Pajarita wrote:In all honesty, one talks about a honeymoon period of two or three months but it's very misleading because some birds like you from day one and others take years... It depends on the species, the gender, the age and, most of all, the background going back all the way to the breeder and his/her husbandry because, for example, birds that were weaned too fast and too early will have issues - birds that were gavage-fed will have issuesfd, birds that were kept separate from other babies will have issues, etc. You might have to work a bit harder on a male than a female but, again, it depends on the species and which gender is dominant, the dominant one being more 'difficult' than the other gender [for example, male amazons tend to become real stinkers when they get a certain age, even when you impeccable husbandry but, when it comes to lovebirds, males are 'nicer' than females]. A bird that is overly-hormonal is going to be much more difficult to get to bond 'nicely' because we are talking of a bird in constant pain and discomfort. A bird that has been fed too much protein to the point of being on soft molt [my caique came like that] is not going to allow anybody to touch its body even if he is a real nice bird because the pins hurt when touched the wrong way. A bird that has been fed wrong and is suffering from an avitaminosis or lack of a mineral is not going to be feeling too good... And I can go on and on with different examples because mood is not only emotional but also physical [if you have a terrible headache, you are not going to be the easiest person to deal with, right?].
I've never had a gray that bit me [I had six under my care]. I had a female that was all plucked and virtually catatonic [she would not take a single step toward food or water, you had to put it in front of her perch - and this lasted months and months and months] and, although she ended up moving around and even flying, eating well, bathing, etc. [even learned to give kisses], the poor thing was never going to be 100% completely normal no matter how long one gave her. I had a brother and sister that did not like each other but which were very loving to people [the female would fly down to my shoulder and with the sweetest voice ask me: "You OK, sweetheart?" whenever I got bit by another bird], a Timneh that got along just fine with me but always loved my husband better, and Sophie CAG, the one I have now and which I've had for years, which liked me from day one and has never had a single issue with anything. One thing I can tell you about grays, they are the pickiest eaters, in my personal experience.
Pajarita wrote:Well, Erika was the only bird that did that. Sophie flies down to my shoulder and kisses my cheek when I get bit by another bird - actually, I assume she would still do it because it's been many months since the last time that the male amazon bit me...
Diet is super important but the most important part of keeping them from becoming overly-hormonal is to keep them at a strict solar schedule with full exposure to dawn and dusk so the bird's body will stop producing sexual hormones when the days are short and the nights long. And it doesn't matter if you have a male or a female, both genders suffer when they are overly-hormonal.
As to a good diet... well, i've been doing research on parrots natural diets for over 20 years and have long ago reached the conclusion that pellets are not and never will be the best dietary option for them. I feed gloop and raw produce [one leafy green, one veggie, one fruit - a different one every day of the week or even more seldom] for breakfast and all day picking and a mixture of nuts and seeds for dinner. All the 'dirtiest' veggies are always organic and anything else that is not hugely expensive -for example, they don't get strawberries very often because they need to be organic which are terribly expensive but they get blackberries once a week because they don't need to and they are not very costly [I have a lot of birds and it adds up] and they love them.
Every year, a list is put out with all the dirtiest and cleanest produce and we all use it for our birds. https://www.ewg.org/foodnews/full-list.php
Pajarita wrote:Gloop is the name I gave to a dish made out of whole grains cooked al dente mixed with thoroughly cooked pulses and frozen veggies [but other people use other names like goop, mash, chop, kitchen sink, etc and other recipes] I use Kamut, hulled barley, spelt, wheat [hard red winter for the warm months and soft white spring for the winter], quinoa [warm weather] or millet [cold weather], red and/or black rice and wild rice [not always] for grains. Black lentils [but they can be the regular brown ones, too] and small white beans [I get these in cans and rinse them thoroughly under running warm water] for pulses. Chopped broccoli, corn, peas, carrots, butternut squash [all frozen], baked or nuked sweet potatoes and white hominy [from a can rinsed thoroughly]. I cook the grains al dente separate from the lentils which I cook thoroughly, mix them together and add the white beans. Allow to cool completely and then add the frozen veggies and the sweet potatoes and white hominy. Then I split the mix into baggies that hold a single daily portion [you can do it with ice cube trays because you have only one bird] and put them all in the freezer. Every pm, I take out one baggie and allow to thaw. In the morning, I mix the 'flavor of the day' [I alternate a fruity and a spicy to keep them interested]. Twice a week, they get a multivitamin/mineral supplement added to their gloop because although the gloop and the fresh, raw produce would take care of almost all their nutritional needs, they can't provide Vit D3 [also, in case one of them is not eating as varied a diet as I would like which always happens for the first two years or so]. If you look in the diet section and put gloop on the search space, you will find different recipes from the more complicated one [like the one I just described] to very quick and easy ones but you can also make one yourself and experiment
Pajarita wrote:When this type of food came out, chop was just fresh veggies chopped up, mash was also fresh veggies but it was a finer chop than the chop [hence the name 'mash'] These dishes had no grains or pulses, only veggies and then only fresh veggies but fresh is not as nutritious as frozen [fresh is picked green -frozen ripens in the plant- and it loses a lot of nutrients in shipping -days and days in crates- while frozen is picked and frozen within hours so they retain almost all the nutrients] that's why I use only frozen veggies and keep them frozen until it's ready to be served.
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