32 year old CAG Dumping Food

[Glaziers.g]

Hi all, my 32 year old CAG started dumping his seed/ food (same seed we’ve been feeding him for over 30 years once we figured out which one he liked). He scoops it out of his bowl, and even holds the banana chips in the seed to scoop the food out! My father lived with us and passed in January 2022, and he started this behavior somewhere in July/ August 2022; my mom has been depressed (she is 90) & maybe he is picking up on the emotions; at first it was sporadic, but now it’s daily, and he pretty much is now primarily eating chicken, veggies, fruits, peanuts, and occasionally eats his high quality and very expensive seed. I wonder if they changed any processing of the food due to the supply chain issues that resulted from the pandemic?? He has always been given supplemental human food & treats, but his primary source of food has always been his seed. Another variable is that in October 2022, my mother-in-law (who was the person who hand fed and raised him out of the egg before she gave him to my husband) moved in with us. Our CAG remembers her well and has an affinity to her (imprinted), but since she is now on oxygen and has significant lung disease, she has limited interactions with him. The last 3 years have been pretty stressful since I work in healthcare and was slammed dealing with CoVid at work and home. So I know I’ve spent less time with both birds. Kids are now older (17 & 21) so they give the birds less attention as well. Does anyone have any ideas- am thinking this could be attention seeking? Or is he just stressed by all the changes? I am starting to get worried bc the majority of shells are going unshelled, so of course I feed him more human food and maybe he realizes that this behavior gets him more human food. My other CAG is 22 years old and she’s a plucker - but has been doing that. Not new. No changes in her behavior. Any advice is appreciated.

 

[Shannan]

Walter (tag) used to throw his food for fun when he was bored. I ended up putting several smaller bowls of food around his cage so he had to work harder to fling his food. I also got him a wheel which he had to rotate to dispense his food. He enjoyed playing with that.

 

[Toy]

I'd guess he's annoyed/stressed by all the changes. CAG's are great at feeling our emotions. I'd suggest you explain to him what has happened to the people in his life. They are very intelligent & need to know the what/why/how of things. Try to stick to a routine if possible. All parrots toss some food & some will shovel it out. Do you feed any pellets? If not I'd suggest Prettybird Species Specific African pellets. It contains higher calcium levels that CAG's need. My CAG (age 24) has been on these pellets since we got her at 6 months of age. I'd feed less seed & more veggies. No peanuts, as they can contain fungus. Offer raw almonds or raw pistachios, no salt, in shell instead. One or two a day is enough.

I'd also try more toys he can destroy. Heck junk mail, cardboard egg cartons, popsicle sticks, etc. can keep him busy. Pine cones baked on a foil lined baking sheet for 20 minutes at 250 degrees. Let cool to room temp. Foraging toys like small paper dixie cups, put a treat in it & twist it shut.

 

[Mizzely]

My Jardine's flings his food and dumps water whenever he is annoyed or wants something.

Veggies and fruits are great! If he isn't eating a lot of the seeds, I would switch to Nutriberries, some almonds, and/or some pellets

 

[Tyrion]

My grey is always flinging food around he think its fun and laughs when he does it ..I would think if this is a new behavior its due to all the changes in your home ..I would get him on a good veggie and fruit diet and forget the chicken ..try some form of pellet and see if he likes that ... Best of luck

 

[Shezbug]

I do not have a grey but my B&G was throwing food and water dishes numerous times a day as well as breaking quite a fair few of the bowl holders and also the cage bars holding some food dishes while he was terribly hormonal, he has settled right down with the longer nights and cooler weather and the bowls have barely been tipped since he started calming down. The angrier he got the more the dishes were tossed, the more of a fuss I made about the dishes and food the more often they were the target of his anger and had to be thrown.

Maybe try to find a dish that is too deep for him to easily scoop the food out and a dish that he can not remove himself.

Change in the home, routine, immediate environment etc definitely affects them, change in our emotions, outlook, demeanour and behaviour definitely affects them too.

Hope you can find a solution to keep you all happy and healthy.