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Birds won't eat chop

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.

Birds won't eat chop

Postby Cyclonekick18 » Wed Oct 02, 2019 11:19 am

Hi all, I'm new here and looking for some help. I have two quaker parrots, one blue male about 8 months old, one green unsexed about 1yr and 4 months old. Until now they were on a seed/pellet diet only. I recently read about the importance of fresh food in their diet and decided to make some fresh chop for them. I included (all organic) apples, mango, pineapple, blueberries, sweet bell pepper, broccoli, cauliflower, sweet potato, and carrots then squeezed the juice of an orange over it. I put it in the cage with them and they have yet to even touch it. They seem to have absolutely no interest in it. I threw yesterday's out and put more fresh in this morning and still nothing. I want so badly for them to reap all the benefits of the fresh food but this just doesn't make sense for them to be uninterested. Please help!
Cyclonekick18
Parakeet
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is male
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Re: Birds won't eat chop

Postby liz » Thu Oct 03, 2019 4:38 am

There is something in it that the bird does not like. I serve separated so I know what they are eating and what they don't like. It is a little more work but it does tell you what they want and don't want.
The only mix I do is with softened grain. I can see when I pick the plate up what they left. I do mix frozen peas and carrots in with the grain.
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liz
Macaw
 
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Re: Birds won't eat chop

Postby Pajarita » Thu Oct 03, 2019 10:30 am

Well, my birds don't like chop either! And I don't blame them one single bit because I've never seen chop that looks appetizing to me :lol:

Now, quakers are EXCELLENT eaters and I do mean super excellent. My Keku eats HUGE amounts of leafy greens and anybody who has had parrots for a while will tell you that leafy greens are BY FAR the most difficult thing to get them to eat! Try gloop. I have transitioned literally and without exaggeration (I used to run a rescue) hundreds of parrots to gloop and they all love it. Plus, it's super nutritious, easy to digest and very versatile when it comes to flavors.

There are several recipes of gloop in the diet section but, basically, it's cooked grains mixed with chopped veggies. My gloop has kamut, spelt, hulled barley, oat groats, red and black rice and lentils. Once this is all cooked and cooled, I mix unthawed frozen veggies (unthawed because you want to wait until the last minute to thaw them as frozen veggies are the most nutritious of them all -more than fresh and much more than cooked) into it, bag it into daily portions and frozen so I can take out one bag at a time. I use corn, peas, carrots, butternut squash and chopped broccoli but i also add cooked sweet potatoes (baked, boiled or nuked in the skin and then peeeled and chunked.

The thing about chop is that it has no protein whatsoever so birds are not attracted to it while gloop, having cooked grains which resemble seeds (you need to cook them al dente) in their shape and have low protein so birds like them. And, as the veggies are all either of a small size (peas and corn) and the others are in small pieces (diced carrots and butternut squash and chopped broccoli), they end up eating a good meal all in one helping.

But it also helps if you time it correctly because one very useful trick that we, bird keepers, have is to follow their natural circadian cycle routine so we feed them breakfast (the healthiest food) right after the sky is lit enough for them to see well -and when they are hungriest! But do not free-feed any protein food (pellets, seeds, nutriberries, avicakes, etc) because, if you do, the birds will go for the protein and not touch the healthy stuff.

Let us know how it works out and ask anything that you might have doubts on.
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