New and Have a question.

[Franky2Macaws]

Hi, I am Franky and have two macaws and one Green Cheek... I enjoy my birds...
I work to give them various foods, and avoid a total seed diet...
My young 10-month old Blue and Gold was sold to me "Unweaned"... He was taking 60cc morning and 60cc at night along with these foods, cheese/oatmeal cookies/peanuts/brown rice/sweet potatoes/wheat bread/yogurt/safflower seeds/broiled chicken/mashed potatoes and hamburger gravy/cooked carrots... That is all that comes to mind...
Anyhow, Samy wants his syringe of baby food morning and night...
I worry about him losing weight, or worse... I want No harm coming to him by the act of weaning...
Can anyone help me through this process of weaning?

Thank You
Franky

[patti]

Wow... he likes his baby food! But what bird wouldn't? It is so yummy.

As you probably already know, you have to taper it off gradually and monitor the bird's progress.

It is natural for birds to lose a *little* bit of weight when their diet is changed on them... especially when there is nothing else as yummy as formula. But i also know from experience that you cannot always tell whether or not your bird has acceptable levels of weight loss just by looking at them - especially if the bird is new to you. So to catch weight loss before it becomes an issue you should have a scale and weigh your bird regularly. Daily when weight is a known issue, as that will give you a better sense of the rate of weight loss, if any. Make sure you weigh at the same time each day, since weight varies a lot throughout the day. I weigh after the morning poop and before breakfast, since trial and error tells me that this is the time when weight varies the least from day to day. It is just part of the daily routine - poop, weight, medicine, breakfast!

You should have in mind a number below which your bird should not go, preferably one that is given to you by your vet. And weaning is a process. Don't taper down if your bird is anywhere close to this number.

As for tips to get your bird to eat more of these new foods, check out the following link for some of those:

http://www.avianstudios.com/wp-content/uploads/Foods-for-Different-Avian-Species3.pdf

[Franky2Macaws]

Thank You, Patti...
Most of this information is known, and I thank you for your time. My biggest hurdle to overcome is possibly the worry that goes along with Baby Hood...
Scrambled eggs, and Bananas were for breakfast, and he consumes everything given thou the amount always seems small...
I guess that is why they say, "Eats Like a Bird"...

New Owners Need Reassurance and you are providing well...
Thanks...

[Wolf]

Weighing your bird will probably do the most to help with your worry over his weight and if done in the mornings after he does his big morning poop it can tell you how much formula to make that day for his feedings and since birds hide illness so effectively it can be your very first indicator of his not feeling well.

Feeding our birds properly, in order to assure that they receive the balanced nutrition, is sometimes difficult at best. And this is the reason for the controversy surrounding the choice of feeding pellets and/ or seeds among other things. I am aware that some places and individuals recommend the feeding if eggs to birds despite there being no evidence that any parrot consumes eggs in the wild and that the majority of any meat type food that they do eat is bugs and worms, all insects. With that in mind I would suggest at the very least that you consider the removal of the hamburger gravy from his diet as it is extremely high in fat which is known to contribute to liver disease. As far as the eggs go, I don't feed them to my birds, because of my perception of the amount of cholesterol in the eggs which as far as I know birds can't digest, but I am sure that others will contribute more on this and probably with a scientific study or two to support their opinion on this.

I do not have any macaws, but it seems to me that just like most other parrots that if they are taught to eat fruits and vegetables as well as a variety of tree nuts that they will gradually wean themselves by eating more and more of the adult foods and cutting back on the amount of formula that they want enabling you to reduce the formula by one feeding at a time, I think that at 10 months of age that you should be able to stop the syringe feedings and switch his formula feeding to a spoon or a bowl, but I will leave that up to you as you know more about your bird than I do.

Well these are my opinions about what you have shared with us and I hope that you find some of it useful as I can tell how much you care about your birds and want to do well by them.

[Pajarita]

Welcome to the forum, Franky and feathered friends! I would not worry too much over his still asking for handfeeding, macaw parents continue to supplement their food intake until they are about 9 months of age in the wild so, if yours is 10 months old, is not as if he is THAT behind in his development.

What I would do is not feed him handfeeding formula and feed him something made by me (whole grain flours mixed with organic fruit juice -only not apple- and some pureed fruits/veggies) in the syringe BUT only after he eats something on his own. Macaws are BIG TIME fruit eaters so I would give him some fresh fruit for breakfast and then some of the homemade formula just to make him happy.

Personally, I am VERY picky as to what my birds eat because I believe in the old 'You are what you eat' adage so I am very careful what I feed all my animals but more so with the parrots because dogs and cats (the other kind of companion animal I have) have been domesticated for thousands and thousands of year while parrots are undomesticated and, as such, have no resistance to food that is not exactly what nature evolved them to eat. I always look to see what that particular species eats in the wild and try to give them something that is similar to their natural diet. Macaws eat fruits and nuts in the wild so, personally, that's pretty much what I fed the ones I had (one blue and gold and one bluethroated). I don't know what made you decide on the unusual diet you are giving yours but maybe you should re-evaluate it as I suspect is part of the problem.

[Franky2Macaws]

Thank You, Wolf...

It seems to me that just like most other parrots that if they are taught to eat fruits and vegetables as well as a variety of tree nuts that they will gradually wean themselves by eating more and more of the adult foods and cutting back on the amount of formula...

I think that at 10 months of age that you should be able to stop the syringe feedings and switch his formula feeding to a spoon or a bowl, but I will leave that up to you as you know more about your bird than I do.


This act of weaning by introducing other food may be slow, but may very well be the best way to wean... It is natural and the weight fluctuation should be normal and without any great concern.

Sam is very forceful, and makes his wants known. For the mess this youngster can create I might want to leave him on the syringe.
I'd rather use a spoon because of the seriousness of using a syringe.
Sam and I carefully work together...

I appreciate your response...
Franky

[Franky2Macaws]

Thanks, Pajarita

What I would do is not feed him handfeeding formula and feed him something made by me (whole grain flours mixed with organic fruit juice -only not apple- and some pureed fruits/veggies) in the syringe BUT only after he eats something on his own. Macaws are BIG TIME fruit eaters so I would give him some fresh fruit for breakfast and then some of the homemade formula just to make him happy.

This is something that I would like to try...
Sam's food choice comes from throwing my hands in the air, and trying to please the kid...

Thanks for your help...
Franky

[Pajarita]

Well, the problem with allowing them to make a choice is that they don't really know what is good for them and what is bad. In the wild, they learn from their parents and extended family (as foraging is a social event in which they all participate) but, in captivity, it falls to us to teach them (and that's why eating with them is recommended as we are, in reality, replicating what their parents do in the wild).

Try mixing kamut flour with oat flour and maybe some corn meal with some pureed veggies and fruits from baby food jars. He should like that and it will be healthier than handfeeding formula.

And YES! Parrots are VERY messy and the larger the parrot, the bigger the mess!

[galeriagila]

Hello, and welcome!
You found a great place, as I bet you already see!

[Franky2Macaws]

Hi, Galeriagila...
Yes, it is a very nice site... And I expect to learn a lot here...

Pajarita, I have been busy running around and looking for the perfect flour for the baby formula...
I had good luck and not so good luck...
For all my running I found No Kamut flour, but I got the oat flour, corn meal, and to my surprise, I found almond flour...
Well, tonight I fixed Sam his dinner made of 20cc of his formula, and equal amounts of almond flour... To that, I added 20cc of very warm water and to that, I added about 25cc of apple and chicken canned baby food...
Sam was a totally different bird... He licked his dinner off from my fingers and ate 60-ccs of this pablum... and then worked on the bottom of his bowl to get it all...

Whatever I have made with this concoction he has loved... And he acts like I hold the secrets of a great dinner...
I could find no adverse advice about using almond flour... Maybe you know of a warning that maybe a factor?
I came across a warning about too much iron with prolonged use of some baby foods...