What is your feeding strategy

[cml]

I just wanted to post an update as I have, as a result of the numerous discussions on food management and my own post regarding water bottles, changed my strategy a bit.

The reason I wanted to look into learning our guys to use waterbottles was that they had started dunking the pellets quite often again, and I consider that less than optimal, even if I can change their water quite frequently.

Earlier, they got about one and a half of an ice cream scoop I use as a measurement tool for pellets, which I prepared the evening before, so they had the pellets there ready when they woke up at 11am (I leave home at around 7:30 so there is noway Im gonna wake the parrots up, they need their beauty sleep ^^). This ammount is usually what they eat during a day, sometimes there's a little left but not much, since Ive learned how much they eat, but they did have free access to it.

This is how it is now: They still get breakfast pellets that I prepare for them in the evening, but its now only half of what I usually put in. The other half I put into their bowls around 5pm upon me getting home.

I can already see some results: They eat it all up during the morning, and there is nothing in the water. They seem quite hungry when I get home though, which is a bit funny because before I changed to this, they would often wait with eating anything more than a couple of pellets, until I got home.

They devour their afternoon pellets quickly as well, and so far, nothing in the water bowls. So this is great. They still get the same ammount of pellets in the day (only before they had access to it throughout the whole day ((which they still do I guess if they decide not to eat all of their breakfast portion))), and their weight has been unchanged (which I was quite sure it would be since I know how much they eat), but they dont throw as much in the water.

How does that sound?

[Polarn]

Just got one thing for you to consider, unless I'm totally out there and in that case this may serve as a tip to someone else in the situation...

If I am not wrong you house them together right? and in that case since you see a change of apetite make sure to be extra careful about weightloss/weightgain incase one of them eats more due to the increased apetite and the other one of them is therefor getting less. I am pretty confident you already weight your birds and have thought of this incase this is your situation, but I just wanted to throw it out there incase you ahvn't though of it or incase someone else starting to "control" food doent think about it.

[cml]

Just got one thing for you to consider, unless I'm totally out there and in that case this may serve as a tip to someone else in the situation...

If I am not wrong you house them together right? and in that case since you see a change of apetite make sure to be extra careful about weightloss/weightgain incase one of them eats more due to the increased apetite and the other one of them is therefor getting less. I am pretty confident you already weight your birds and have thought of this incase this is your situation, but I just wanted to throw it out there incase you ahvn't though of it or incase someone else starting to "control" food doent think about it.

Aye, I weigh them several times a week, and I have been extra diligent with weight controls since I changed strategy . You are right though, anyone who decides to make changes in how they feed their bird(s) need to be very observant and weigh their birds frequently !

[Michael]

Let me just point out that it is possible to weight manage multiple birds that share a cage. It's not easy but not impossible. I know some people would use this living condition as a counter-argument to food management but I will dispel it because it is something I've considered. Obviously putting a limited portion (or several) in a shared cage could result in fighting and the stronger bird getting more of the food. In effect you have one full bird and one empty so this is unacceptable. The way to implement successful weight management in a shared situation is to feed the birds individually. Here are two methods for achieving this:

1) Put each bird in its carrier (or a small travel cage) just to eat. The byproduct of doing this is that they get very used to their carrier in the process as well. Then after the meal is consumed, replace the birds back together.

2) Take all but one bird out of the cage for "out of cage time" but leave one to eat its portion. Then rotate that bird out and others in one at a time until all have had their managed portion. I prefer the first option because it teaches something useful in the process, however, without the extra cages (and sufficient ones for each bird), option 2 may be necessary.

Just throwing it out there in case anyone was wondering.

[Polarn]

I'm sorry if my previous post seemed as a counter argument, certainly wasn't ment as one, it was simply ment as a caution and to point out that you have to be extra careful when you house two birds together to not end up in a situation where one of them constantly goes hungry.

[cml]

I know, maybe my post came of as harsh? Anyway, Ive even added some smileys to it now =)!

[CheroneseGirl]

I also voted option 1 because pellet is always available.
I provide them with fruits or veggies 2-3x each day, usually when I eat. I leave the raw stuff in foraging balls/kabobs for hours, whereas, the cooked stuff (veggies, pasta) comes out after approx an hour.

[rebcart]

I've decided not to vote yet, as I'm still thinking about where I best fit. Our GCC forages for the vast majority of her food.


She gets a few pellets in a bowl on her stand, but she only has access to this in the morning and evening when we let her out of the cage, so this could be considered mealtimes. This is up to 50% of her diet, but usually closer to 25%. I try to put as little in here at a time as possible to encourage her to forage more.

She also has heaps of pellets in her cage all day, but she has to forage for them as they're stuffed deep inside sea sponge, yucca wood logs, rolled up paper etc. This takes up most of her cage time when she's not sleeping.

She'll get some chopped up veges once every couple of days in addition to the pellets, usually as forage but rarely in a bowl if I'm running out the door late. And, of course, seeds as training treats.

So, although she technically has food in her cage the whole time, I wouldn't really consider it the same as free feeding due to the effort she has to put in to getting it. There are definitely times when she's hungry, but refusing to forage because she'd rather wait for the next easy meal, which is pretty similar to a bird that didn't have food available in the first place, right?

[cmaygar]

I provide a minimal mixture of pellets, very small amount of seed, and some nuts twice a day. My GCCs get a few Nutriberries instead of nuts (the WBC and the amazon get almonds or pistachios). All of them get apple or grapes in the morning and veggies in the p.m. (either carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, hot peppers, etc.).

I don't load up the cups with food, but provide basically only a few pinches for the GCCs so they eat almost all of it and I fill the bottom of the food dishes for the larger birds only. This minimizes uneaten food and keeps the food fresh.