Correlation between sex of owner and food management (Poll)

[GlassOnion]

I think everyone should make their birds forage in someway on a regular basis, it makes them happy, keeps them occupied, and in return we're happy!

There was a thread while back on foraging... I don't think anyone replied appropriately.

[Giantmoa]

well, if we're going with michael's definition then it changes my vote. I do think having a challenge like foraging is beneficial, especially for a bird like mine who isn't the biggest player.

[entrancedbymyGCC]

I think we'll all agree that foraging is good and more foraging is better, but that's not what I thought we were discussing!

[Michael]

I think if we are going to have a reasonable debate here, "food management" has to have a stricter definition than that. My understanding was that what was being discussed under the label "food management" was the practice of restricting access to food and/or controlling the timing and amount of food with the goal of modifying behavior. Restricting food for the purposes of controlling weight would not be considered "food management" nor would foraging nor would witholding certain types of food for health or nutritional reasons.

I'd pretty much consider anything but free-feed to be some kind of food management. Weight management is more strict in the way food is given. But food management can including scheduling, setting quantity, making food difficult to reach, etc. If the bird's access to food is restricted, then you are managing it in some way. Whether or not that is effective for training depends on the extent. But if it takes 5 out of 12 hours a day for a parrot to forage its meals out in its cage, then you have a good chance you can take it out and train it without being stuffed, that it won't over eat, that it will get exercise, etc.

Basically I'm trying to find out on people's opinions on freefeeding vs not. Should I have made the vote about freefeed or not? Would that make things better? I was trying to define food management as the opposite of free feed.

[entrancedbymyGCC]

Yes I suppose that would make the discussion a bit less controversial. On the other hand, if the real point of the discussion is to debate whether or not it is managing behavior and facilitating training, then we are back to the controversial part of it.

I think leaving pellets out 24/7 has some benefits (more flexibility of schedule for busy owner) and is only problematic if it leads to overweight. I think it would be better to offer them so some foraging is also being done to alleviate boredom and I believe the quantity should be limited if the bird is getting overweight. There is also nothing in my opinion controversial about measuring out the amount of food normally consumed during a day and leaving that out for the day, that's just more bother than it seems worth in the absence of overweight. Where it gets controversial in my mind is when this process is being managed with the intent to make the bird hungry so it wants to train or as a way to reduce unwanted behaviors.

At any rate, I rather hope the initial premise that women are inherently predisposed to spoil their pets because of their sex or gender has been taken off the table.

[Michael]

At any rate, I rather hope the initial premise that women are inherently predisposed to spoil their pets because of their sex or gender has been taken off the table.

I really don't understand why it's a big deal to ask. I got that impression based on recent conversations and hearsay so instead of judging just by that, I wanted to ask people to see if that's the case or not. At this point the most reasonable conclusion is that there's just WAY more women talking about it than guys period and a majority of them pro free feeding. This doesn't make a legitimate comparison toward male notions on the subject but it does demonstrate that the reason it appears that more women are opposed to food management is just because there's more of them discussing the matter.

I find human sex based differences in parrot handling to be very interesting and relevant to parrot training. I'm not sure how it really works. I get feelings here and there from conversation and observation but it's not definitive by any means. I wish people could volunteer without bias (like answering the question differently in spite to show that there is no gender bias) and clarify the differences. I don't care to pass judgment on people because of this, I'm just curious how it affects human-parrot relationships and what we can learn from it.

[entrancedbymyGCC]

What part of "I don't want to be pre-judged about my opinions, capabilities and parrot management strategies because I happen to be XX rather than XY" is hard to understand?

I'm not even particularly sensitive about this kind of thing, and it's wierding me out. At work I am often the only female in a given meeting. If I thought my male colleagues were posting polls like this in their spare time, I'd be scandalized.

[TheNzJessie]

birds are so different to us, and mammals they dont naturally eat in meals, there whole life revolves around finding food to eat to survive, they eat small amounts frequently in the wild. so i would say im against it its not natural to withhold a birds food and feed them in meals because thats what we do. 90% of a birds life in the wild is around finding food, so the answer to this is captivity is foraging, i can guarantee you your bird will find a toy a heck of a lot more interesting if it involves food. because there natural desire to find food kicks in.

[Margaret]

I can't simple imagine giving for breakfast couple of pellets... Budgies literally would prefer starving themselves to death than be healthy. That is vets opinion - seriously. I prefer to leave pellets with seeds and greens for them than kill them.
To not keep them fat(which I agree is fast way to lead any health problems) I let them eat a lot, but not fat things. And also they have a lot of out of cage time = exercises, which keep them in a good shape.

[Michael]

I'll grant you budgies and cockatiels are vastly different from most of the larger parrots when it comes to diet. I've witnessed first hand how a budgie would rather not eat than eat something that isn't seeds so I understand. Nonetheless food management can be used effectively with budgies even if it means pulling the food cup out of the cage 1-4 hours prior to taking it out. Do you still disagree with that?