My grey is a seed junkie ...

[orangechiwawa]

My Grey (1.5/ 2 year old, had him for about 2 months) has been giving me a hard time eating! HE would only have nuts and sunflower seed (or other seeds if he really has no other choice) and would rather starve then eat his pellets... or dry fruit... or fresh fruit... or fresh vegetables... or cooked vegetables.. or noodle... or oat bread... ALL HE WANTS IS SEED... I have tried everything: heating up the food, eating in front of him, mashing the food and veggies, mixing seeds with the healthy food... BUT he WOULDN'T eat it!! Today he had a bit of Hummus, but just a tiny tiny bit. He is starving himself waiting for the seeds!! I feel that he does not realize that anything other then seed is food.

I am in a dilemma: let him starve now or give him seeds which would eventually harm him!! ?!?! .... i can't look at him hungry

[entrancedbymyGCC]

There are a number of threads on this subject, I'd suggest combing around the forum. To see if he's really not eating enough, weigh him regularly. Starvation kind of defeats the purpose of working for better nutrition... don't let him drop too much body weight.

FWIW EB Cravens wrote about the benefits of sunflower seeds in his column in the current issue of "Parrots" magazine. He's not everyone's cup of tea and has some non-mainstream ideas, but he also appears to use his head fairly clearly. He wasn't advocating a seed-only diet by any means, but he was suggesting that as an adjunct to the diet they have some benefits. He's also one who stresses that Greys, Capes, Macaws and conures need more dietary fat than some other parrot species.

I think what I'd do in your position is try to work more on getting him TO eat more variety than getting him to NOT eat the seed mix. You might try making the seed mix a foraging exercise and having other food available without quite so much work.

What does your vet say?

[Mona]

Hi guys;

Just to weigh in on this, I visited my vet this weekend for a well bird exam for Bailey and Kiri.

That morning, somebody brought in a wild caught grey that had been on a seed diet all of its life. The bird was 24 years old. My vet picked the bird up and it died in her arms. All she did was pick it up. On necropsy, the heart and liver were destroyed from the diet. The owner (who was a layperson) could even see and understand the damage.

So...I'd keep working on proper nutrition. I know it can be tough. Sometimes, you have to eat WITH the bird. Eating really is a flock activity for them and they often need to have behavior modelled for them.

Good luck.

Mona

[Kathleen]

When I had a budgie who was poorly raised on an all seed diet, he didn't seem to recognize that vegetables, fruit, pasta, bread and other non-seed foods were food at all. Budgies seem to need a higher seed quantity in their diet than Greys, so it's really more important that you keep trying.

What I did was chop and chop and chop up vegetables into very very small pieces (to the size of the small seeds he was eating) and then mixed it all together. The vegetables were kind of wet so the seeds stuck to the vegetables and he had to pick around a bit but he inadvertently ate a bit of the veggies when he was eating the seeds and I think he liked it. I started to reduce the amount of seeds in there a bit but I still had to put some mixed in and especially on the top of the mix to entice him, but I got him to start eating little bits of broccoli, carrot and string beans. So basically what I did was create a semi mash and mixed seeds right into it.

I have also heard of people making something called birdie bread. I've never made this but apparently you can mix seeds into it, as well as veggies and other foods. http://www.mommabird.com/categories/Birdie-Bread/

I would say create a semi-wet mash of everything you want him to try and just put a lot of seeds in the mash. Put a bit of seeds on top of the mash after you mix so that the bird is enticed and may start poking around. It'll stick to the seeds and he'll have to eat some, and then you can try to limit the amount of seeds. You can even crush some pellets into a powder and sprinkle it into this mash.

[TheNzJessie]

When I had a budgie who was poorly raised on an all seed diet, he didn't seem to recognize that vegetables, fruit, pasta, bread and other non-seed foods were food at all. Budgies seem to need a higher seed quantity in their diet than Greys, so it's really more important that you keep trying.

What I did was chop and chop and chop up vegetables into very very small pieces (to the size of the small seeds he was eating) and then mixed it all together. The vegetables were kind of wet so the seeds stuck to the vegetables and he had to pick around a bit but he inadvertently ate a bit of the veggies when he was eating the seeds and I think he liked it. I started to reduce the amount of seeds in there a bit but I still had to put some mixed in and especially on the top of the mix to entice him, but I got him to start eating little bits of broccoli, carrot and string beans. So basically what I did was create a semi mash and mixed seeds right into it.

I have also heard of people making something called birdie bread. I've never made this but apparently you can mix seeds into it, as well as veggies and other foods. http://www.mommabird.com/categories/Birdie-Bread/

I would say create a semi-wet mash of everything you want him to try and just put a lot of seeds in the mash. Put a bit of seeds on top of the mash after you mix so that the bird is enticed and may start poking around. It'll stick to the seeds and he'll have to eat some, and then you can try to limit the amount of seeds. You can even crush some pellets into a powder and sprinkle it into this mash.

how old was duke when u got him?

[Kathleen]

The store didn't give me proof of his age, but I had guessed around 4 months old.

[patdbunny]

After making a cooked mash you can try mixing seed into the mash. The bird recognizes the seeds and picks them out, but it gets the bird tasting the other food stuffs and can't help ingesting some. That's how I've successfully gotten seed junkies to try new foods.

I cannot live without a food processor. Everything gets mulched up so my birds can't be too picky choosy. Seeds mixed in if I need to get a seed junky to try stuff.

roz