or pellets as much. But if I take away the millet, he becomes bored and won’t eat his veggies or pellets at all. I’m so confused, idk what I’m doing wrong

[@FlockTalk]

Parrots will often hold off on eating certain foods if they know a tastier one will be coming soon, if you remove the millet but keep putting it back later they may have realized that refusing to eat the pellets makes the millet show up again. I would present only pellets in the morning somewhere it’ll be easy to tell if it’s been consumed, and then wait until right before bed time to offer an alternative if they haven’t eaten at all (wild parrots usually have a 12 hour gap between feedings, most birds can’t go more than 24hrs without eating). If they’re already known to be eating the pellets then that should be enough to get them to eat the pellets and gradually transition them to foragers. If they’ve never eaten the pellets then they need a slow gradual diet transition since they may simply not recognize them as food. If they’re still protesting then you could try out a new pellet brand or just a new size to see if that sparks enough interest to try foraging for them or you could effectively train the behaviour by rewarding them for foraging behaviours when the pellets are hidden.

[@blue9946]

How do you deal with separation anxiety? My GCC Charlie has a massive cage with loads of toys and seeds tucked into them but he gets so upset that he's in the cage he just either screams the entire time or eats. He's literally only in his cage during meal times as well. How do you manage clinginess?

[@DatBeautifulNightmare]

Green Cheek Conures are known as clingy birds. The foraging the ladies talk about is perfect. Start with a target training session around the cage. This lady will have video on it. Good luck ❤

[@Smithaa1]

I am new to cage birds n i don't like cages. Just bought a cockatiel to let her fly at least within the house. Though he bonded with me very well he felt bored n dull sometimes. I managed it thru KZbin!! Just put cockatiel singing videos. He became super excited. He also loves mirrors. I give it with little control. And sound of birds frm garden stimulates him a lot. He wants move out!! I am thinking abt free flight training

[@DatBeautifulNightmare]

@Smitha24 I use the mirror as a high-value treat in an emergency to get my bird in the cage or carrier. When I've done the research it is not recommended as the bird can believe its another bird and become like my ringneck, she bonded mainly to her reflection 😞 Apparently it also causes hormonal behaviour 😢 my ringneck adores mirrors so it's heartbreaking to realise what I've done and I'm trying my best to work with her about it. I'm sorry to forward this information to you. I know I must sound terrible but I promise its coming from a good place ❤️

[@incanusolorin2607]

That's because these birds didn't evolve to live alone. We have wild conures in my city here in Brazil (not the ones usually sold as pets in north america, as these species are mostly native to the Amazon or Pantanal), and these birds are never alone. They forage and sleep in flocks of around ten to twenty birds, and fly in pairs or trios (it's pretty cool to see them moving together). I've literally never seen a wild conure alone, not even in the air, not even for a second. I suppose many pets will eventually get used to being alone, just like they adptat to so many other aspects of captivity, but you must understand that this is really unnatural to them.

[@blue9946]

@@incanusolorin2607 I have thought about getting him a friend but every other bird he meets he picks on. At least I think that's what it is, he chases them around trying to bite them. I've introduced them properly as well, not just throwing them into it but it's the same result every time?

[@NicholasSUNNYEVERYDAY]

LOVE that giant tree branch Courtney 😲👍

[@FlockTalk]

Thanks! I’m really happy with the way it came out!

[@sherrislittlegang]

Great video

[@khaledtarek142]

this bird room is amazing it deserves more parrots its so empty and too big for 2 little birdies and this good trainer should have more parrots to live in this heaven plz get an alexandrine parakeet they are so gentle and smart i think everyone would like to see you and such a pro parrot