Gloop recipe for dummies needed ASAP

[Saerphe]

We only worked on the target training for about 5 minutes with her inside her cage. Once her attention span started to wane I had her finish up with one more successful target so we could end on a positive note.

I was surprised how quickly she took to the gloop. I don't think I've ever seen her eat so much.

[Wolf]

I understand and am not saying to not do any, a certain amount of training is a good thing, but so many people get all hung up in the thrill of it and think that they can train a bird into a strong bond with them. Although some training can help to set the bonding that has and is occurring the actual bonding comes from their likeing you and their trust of you.
I also am of the opinion that every single interaction that I have with any of my birds or other animals is a training experience for both of us as it is both a learning and teaching time and is very important as its focus is one learning each other and skills that help us to live together well.
I am also surprised that this one dove right into the gloop as it usually does take more time than this. Smart bird and your manner has to be encouraging her in this trying new foods so you are also doing great.

[Saerphe]

Thanks! I did give her a couple bites out of my fingers at first, and I this past week I've given her little tastes of food off my plate - bird appropriate veggies and whole-wheat toast mostly, prior to jams, sauces, butter, or salt of course. I also tend to eat meals near her cage, so that probably encourages her too.

[Wolf]

Most definitely! Parrots think of meal time as a social event and the perfect time for sharing it is also a bonding activity as they only share with their flock, so the flock sharing meal time and watching over each other during this time helps strengthen their bond.

[Pajarita]

And, most likely, she has been missing soft food something terrible. People often forget that soft food for young birds is not only a matter of better nutrition, it's also a great source of emotional comfort to them.

Wolf is right about the training, please take your time to bond with her first. This is a parent-raised bird and does not regard humans as part of her family so, although everybody should first bond with the bird and then and only then start training, when it comes to parent-raised birds, it's imperative you establish the bond first.

[Saerphe]

I kind of wondered about that, to be honest. In addition to the baby-like begging, she's alsod very fixated on my mouth. I know part of that is just birds being birds and trying to bond with me, but I think she'd probably stick her whole head in my mouth if I gave her the opportunity.

[Wolf]

Most birds seem to have this same fixation with our mouths, but you have to be very careful as we have a lot of bacteria in our mouths that are bad for birds.

[Saerphe]

Oh, yes. I don't let her actually get in my mouth and I've been trying to keep her away from my mouth altogether.

[Saerphe]

So I slept in this morning and fed Akimi a bit late... I gave her some seed mix to tide her over until her gloop was thawed enough for me to get it out of the ice cube tray, and she ignored it in favour of waiting for the gloop.

[Pajarita]

You can't fool a smart cookie so easily, huh?