Day 1 of Food Management

[friend2parrots]

sorry just wanted to add - although i wrote above that parrots "are not food managed in the wild" come to think of it one might interpret the ups and downs of seasonal food availability in the wild as a kind of "food management" - albeit conducted by mother nature . just a thought. my main point, however, is that they do not eat discrete meals in the wild, but nibble at leisure throughout the day, whenever food is available and whenever theyre hungry. and they always burn up the excess calories through activity.

[Michael]

also, i am a firm believer, both in my own life and in the care of my parrots, that exercise plays a major role in maintaining a good, ideal weight....in any case, i would think that exercise plays a REALLY big role in maintaining parrots' ideal weight. in the wild, every single species of parrot that we keep as pets fly HUNDREDS of miles a day.

This I completely agree with. Unfortunately when they live in a cage, this isn't the case. Worse yet most of them are clipped even when they are out. Another issue is that the food is too good. We've become so obsessed with making them healthy that we end up giving them too much so again it leads to obesity. So between the excess calories and lack of exercise, that's where food management comes into play.

but the fact that they aren't food managed in the wild, and the fact that they fly so much in the wild, is something to keep in mind.

This is the part I disagree with. Their food IS managed in the wild by natural means. Availability, competition, and distance to name a few. There are only so many miles a parrot can fly in a day and so many bites of food that it can get. The times of day they can eat are determined by hear and predation so even if they'd like to have a snack in the middle of the day, they may not be able to. There exists a natural equilibrium that has been evolved over millions of years. The problem is that they have no shutoff mechanism to stop eating when they reach their perfect weight. In the wild, that one special day when there is extra food, they pig out and save it for a rainy day. In the cage where food is endless, there is no rainy day. Yet they still follow that natural instinct to eat till nothing more fits. In the cage they get food way too easily so they end up having a lot of free time on their beaks so they eat more. It doesn't matter so much why this all happens but the fact is that it does. Putting the bird on the scale and feeling it's breast will demonstrate this.

Michael,

Can you provide us with an idea when the book/dvd will be available?

How do I go about getting additional information about private consultations ie cost for your time, general times you are available and average length of time for each consultation?

The Seminar I held isn't great footage but you can listen and watch the 4 hours of lecture I gave about many of the topics I am now trying to focus down to a new book/dvd combo. It's an ambitious undertaking and consuming a lot of my time. My goal is to finish up by April but it may not be available for purchase till the summer.

Consultations are available by phone, video skype, and in person for NYC area. The amount of time depends on your needs but I try to be efficient to give you the best value. You can fill out a form requesting consultation information and pricing on this page. While the concept of food management is universal, discovering the best strategy for your bird is a bit more personal so I think some one on one time can be beneficial.

[friend2parrots]

Their food IS managed in the wild by natural means. Availability, competition, and distance to name a few. There are only so many miles a parrot can fly in a day and so many bites of food that it can get. The times of day they can eat are determined by hear and predation so even if they'd like to have a snack in the middle of the day, they may not be able to. There exists a natural equilibrium that has been evolved over millions of years. The problem is that they have no shutoff mechanism to stop eating when they reach their perfect weight. In the wild, that one special day when there is extra food, they pig out and save it for a rainy day. In the cage where food is endless, there is no rainy day. Yet they still follow that natural instinct to eat till nothing more fits. In the cage they get food way too easily so they end up having a lot of free time on their beaks so they eat more. It doesn't matter so much why this all happens but the fact is that it does.

i think you're right about this, Michael, esp. the part about "pigging out to save it for a rainy day."
and i do agree with you that an unlimited amount of food in the cage all day isnt a good thing, for the reasons you mention.

so i guess regardless if one feeds a parrot "meals" or leaves food throughout the day, i would think that the overall AMOUNT of food the parrot is allowed to consume in one day ought to be pre-rationed and pre-determined, to maintain the birds ideal weight (polarn has offered above a good wat to determine ideal weight), and that this prerationed amount of food should take into consideration how much flight exercise the bird receives.

[Michael]

so i guess regardless if one feeds a parrot "meals" or leaves food throughout the day, i would think that the overall AMOUNT of food the parrot is allowed to consume in one day ought to be pre-rationed and pre-determined, to maintain the birds ideal weight (polarn has offered above a good wat to determine ideal weight), and that this prerationed amount of food should take into consideration how much flight exercise the bird receives.

Well that's food management for you. The thing is if you give them exactly what they should consume all day in the morning, they will garble it all up all at once and effectively be eating one meal a day. So I prefer instead to break it up and feed it in two.

[Michael]

So as an example: for Pesho my alexandrine who weighs 242 grams, his bowl consisted in 10% of his body weight, for a total of 25 grams of food, 11 grams of pellets and 14 grams of sprouts and carrot.

I have no idea where you got this idea from but it's completely off. It's not detrimental and it's not under feeding. But it is still grossly overfeeding and not really managing the weight. Can you imagine a person trying to consume 10% of their weight in 1 day? For a 150lb individual that would be 15lbs of food! That's like 30 hamburgers a day. Does that kind of amount sound healthy?

Also remember that 1g of pellet is not the same as 1g of carrot. Completely different foods, calories, nutrition, etc. It's more complicated than you think but at the same time it's not as complicated as you are making it.

[friend2parrots]

The thing is if you give them exactly what they should consume all day in the morning, they will garble it all up all at once and effectively be eating one meal a day. So I prefer instead to break it up and feed it in two.

this makes sense...thanks for explaining.

[Michael]

I want everyone to think about food management with the following analogy:

Freefeed is like topping off a car with gas every time you use an eighth of a tank.

Food management is more like filling at a quarter and never filling over half.

The benefits are many. Here are a few:

-Keep track of how much the parrot eats (quick to detect when it isn't)
-Parrot eats healthier foods (less picky than when stuffed)
-Parrot is lighter and flies easier (more motivated to fly more cause not as hard)
-Motivated for food at any time (the parrot is more likely to cooperate off training time)
-Differential reinforcement (since parrot is usually leaner, food becomes a bigger deal... this is very beneficial for making strangers worthwhile in socialization or for super rewarding important things)
-Reduction of hormonal activity (normally stimulated by abundance)
-More exercise (motivation for food means parrot will do more to get it, therefore you can encourage it to fly recalls to earn it as opposed to just pigging out in the cage)

[Pralina]

Ok we are at day 18 of my parrots' Food Management diet.... and things are going amazingly well. I am starting to see all the advantages that Michael was talking about... ok I am REALLY just starting and I know I am not a pro yet but still, believe me when I say that my birds are more active, more motivated, LESS HORMONAL (that is a big one, when you have indians ) and they ARE eating healthier.
Even my timneh has been eating vegetables! RAW! thats a big deal for me, as she would only aknowledge purees before!

Just to start, I wanted to address some concerns expressed previously. I am new to the forum but I have owned birds most of my life and my present feathered family Ive had for a while. So I have done lots of researching the best pellets, the best veggies, the best whatever... forraging toys... over the years... Anyhow, this is the first time I've firmly decided to remove their food between meals (because you would understand that in my parrot community this is not an accepted practice).
But do not worry, I have taken the habit of weighing each and every one of them at least once if not twice or three times a week and I know their normal weights. I have also always served them fruits and veggies in various shapes and forms, some of them they eat, some they don't, as well as making them sprouts that I serve every day!!!

So as for weight and stuff, I am not even worried, because ALL BIRDS have kept their healthy weight despite the new diet... meaning they vary 1-3 grams every day, but they haven't dropped drastically and I wouldn't allow anything dangerous happening due to diet.

But trust me, they are soooo not starving! As I said, they are just being healthier... and I see it happening already, at Day 18!!!

I have no idea where you got this idea from but it's completely off. It's not detrimental and it's not under feeding. But it is still grossly overfeeding and not really managing the weight. Can you imagine a person trying to consume 10% of their weight in 1 day? For a 150lb individual that would be 15lbs of food! That's like 30 hamburgers a day. Does that kind of amount sound healthy?

Also remember that 1g of pellet is not the same as 1g of carrot. Completely different foods, calories, nutrition, etc. It's more complicated than you think but at the same time it's not as complicated as you are making it.

Ok, I dont eat meat, but I guss I understand what you mean with the hamburgers!

I heard this at a few HARI (Hagen) conferences Ive been going to through the years. Their speakers always state, even this year they did, that a bird should eat (and really eat, not throw around) 10% of its body weight. So they are suggesting to parrot owners to weigh their birds' portions accordingly....
So this is where I got this from, and honestly after hearing it so many times from "researchers" I thought it made sense.

However, I have always fed lots of veggies and sprouts (some fruits) so not limiting as to daily portions or weight..... I am actually happy that they eat more of them now....

I usually give them in the morning, with their now small portion of pellets, and as I said, I am actually noticing that they do eat less pellets, about 10 grams (10 Harrisons pellets) each for the big guys.... but they do dig in the sprouts and veggies in the bowl and do munch them !!!

which makes me feel that Food management is starting to be successful at our house!

Now I need to make it perfect!

[Pralina]

The Seminar I held isn't great footage but you can listen and watch the 4 hours of lecture I gave about many of the topics I am now trying to focus down to a new book/dvd combo. It's an ambitious undertaking and consuming a lot of my time. My goal is to finish up by April but it may not be available for purchase till the summer.

I can't access the link to your Seminar page!

[Michael]

http://ParrotWizard.com/SeminarDVDs