.

[Curious Diode]

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[Wolf]

I know that Wal-Mart does have organic veggies in the fresh foods section, you just have to look for it. I don't know but would assume the Publix also does the same thing.

[liz]

Most grocery stores and even Big Lots carry organic grain. I buy enough grain to feed them for a month because the

rutabaga

is not in my regular shopping area.

Publix should carry organic though I don't like their prices. Win Dixie and Walmart carry organic fruit and vegetables frozen, fresh and canned. Walmart's organics are well labeled and now they even have organic bananas.

[Curious Diode]

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[Pajarita]

I don't time them or even take the food out after a certain number of hours. I've always found the contention that produce or cooked food becomes 'bad' after a few hours completely ridiculous. If this was true, the human race would have died of food poisoning thousands of years ago. And, I'll tell you something else: the people who claim this never worked in the food industry!

In the morning, I put out more than enough gloop to last the whole day until the evening when I take out whatever is left (and I don't even throw it out, I save it for the birds out in the street that I feed every day). If I see that all the gloop is completely gone, I actually make a mental note to myself to put out more from now on because, as far as I can tell (and I've been feeding gloop for 20 years now), they can eat as much as they want of it and don't gain weight so why deprive them of the pleasure of eating as much as they want? I also give them a piece of fresh fruit, one veggie and one leafy green or broccoli. What I do measure (up to a point because it's not really exact or anything close to it) is their dinner which consists of mix of seeds and nuts (my GCC and peachfront get a lower protein than the larger birds) so they can fill their crop all the way before they go to sleep but have hardly any leftover.

Publix does have organic produce and other products - I just checked online and they do. Walmart does too but it needs to be a Super Walmart for you to be able to find a semi-good selection. But, if they don't have everything you need, check to see where you can find a Whole Foods or any other supermarket that would carry a good selection of organic stuff (I can find A LOT of stuff in a large Shoprite located in the next town to where I live) near you because, even if you have to travel a bit, you can always buy frozen stuff for a month and fresh for about a week and then give him 'regular' stuff that is OK (like raw broccoli, oranges, bananas and other stuff that you can feed non-organic) the rest of the time.

[Curious Diode]

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[Wolf]

Yes, training is often easier for you when the bird is hungry, but I use the before breakfast time to teach them to eat a better variety of foods because they are hungrier at this time they will try the new foods quicker.

If you are feeding a low protein diet and only feeding the higher protein foods for dinner then you can use the high protein foods as treats and for training. If you wait for a couple of hours after breakfast and then train before they are ready to take their mid day nap they will train for the high protein foods and then again in the afternoon at least an hour or two before dinner, they will again train quite well for the high protein foods. This allows them to have food all day long and takes advantage of their natural cycles for training rather than having the bird stressed because it is hungry. Just my thoughts on this.

[Pajarita]

It's not that I feel the food goes "bad" after a while, I've read that its better for training since you know what and when they ate so you can train them more effectively. If they just ate then they are less likely to work for treats. But if you train them before they get their morning meal then they are more hungry and therefore more likely to work for treats. That's just what I've read, is that information accurate? Or is it best to just leave them access to food all day?

Of course the information is right! Wouldn't you be willing to do all kinds of tricks if they paid you with food and you were hungry? And, like Wolf said, we all use this 'trick' only we use it to teach them to eat healthy instead of training them to do tricks. Personally, I find several problems with the practice. For one thing, you cannot do it with a baby bird because they need to have food available to them all the time or end up with an eating disorder - but you would want to start some very basic training while they are still young (things like stepping up and to recognize certain words and commands like 'Gently" when they beak too hard, etc). For another, I don't think it's healthy for the bird to work for treats early in the morning or even necessary. If you make them work for treats (which are always high protein food) early in the morning because it makes you waste your best chance of teaching them to eat healthy and, in reality, perpetuating a bad diet which could end up killing the bird. And, last but not least, it's not necessary at all! Like Wolf said, when you feed right (which means low protein for all day eating) and identify their personal high value food item, all you have to do is use it only for training and voila!

[Wolf]

Actually my Grey will get mad if I offer her a treat as a reward for training. She not only refuses to cooperate with the training but she also throws the treat at me, hard, not the most accurate but hard. She will work with me on training and accept praise as a reward and loves it. She also loves treats but they must be given freely and with no strings attached.

Kiki, Senegal, however is happy to go either way and will train for either treats or praise and a little petting, she like beak rubs and head scratches.

Mimi, Amazon, has only just learned after 15 years, that she can have treats, so she doesn't train in the usual sense of the word, she is learning normal life skills mostly for praise.

[Pajarita]

I hear you! I also don't give them treats when they do anything right, just praise. They get treats but they are just a special gift from me to them - they never have to work for them.