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New Caique - Need Some Help / Advise On Diet

Talk about bird illnesses and other bird health related issues. Seeds, pellets, fruits, vegetables and more. Discuss what to feed your birds and in what quantity. Share your recipe ideas.

New Caique - Need Some Help / Advise On Diet

Postby darksky » Thu May 06, 2010 9:46 pm

seedmix.jpg
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Hi there… need some help/advise.

BACKGROUND:
We have a brand new Caique, about 17 weeks old. We bought her through an in-state breeder (and drove to pick her up this over the weekend), so we've had her for about 6 days now.

Our Caique's adjusted quickly and was well socialized. We put her in a large cage, 36x24 and already bought a play stand that we're putting together tonight.

She's very interactive… and steps-up for the whole family, and loves getting her/his head scratched. Been doing some clicker training and we can now hold her in our hand, on her back.

For the first 2 days, we fed the breeders diet (pictured below). She gave us a small bag (enough for maybe a week or more). Our bird was eating it perfectly, although from what I can tell she mostly just picks out the nuts & seeds from the mix. We picked up some organic fruit and vegetables and began introducing them. So far, she'll eat a small amount of blackberries, raw carrot pieces, and grapes. Not too interested in fresh mango, papaya, carrot tops, or broccoli.

On day "3" I tried giving her RoudyBush Pellets (maintenance small) and she devoured them!! Holding them in her foot to make sure she hardly dropped any. She ate a lot!! I mentioned it to our breeder and she was surprised, but thought it was great. Still she advised me to mix back in her original diet (1/2 & 1/2) as she was concerned our bird would get diarrhea from switching over too fast. So, we did. But it became very apparent that she only seemed to be picking out the seeds/nuts from the mixture.

That was Tuesday. So.. yesterday, Wed, we tired rotating dishes … original mix , then in a few hours, fresh fruit and vegetables, then few hours later, pellets which we left in overnight.

PROBLEM:

This morning woke up and noticed most if not all the pellets were still there from last night. Didn't think anything about it, and checked on our bird throughout the day.. around 2pm, gave a small amount of fresh fruit/vegetables which I noticed she ate more aggressively than yesterday - although would only eat the grape/carrot - nothing else.

By mid-afternoon it looked like most or all of the pellets were still there - and our "quiet bird" got progressively more noisy and agitated. At first, I thought she just wanted attention, and taken out of the cage. So I did, and gave her tiny almond slivers as treats while doing some clicker training. I took most of the pellets out, and counted the one's I left in to see if she really wasn't eating any.

By late afternoon early evening, I noticed there had been little to no elimination in the bottom of the cage and that the pellets had not been touched. I got worried and tried to hand feed some pellets but she just kept getting louder and more frantic. I put in the original mix (pictured below) this evening & she dove in the bowl and ate non-stop 30 min plus -- then went back and kept on eating for what seemed like forever!! She had two eliminations during those first hours, and two more the second hour, all mostly white, with some black, non excessively runny as far as I can tell.

I feel really bad. I assumed (obviously incorrectly) that because she'd eaten the RoudyBush Pellets so well the other day, that she was eating them today… and when I began to wonder if she really was, I kept thinking if she was really that hungry she would surely begin eating them.

Lesson learned.

So… where do we go from here? I have a live sprouting system I got from ChinaPrarie that I'm hoping to eventually get our bird on to but our Avian Vet who did a wellness check yesterday, while very supportive of sprouts, but strongly recommended having pellets in the cage at all times. I thought we were all set - but now today our bird won't touch the RoudyBush pellets, and seems to only want to eat seeds & nuts with a tiny amount of fruit/veg.

So.. my question is: where do we go from here? I ground up the roudybush pellets this evening and sprinkled them all over the mix pictured below & she did eat the mix (although I don't know how much of the roudybush "dust" (if any) she ate. Right now, she's quiet and seems happy again.

Tomorrow, should I try moistening the seed mix then sprinkling the ground up Roudybush pellet dust on them to try to help with the transition? Or, maybe turn the ground pellets into a paste and mix in the seed mix, or ???

In the coming weeks, we were hoping to transition our bird to mostly live sprouts, fruits, vegetables & some pellets. But I think he/she's hooked on seeds/nuts and I'm wondering what we can do to encourage a more balanced, healthy diet than just seeds and nuts?

What should we do ?
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darksky
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Re: New Caique - Need Some Help / Advise On Diet

Postby pchela » Fri May 07, 2010 1:07 am

Hi,

First, caiques are extremely food driven so you have a head start there. Keep the pellets in her cage at all times. Offer her the regular seed mix that she likes once a day and only give her as much as she will eat. In other words, don't keep the seed mix in the cage. Here is what I do. In the morning they get "breakfast" which is sprouts, fresh fruits and veggies and glop (which I will link the recipe... all of my birds love it and I feel it's a good transitioning food). I give them all of the healthy stuff in the morning when they are most hungry. Then they usually get a midday meal which is really a snack.. like some birdy bread or a couple of nutriberries, etc. For dinner, I give them a small amount of seed/nut mix... only about maybe 2 tblsp. The pellets are always available. What is in the seed mix that the breeder sent with her? I would go get her a seed mix that has absolutely no sunflowers in it and has more quality ingredients. Goldenfeast makes some good mixes and so does Hagen. Mine love Hagan Fruit to Nuts which is sunflower seed free. Don't worry if she doesn't take to the new healthy stuff right away. A lot of birds take weeks to begin eating new foods. Just be persistent with the fresh food. Also, while you are transitioning, weigh her daily just to make sure she isn't losing weight. With patience, you'll be able to get her onto a healthy diet. Her being young will definitely help. Oh! Another good tip... whenever you are eating healthy stuff, share with her. If she sees you eating it, she'll probably be more interested in it. They are like little kids that way. I hope some of this will help. Here is the Glop recipe which I highly recommend as a staple in a birds diet.

* 1 small jar of baby food carrots, sweet potatoes, or winter squash (I use Earth’s Best because it is organic - they also have high vitamin A vegetable varieties with chicken and turkey. I occasionally use apricot, peach, or papaya baby food.) You can also use baked yams, winter squash or cooked, mashed carrots.
* 3 slices of coarse whole-grain crumbled toast. (I vary the bread but use the healthiest bread I can find without sugar. I particularly like a jalapeno cornbread loaf I buy at Trader Joe’s.) You can also use high quality cooked grains such as quinoa, amaranth, etc. and/or oatmeal.
* 2-4 Tablespoons of nonfat plain yogurt.
* I highly recommend adding a a few drops to a 1/2 teaspoon of Essential Fatty Acids (EFA). There are several varieties available including Flax Seed Oil. Adding EFAs to the diet has helped quite a few parrots with feather destructive behaviors.
* Optional: 1/8 cup high quality handfeeding formula or a sprinkle of a spirulina or wheat grass type supplement.

Put in a large bowl and mash together until toast is saturated with baby food and yogurt and everything is evenly mixed. Consistency can be changed according to your parrot’s preference. Mine like the toast chunky and the mixture thick - about the consistency of turkey dressing. ‘Glop’ is ready to feed - it does not have to be cooked.

Anything that is nutritious can be added to the glop for a variety in texture, color, and shapes. I will feed it plain or mix one or more of the following: finely chopped collard (mustard or turnip) greens, kale or broccoli flowers, grated carrots, wheat germ, oat bran, no sugar breakfast cereal, low salt V-8 juice, grated tofu-cheese, nonfat cottage cheese, chopped nuts or raisons, chopped very hard boiled egg, pasta, brown rice, well, cooked chopped chicken, powdered pellets.


I use carrot baby food most often and plain yogurt. I add flax seed oil to the mix and a spirulina etc supplement. Also, grated carrots and oatmeal get thrown in. The bread I use is the kind that is kept in the freezer section of the grocery store... can't remember the name but it is Flax Seed Bread and low sodium. All of my birds love it and it's good for them.
"I bet the sparrow looks at the parrot and thinks, yes, you can talk, but LISTEN TO YOURSELF!" ~ Jack Handy ~ Deep Thoughts
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pchela
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Re: New Caique - Need Some Help / Advise On Diet

Postby darksky » Fri May 07, 2010 5:49 pm

Pchela,

Thank you ... actually, that helped a lot. Including your comment: "caiques are extremely food driven." :-)

Today.. was a new day! (And a MUCH BETTER one). We began by offering our bird a couple of tiny pieces of graham cracker. She/He rejected them two other days, but today... ate them! So, ground up some pieces of graham cracker into powder, and tried sprinkling it on top of dry roudybush pellets. She ate one or two. So, we then pretended to eat some from her bowl... and she began eating more. A lot more!!

After that.. I gave her organic papaya, blackberries, apple, jalepeno pieces and mango. She ate a bunch of fruit! And now... has "BLACKBERRY FACE",lol.

Later this afternoon, I gave her some pieces of whole grain/multi-grain bread and our bird devoured it. So... we (and I'm sure our bird) are feeling much better. We'll work to phase out the graham cracker dust over the next few days, but today it sure seems to have helped renew our birds interest in pellets.

Thank you for all the great food/feeding suggestions, including those on EFA's. We'll try 'em out too! Next week we get DNA results so we'll find out if we've got a "boy" or "girl."
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darksky
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Re: New Caique - Need Some Help / Advise On Diet

Postby notscaredtodance » Fri May 07, 2010 7:20 pm

I love this glop recipe. What do you do with the leftovers? Do you freeze or refrigerate? How long will it last in the fridge?
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notscaredtodance
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Re: New Caique - Need Some Help / Advise On Diet

Postby pchela » Fri May 07, 2010 7:53 pm

I make a batch and keep it in the fridge. It stays good at least 5 days which is when I usually run out. I love it too! It's soooo easy to make and really good for them. It's a really easy way to give them daily nutrition and they all seem to love it. I'll have to find out the name of the bread I use and post it.

darksky- I'm glad your caique is eating better today!
"I bet the sparrow looks at the parrot and thinks, yes, you can talk, but LISTEN TO YOURSELF!" ~ Jack Handy ~ Deep Thoughts
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pchela
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Gender: This parrot forum member is female
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Number of Birds Owned: 3
Types of Birds Owned: Senegal -Pippin
Red Belly - Nicholas
Lesser Jardine's - Rupert
Timneh African Grey - Isabeau (Ibby)
Flight: Yes

Re: New Caique - Need Some Help / Advise On Diet

Postby Michael » Sat May 08, 2010 3:28 am

darksky wrote:By mid-afternoon it looked like most or all of the pellets were still there - and our "quiet bird" got progressively more noisy and agitated. At first, I thought she just wanted attention, and taken out of the cage. So I did, and gave her tiny almond slivers as treats while doing some clicker training.


Another parrot taught to be a screamer. :roll:
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Michael
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Re: New Caique - Need Some Help / Advise On Diet

Postby darksky » Sat May 08, 2010 9:44 am

Not likely, as we'll be practicing better "behavioral conditioning" here forward. ;-)
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darksky
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Gender: This parrot forum member is male
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