In love (breeding period)

[nagelsan]

Hi,
My african grey and my senegal are both really in love with me, wich makes it kind of undoable to do anything with them.
They have this for months now.
As soon as i give them attention, they will give me food, duck a bit and hangdown their wings.
I would really like to trick train with them, but can not reward them with a treat or some attention because of it.
The only thing i can do, is put them on the tree and then leave them alone.
Thats not why i have them, i want to interact and give them the attention they need.
I have been looking around on the internet, because i know there is something you can do with changing their diet, but in dutch there is not much to find.
In english i dont know wich words to use when i am surching, so i can not find it.
Can somebody please tell me where to look and is it really working?
Thanks

Sandra

[Michael]

Yeah, you're feeding them too much. Describe in detail the diet, amount, and time of feeding and I bet I can point out how this is aiding existing environmental triggers for hormonal behavior.

[nagelsan]

i'll try to do this properly, maybee not knowing the correct english translations.
i have special healty seeds, especially for greys and cockatoos. (wich claimed to be one of the best seeds available in the netherlands)
they get this in the morning, about two table spoons i guess.
later, around noon i will give them some fruit, like apple/orange or some vegies, mostly cooked beens with pasta and paprika or carrot. (one or two table spoons)
in the evening they get some pellets, about the same amount as the seeds.
i have optibird or nutribird pellets, because these are the best to find in the netherlands.
My grey gets some extra calcium in his water about one or two times a week.
Besides that they get some sunflower seeds as a treat or some nuts, but only when i trick train them.
my eclectus gets some more fruits ofcourse, but he doesnt have this problem.
my cockatoo tends to eet his seeds better, so i will skip them sometimes, to make him eat his pellets better, same for my eclectus.
my senegal will eat everything i will give her, so i can put her on any food i would like.
my grey isnt that difficult too, so it will probably wont be an issue either.

my grey has plucked his feathers around his neck (because of a accident he had in the past) so he will get some spirulina tablets sometimes, wich ofcourse he wont eat this way, so i bake him an egg and put them through, i think ones a month.

i think this is it.
hope you can give me some proper advice.
\i have been surching around the dutch internet, but could not find a thing, only that you can not give them to much food.
i dont weigh them, but i can feel they arent any havier since they get this food, by feeling their chest.
so i thought this is the right amount, but if you know this any better, please let me know, i will try everything if it is healty.
thanks

[Michael]

Do they finish everything you give to them to eat or is there some amount left?

[nagelsan]

there is some left
they mostly finish their seeds, but their pellets arent always finished.
same with their fruits, wich i take away after a few hours.

[Michael]

Look at how much seeds you normally gave and split that in half. Offer them in the evening rather than the morning. Use the least favorite foods earlier on when the parrot is more hungry and let it fill up on favorite foods before bed to compensate any inadequacy. Also feed more vegetables. They dilute nutrition better and fill the bird up so hopefully that will tone down hormonal activity. Things like broccoli, cauliflower, string beans, carrots are good. Feed these in the morning before anything else so that it has to eat them and fill up before getting access to more preferred foods.

[nagelsan]

okay,
will try this right a way and give them more vegies.
my daughter is a big fan of cauliflower and broccoli, so she will enjoy the change in their food too hahaha.
so, give them vegies in the morning and make them eat that, than later some pellets and in the evening some seeds, about half the amount i give now, correct?
Thank you very much, i hope this will help improve their hormonal activity. (make it less)
do you have any idea how long it will take, more or less, before i can see some improvement?

greetings

Sandra

[Michael]

If it is diet induced, I think you can get begin getting improvement in 3-5 days and have it subside substantially in 2-5 weeks. Just keep reducing food until you notice greater motivation for rewards in training and less hormonal behavior. Diluting with veggies helps as well. Consider shifting to twice daily meals if the earlier suggestions are not helping. Don't leave food in the cage all day. 3 meals a day for up to 1 hour each maximum.

[GlassOnion]

I want to say that reducing food may not be such a good idea. First off, it can be dangerous to keeping nominal weight, and secondly, we have thoroughly discussed in this forum that free feeding does not necessarily equal hormonal behavior. Scheduled feeding and training may be a distraction but the regular feeding habits of these birds dont have much to do with creating a hormonal mess.

[nagelsan]

i will try this anyway.
i know that they intent to have more hormons when they have enough food, in the wild, the present of enough food is making them think its the best time to breed.
i just havent thought about it for my own birds.
ofcourse i wont starve them, i will weigh them for a few days first, making sure what their weight is, and than start with michaels advice, keep weighing them everyday, to make sure they dont loose more than 10 % of their body weight.
i think i will give them vegies in the morning, ofcourse take it away after one hour, wich is best because of spoiling.
in the afternoon i will give them some pellets, wich i will take away after an hour or so ones again.
and before they will go to sleep i will give them some seeds during the night and take that away when i wake in the morning.
i think, when i read michaels advice, this is worth trying.
it is probably better for my other two parrots aswell, because i want to trick train them.
and my too is really eager to tricktrain and my eclectus wont take any treats yet, so putting him on a training diet wont hurt.

thanks a lot michael for your advice and glassonion, i will make sure they keep healthy, so dont worry.