Correlation between sex of owner and food management (Poll)

[Michael]

As per another topic about feeding schedules I am curious if there is a correlation between the sex of the bird owner and feeding mindset.

Food management can be a lot of things but essentially the poll is whether or not you believe food can/should be withheld from a parrot for some span of time during the day. Please vote your sex and whether or not you think it is ok to withhold food. I would assume for most people it would also correlate to how they feel about feeding children but if you have a strongly divergent view between feeding children and pets, then you can mention what you think is different.

[patdbunny]

I voted "I am female and I agree with food management". I do agree with food management for training.

I do not agree with your statement:

over feeding leads to aggression and behavioral problems.

I was going to let this go, but I cannot in good conscience for the sake of the birds, let this go. Someone is going to see you as an authority and take that statement at face value. They will reduce food so long as their bird exhibits aggression or other perceived behavior problems without doing anything else to address the issues. People can and do starve their animals until the animal's not quite dead but weak enough not to bite, scream, etc., etc., etc.

That statement is just plain false.

[Michael]

Everything is training. Food management in regards to trick training is widely accepted. But I'm talking about (particularly for this poll) about pet parrots and whether or not owners see benefit in managing the amount of food or times they eat. If you want to debate this more, we can use the original topic. Here I'm just curious to see if there is a correlation between sex and opinion about food management or not (and also which category of mindset we have more of).

[kaylayuh]

I'm torn between two options here. I understand and accept the benefits of food management in trick training. If I were to trick train my birds, I would use this method.

For general purposes, I disagree with it and don't use it. But if someone does so in an intelligent and well thought manner, and has healthy, happy, well adjusted birds, I find it to be much less offensive than some other behaviors.

[Natacha]

I voted that I disagreed.
While my guys have food available all day, they don't spend their entire day eating. In fact, they generally "save" their appetite for the extra food I give at breakfast and dinner (the fresh stuff). But I believe in having food in the cage in the event that something would delay me from coming home, at least they have sustenance.

Judging by their appetite when I do give them their diner, I think it's pretty safe to say that they don't eat all that much before diner. In fact, I could probably, if I wanted to, use that time when they come out when I first come back from work, which is an hour or so before I do give them their diner, to do food motivated training with any of my food motivated birds (which really boils down to Shade and Zuri).

[patdbunny]

Nah, I'm good with my original answer. Yes, I agree with feeding them at particular times of day. I feed mine twice a day with a snack at noonish pretty much like clockwork. No, I do not agree with withholding food.

There's nothing to debate.

[Roger P]

I would agree with what Natacha said. I disagree with food management. I have pelleted food available all day, in the event that I am delayed at work or some emergency, then Merlin still has something to eat. I then supplement with fresh food twice a day, and treats at training times.

[GlassOnion]

I feed meals twice a day, with pellets available at all times. However, neither of my birds particularly go crazy for the pellets but will peck at them once or twice if they feel like having a quick snack throughout the day.

I do withhold food BRIEFLY for training purposes. By that I mean.. take advantage of their hungry hour a few hours after their mealtime, to whip out the seeds and millet.

[Giantmoa]

I voted that I disagree with food management although I'm kind of neutral. there's some species that are prone to weight gain and need controlled amounts of food to stay healthy, like an amazon I know, but I don't necassarily believe in withholding food to make a bird motivated to do tricks. I've never had to withhold food to get rainbow motivated, she's always ready to eat fruit/veggies and the occasional healthy table food and to do tricks for them. Of course I haven't taken the trick thing too far, just the simple ones to have fun.

[Margaret]

I'm with Natacha and Roger P here.