by Pajarita » Fri Jan 12, 2018 11:35 am
Welcome to the forum, Gracie and Tia! If she only gets what you described, the reason why she still craves the handfeeding so strongly is because all you listed are hard, dry things! Try soft foods instead, they are the best weaning food you can offer them. Soft food is just that, easily digestible food that is soft and warm [think of a toddler's diet... you don't go from a bottle to adult food for human babies and the same principle stands for baby animals]. Things like cooked polenta, whole grain couscous, steel cut oats, pastina, etc mixed with veggies/fruits and served fresh and warm twice a day are ideal for this time of their lives. The idea is to give them something that resembles the food that parents would feed them in their beak. Formula is good and they should continue to be handfed as long as they want it but the soft food will tempt her more and more until she is only eating it and no longer asks for the syringe - as it should be. This food should be given along 'grown up' food - I use gloop [which is also a fantastic 'soft food'!] and produce for all my birds' breakfast and a measured portion of good quality seed/nut mix for dinner.
Also, I would be careful with the peanuts... for one thing, they need to be human grade and roasted but, for another, it's not something that you should get the bird used to getting all the time [they are not that nutritious... they are not even nuts so it would be better if you offered tree nuts instead].