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Goffins not a fan of wife

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Re: Goffins not a fan of wife

Postby Sherlar » Thu Oct 11, 2018 7:37 pm

Pajarita,

Crap, my reading is as poor as my writing! I had thought I read you had spent time in, or were from Africa. I just spent an hour trying to figure out why, and much to my surprise, it was South America. Gads, so I am sure it seemed rather random that I told you about my wishes to visit Africa! BAHAHAHAAHa.

Sherri
Sherlar
Parrotlet
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is male
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Types of Birds Owned: BG Macaw, Goffin cockatoo,
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Re: Goffins not a fan of wife

Postby Dollie » Sat Oct 13, 2018 9:47 am

Hey again, so the baby senegal is not actually my bird. He belongs to someone else who lives here but me being an animal person I’m the one spending most of the time with it. So I’ve actually never spoken to the guy who sold him the bird, but I care about this little guy and will do whatever I need to to take care of him.

His owner syringe feeds him every night with bird porridge he was given by the seller/breeder. And during the day he has his seeds plus whatever I give him. Yesterday he had some strawberry and right now he is munching away on a piece of apple I just gave him. His been eating much more of his seeds, i can tell by the amount of empty seed shells in his food bowl.

I will try spoon feeding him soft foods and see if he screeches less
Dollie
Parakeet
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
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Number of Birds Owned: 2
Types of Birds Owned: African grey parrot
Senegal parrot
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Re: Goffins not a fan of wife

Postby Dollie » Sat Oct 13, 2018 9:52 am

Also, suggestions on soft foods and different things and methods I can try when it comes to feeding him ?
Dollie
Parakeet
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
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Types of Birds Owned: African grey parrot
Senegal parrot
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Re: Goffins not a fan of wife

Postby Pajarita » Sat Oct 13, 2018 9:56 am

:lol: Don't worry about the Africa thing - I also would LOVE to visit it! And yes, I am very much aware that everybody swears by pellets but everybody who does is somebody who never actually took the time to do any in-depth research about their natural diets because [and I'll just give you one single point here even though I have more] any animal that evolved to eat a diet that is 85 - 95% moisture and, as most prey animals, is a crepuscular feeder [meaning it's hard-wired to eat and drink early in the am and late in the evening] cannot do well with a diet that has a max of 10% water! We learned this lesson with cats which kept on dying from renal failure at a relatively young age because we insisted on feeding them dry kibble. People think that doing research is going into a birdsite and asking a question from other owners but don't take into consideration that these owners might be repeating something they heard/read from still another owner. They also ask their avian vets without realizing that they never study parrot nutrition. Avian medicine books do have a chapter on nutrition but it's super vague and short because it's supposed to cover all species and, as you have birds that eat mammals, birds that eat seeds, birds that eat nectar and polen, birds that eat insects, birds that eat fish and birds that eat anything [like pigeons, gulls and chickens], avian nutrition becomes a HUGE subject that requires books of its own. And, I tell you something else: the best two avian vets I've had with whom I had a very close relationship and had had parrots of their own for years, admitted to me that they recommend pellets because they did not trust people to feed their birds correctly so, between all seeds and all pellets, they chose pellets... kind of like the lesser evil.

Gloop is the name I gave to a dish I came up with when my first rescue was diagnosed with high uric acid and I started doing research on the condition and the causes of it, and discovered that I was feeding her all the wrong things. So I came up with a recipe that has changed a million times since and will, most likely, continue to be tweaked and fine-tuned as I learn more. Years ago, when people first came up with the notion of not free-feeding pellets or seeds, there were three different kinds: gloop, chop and mash. Gloop is a dish made out of cooked whole grains and pulses mixed with frozen veggies [because frozen is more nutritious than fresh]. Chop was fresh veggies chopped up and frozen. And mash was the same as chop but with a finer texture. People used chop and mash as a solution for a more varied diet when they had one or a just a couple of birds because, this way, they could buy a number of items in a 'normal' quantity, prepare it, freeze it and use it for a long time. Because, let's face it, if you have only one bird, you are not going to buy seven different fruits, seven different veggies, seven different leafy greens every week because you would end up throwing away 90% of it. It's a practical and economical solution. I prefer gloop because it has a bit of protein in it [grains and pulses] which makes it more attractive to birds, it's more nutritious [the frozen produce versus the fresh] and it has a much rougher texture which the birds seem to prefer. If you look in the diet section, you will find several versions of gloop from super easy to more complicated [I do the more complicated but I've been doing it for so long that I can do it in my sleep]. Another thing I like about gloop is that it seems to appeal to all birds and I've never had a problem switching a bird to it [not even seed junkies!]. The trick is presentation, timing and persistence but there are also a few tricks people can follow to convince the hard-to-crack nuts that refuse to eat anything but nuts or seeds or pellets [although I've never had a single a bird that insisted on eating pellets once it was offered gloop]. Serving it a 'transition' gloop [only grains without veggies], warm, on a white paper plate on a flat surface at dawn and flavored with cinammon will tempt the most recalcitrant of seed eaters.

Now, I have found that my finches and button quail will eat anything I put out for them as long as I chop it very finely and spread it around the bottom of the cage - they eat leafy greens without a problem so I can put just the leaves there, it's the fruits and veggies that they are a bit picky about. This morning, they got finely grated carrots and chopped up red grapes with green leaf lettuce and they gobbled it all up!
Pajarita
Norwegian Blue
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
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Flight: Yes

Re: Goffins not a fan of wife

Postby Pajarita » Sat Oct 13, 2018 10:00 am

Dollie wrote:Also, suggestions on soft foods and different things and methods I can try when it comes to feeding him ?


Try gloop, polenta, rolled or steel-cut oats [make sure it's organic because the regular one has too much of a real bad herbicide], pastina, couscous, etc. Basically anything made out of some sort of grain that is small and can be cooked to a soft point and mix it with pureed veggies and/or fruits [you can also use baby food jars for this but no spinach or kale].

Please do not get the baby bird used to being free-fed seeds - it's very unhealthy for any parrot.
Pajarita
Norwegian Blue
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 18701
Location: NW Pa
Number of Birds Owned: 30
Types of Birds Owned: RoseBreasted too, CAG, DoubleYellowHead Amazon, BlueFront Amazon, YellowNape Amazon, Senegal, African Redbelly, Quaker, Sun Conure, Nanday, BlackCap Caique, WhiteBelly Caique, PeachFace lovebird, budgies,
Flight: Yes

Re: Goffins not a fan of wife

Postby Sherlar » Sat Oct 13, 2018 3:37 pm

I did find your page with the gloop. Last evening I tried brown rice. The brown rice was a flop, so I will present it differently. I have used up the couscous, quinoa, and tabbouleh in the last few weeks. I can go to the store on Monday when the rest of the world is at work. I am basically the only one in the family that eats the stuff, So now I try it with the birds. I have seen many people say white rice and pasta, but I don't see the benefit of refined rice and flours. They have lost everything.

A lot of nutritional, behavioral, and medicinal treatments were started with good intentions, and then we learned better in time. We look back upon our foolishness, ignorance and often barbaric practices.

Sherri
Sherlar
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Gender: This parrot forum member is male
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Re: Goffins not a fan of wife

Postby Pajarita » Sun Oct 14, 2018 10:39 am

I no longer eat or feed my birds brown rice [too high in arsenic] and I don't feed my birds anything with white flour, everything has to be whole grain or they don't get it. Try using the red rice instead [I use both Weehani and black Japonica in my gloop] but, if you want to go with the 'regular' brown [the red and the black are whole grain, just like the brown is], get brown Basmati grown in India or Thailand. But for a big bird, I would try Kamut first. It has the biggest grains, it's a heirloom so it's as high in protein but lower in gluten and higher in phytonutrients than the 'modern' wheat and the birds LOVE it. Especially the big ones... they always go for the kamut first. Also, make sure it's cooked al dente so it's a bit soft on the outside but still hard in the inside and the grains never stick together [my birds don't like 'sticky, soft grains']. And mix it with thawed sweet corn [there isn't a single bird in the Universe that doesn't like sweet corn].

Also, the trick to get them to eat it is to time things just right [they are hungriest in the mornings and this is the time when they eat their main meal in the wild] so what you do is take away the bowl with the leftover dinner protein food [whatever that might be] either after they fall asleep or before they wake up. Wait one hour after dawn and then put the gloop [or cooked grains] on a white paper plate on a flat surface and mix the tiniest amount of some sort of small seed [I use the budgie mix] into it. This helps two ways: 1) is that, by virtue of being mixed together, the bird gets the idea that this is all food so it helps them recognize the cooked grains as chow. And 2) because, as they are small seeds, they will, eventually, end up putting a grain or two in their beaks and, once they do this, you OWN them! :lol: Because the hard core of the grain will remind them of seeds and the warmth will remind them of what they ate as babies [comfort food!]
Pajarita
Norwegian Blue
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
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Location: NW Pa
Number of Birds Owned: 30
Types of Birds Owned: RoseBreasted too, CAG, DoubleYellowHead Amazon, BlueFront Amazon, YellowNape Amazon, Senegal, African Redbelly, Quaker, Sun Conure, Nanday, BlackCap Caique, WhiteBelly Caique, PeachFace lovebird, budgies,
Flight: Yes

Re: Goffins not a fan of wife

Postby Navre » Mon Oct 15, 2018 6:24 am

Time of day is a huge factor in appetite. I get up at 0300 in the summer to get to the rescue by sunrise. I do that because I have found that the birds eat about twice as much chop (and nectar for the butterfly birds) as they do if they are fed at 8 or 9am. More chop eaten = fewer pellets eaten. That means less cost for the rescue as we buy our pellet mix, but produce is generally donated or grown in out garden. It’s better for the birds, too.
Navre
African Grey
 
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Re: Goffins not a fan of wife

Postby Sherlar » Tue Nov 13, 2018 11:31 am

OK. First I want to thank you for all of your wonderful information on birds. Have we been able to incorporate all of it? Heck no. We fail. However, the goffins made a huge transformation despite our failures. After the first week or two of him attacking me a couple of times, and drawing blood, he stopped. Looking back at that, and understanding that birds, like people, are on their best behaviors in new settings, I am amazed he transformed so quickly and so well. He was not getting the reinforcement of screaming and running people. He is in the center of our family life and he developed a much softer beak. Is he still an ornery shit? Of course! He is 100% a goffins gremlin!

We have discovered many things about our B&G and the goffins over the past few weeks. If we give them food from our plates, sometimes they surprise us and find something they like, for that moment at least. We are careful to make sure they do not eat from an area that we have eaten from due to the gram positive/negative problem. The gloop has not been successful with the goffins. He will go on a food strike rather than eat something new out of his food bowl. It has to be off my husband's plate only. One step at a time. he will now accept sunflower seeds as a treat. Yes, I understand that is not the best, but baby steps to getting him to try new things has been so difficult. For awhile he looked a lot like a stew chicken and was ready for the pot!

Yes, in the beginning, we were greatly overwhelmed and in over our heads, like any new parent, but we are slowly adjusting and learning. Learning to read our birds, realizing that each bird is indeed its own individual within a specie, getting good advice on forums, has helped a great deal. You have helped a great deal. Thank you! And we will continue to try and incorporate some of the things you have taught us.

Sherri
Sherlar
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Gender: This parrot forum member is male
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Re: Goffins not a fan of wife

Postby liz » Wed Nov 14, 2018 6:49 am

Rainbow used to wait in the dark behind the toilet for my Aunt B to go in. He waited for her to sit down and would come out and flog her foot. He did not hurt her but she is a screamer and he loved to hear her scream.
Myrtle likes to smack Aunt B with her wing as she flies by since she will always scream.

Rachel calls Myrtle her bad sister. She will not take anything from Rachel's hand and will act like she is going to bite. She will try to drown her out when she is talking.

Your Coffin may not be a fan of your wife but at least she does not plan attacks. They do plan their misbehaver.
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