my parrot will only eat...is this good enough?

[DanaandPod]

My jardine parrot, as of right now, will only eat almonds, peas, beans and sweet potatoes. I got him to eat barley once but never again as far as healthy grains go. He also will turn away anything with cinnamon or hot pepper but he loves fruit, most especially mango, blueberries...and raspberries, bananas and apple. What do you recommend for his balanced health since pellets especially soy is bad for him?

[liz]

Try feeding him in courses. Use the less favored first.
Rambo will not eat gloop. I have been putting an almond under the gloop so he has to taste it to get to the almond.
The cockatiels get their veggies before their gloop or they just go for the gloop and ignor the veggies.

[Wolf]

This is not good. Dana, even though I don't like pellets try TOPS pellets for him as they are totally organic and don't have soy. He needs to have balanced nutrition and if this is the only way to get him a good diet then that is what needs to be done.
Don't give up on trying to get him to eat a larger variety of veggies and whole grains, they can be quite stubborn and like you I still have birds that refuse to eat the good produce that I offer to them, it is just part of an ongoing process.

[Pajarita]

All and any bird can be transitioned to gloop. I have only one jardine but she loves her gloop and as I have and have had all different species of birds and they have all eaten gloop, I have no reason to believe that there are exceptions. So, in my personal opinion and experience, it's just a matter of setting your mind to it and doing it - and by this I mean tweak, experiment, improvise, etc until the bird is eating it. There is no reason on this earth why a parrot would not like gloop because it's made out of whole grains which are very similar to seeds - and they all love seeds!

Timing and persistence is everything so start with a simple gloop made out of very al dente whole grains (try kamut, wheat, oat groats and black lentils first) and nothing else and, when it's eating them, start adding things to it until you have a good range of nutrients. And use their natural biorhythms as a tool as well...

[Kakariki]

Before I found this forum and learned of gloop, I was cooking brown rice, barley, brown lentils and mixing in mashed carrot. I also fed separately thawed peas and corn ( they always eat only the inside and throw away the skin.) I feed other veg and fruit too, but now that I have the recipe I finally have all the ingredients except the Kashi. The link Pajarita sent has a very reasonable price from amazon, BUT 6 dollars shipping, likely more to Canada.

my question is,,,''Bob's 10 grain hot cereal is sold everywhere. The ingredients are:
wheat, corn, rye, triticale, oats, millet, barley, brown rice, oat bran, flax and soy.
I now know soy is not good, but would it be ok to us this mix until I get Metro to stock Kashi 7 grain pilaf?

[Kakariki]

Sorry, I have a few more things to ask as well. I make fennel tea from whole fennel seed for upset tummy, the birds like the fennel seed, is it ok for them to it a few on occasion? they only bother me for it when I have it out to make tea. They also like coriander seed. How is that? The last thing for now is lemonade. I dislike the store brands.....way too sweet, I make my own with a small amount of honey as sweetener. several of the birds insist on having sips when I have it. Should I be concerned about the quantity they ingest?

[Pajarita]

Fennel or star anise is good for flatulence and digestion but they are also 'hot' in the stomach so I would not use a lot of it. I feed mine fennel root (also called anise root by some) and do use some anise (not star anise, regular anise) or fennel seeds for seasoning but only during the winter and very sparingly. Homemade lemonade with a bit of honey is fine.

I don't recommend using anything with soy. I REALLY REALLY distrust it! Have you tried buying grains separately for the gloop instead of the Kashi? Nowadays, I can find wheat, kamut, black/red/wild rice, barley, quinoa and millet in my regular supermarket (the only one they don't carry is oat groats but they do have steel cut oats -aka Irish oatmeal- which works just fine with the little ones) but they sell all kinds of grains in the internet and I am sure there has to be a source closer to you (less shipping).

[Kakariki]

Oh for sure, I could mix up my own. I just read the recipe 'gloop for dummies, but if the kasha is not 100 % necessary then I can manage.
Thanks

[Pajarita]

I don't use the Kashi, I just put out the recipe because it's easy for people with just one or two birds. I buy my grain in bulk at Whole Foods and cook it in batches (wheat with kamut, oat groats with barley, and rices with lentils)

[Wolf]

I don't use the Kashi either, I go to the grocery store and to the health food store for what grains I don't find at my grocery store.