- Joined
- 9/9/16
- Messages
- 118
I began my feeding journey when I got my first macaw in Jan 2015 as a weanling. He is a blue and gold macaw. (Both birds are fully flighted btw). I am a biologist/scientist and after reading what I feel like was the ENTIRE internet, upon getting him I switched him to what I thought was the healthiest diet possible. Harrison's High Potency, many fruits/veg(sprouts) daily, and tree nuts(we tried to offer TOPs but he wouldn't eat those-yet). We had him on this diet for 9 months. He was seriously a crazy bird. SO MUCH energy- too much. So high strung all of the time. So many playful but very painful bites. So many HOLES in ALL of our clothes. He was a flying Tasmanian devil. He barely would touch his veggies as he preferred the HHP, fruits, and nuts. Keeping fruits, veggie attempt, and nuts the same we switched to Harrison's Maintenance - we fed both peppered and reg. We noticed a slight decrease in his craziness(not much though) and fed this way for a few more months. Then we found a cool group with a different feeding style and at this point we would try ANYTHING to have a more manageable bird. We tried to feed a mostly veggie chop in the morning and ZUPREME at night. I really dragged my feet trying zupreme b/c I feel like the ingredients are inferior/just corn. Our bird loved them and was a tiny bit better than on HHP but still not eating chop. (At this time we did try 1 bag of ROUDYBUSH and he would choke on these. I think it was my bird not the pellets but w/e we didn't re-puchase.) Finally this April we got our second bird, at the time he was 8 months- a scarlet macaw. He cam from a GREAT breeder already eating chop like a champ, sprouts, etc. He was SO much CALMER like a normal bird. He came with some GOLDENOBLES. We ordered some Goldenobles, more TOPS, and put our foot down. After much trial and error and considerable research as a scientist, the new diet that has turned my CRAZY blue and gold into a still energetic but now manageable cuddle bug is as follows:
7:00 am: 1/2+ cup 99% vegetable(cooked) and sprout chop- I add a small bit of low sodium salt
Free choice TOPs
1 scoop Equa Holistics Probiotics(these had their own incredible impact but that will be a different post). Maybe a sliver of fruit if yesterday was a "good day."
4:00 pm: Free choice access to Goldenobles, still has access to TOPS, I also offer quinoa, brown rice, and some sort of fruit.
occasional evening training: tree nuts or other treat
7-8:00 pm "bed time": A couple more tree nuts (wow - bedtime is fun now!
)
Our scarlet gets a much more relaxed feeding regimen and right away in the a.m. will get TOPs, Goldenobles, brown rice/quinoa with his chop, and some nuts. He is also a leaner bird and calmer in general.
I think Harrison's was not working for my B and G bc is was TOO delicious to him. He would literally hold out and starve himself with a bowl of chop in his cage waiting for more Harrison's. Now that all of his foods are slightly more bland, he is happy to eat everything as it tastes a bit better to him. (I AM THE SAME WAY. I eat bland and my food is all pretty good. If I go eat a steak- the next day my tilapia just makes me sad.)
Thank you for reading my post and I hope my analysis and thought process on why this works is helpful to someone else with a difficult/high strung bird or chop avoider. If anything, it is just one more method of getting great results and keeping healthy birds!
7:00 am: 1/2+ cup 99% vegetable(cooked) and sprout chop- I add a small bit of low sodium salt
Free choice TOPs
1 scoop Equa Holistics Probiotics(these had their own incredible impact but that will be a different post). Maybe a sliver of fruit if yesterday was a "good day."
4:00 pm: Free choice access to Goldenobles, still has access to TOPS, I also offer quinoa, brown rice, and some sort of fruit.
occasional evening training: tree nuts or other treat
7-8:00 pm "bed time": A couple more tree nuts (wow - bedtime is fun now!
)Our scarlet gets a much more relaxed feeding regimen and right away in the a.m. will get TOPs, Goldenobles, brown rice/quinoa with his chop, and some nuts. He is also a leaner bird and calmer in general.
I think Harrison's was not working for my B and G bc is was TOO delicious to him. He would literally hold out and starve himself with a bowl of chop in his cage waiting for more Harrison's. Now that all of his foods are slightly more bland, he is happy to eat everything as it tastes a bit better to him. (I AM THE SAME WAY. I eat bland and my food is all pretty good. If I go eat a steak- the next day my tilapia just makes me sad.)
Thank you for reading my post and I hope my analysis and thought process on why this works is helpful to someone else with a difficult/high strung bird or chop avoider. If anything, it is just one more method of getting great results and keeping healthy birds!
