Almonds

[LSA]

Next week makes a full month!
Sherman had her first almond yesterday and loved it. I've been hiding food in her forage basket that obviously gets rummaged through. (I'm not as dumb as I look, Sherman.) She watched her cage cleaning without lunging or making noise at me.
Sherman doesn't like her cage left open. Hmm I've had birds that want to stay attached to their cages but never a fear of an open cage door. Is this normal?
I never mentioned that the AV declared her a healthy bird missing toenail of 224 grams. Her tests came out good. Her only suggestion was giving her a scrambled egg weekly.

 

[Pets of Mav]

My BH pionus loves his cage time in peace, specially at night. I don't have any experience with him being uncomfortable from an open cage door, but it might be that he feels safer if the door is closed? The cage is always the safety place for my birds, and I have made it so. I never bring them out of the cage, I always let them come out, so if they stay in they are simply not in the mood to come out and that is fine. Might just be that he feels safer with the door closed as mentioned. I also always clean the cage with the birds out of it, although they like to get "involved".

Excellent that the VA declared her all healthy! I have not heard of feeding scrambled eggs, is that due to flaky beak or something in relation to low calcium levels?

Congratulations on your one month!

 

[Shezbug]

I love that her name is Sherman.
Congrats on the almonds!
My baby likes to drop them through the bars for some reason, he seems to get a little excited when he sees them and then he takes them straight to the bottom and plonks them through the bars. I wish he would just munch them up like he does with the small bits of almond.
The cage door thing?? I really don't know what to make of that but I would think that maybe it is a matter of each bird being unique. Has she maybe had a decent fright or nasty experience out of the cage before she was with you? Can you let her explore the room while she is in the cage by moving it from time to time during the day so she is familiar with the room and also comfortable in all areas of it? I don't even know if that will help, it is just something I think I would try for a few days.
Great news from the AV. It always makes you feel good when you hear you are doing well.

 

[LSA]

Thanks
My first thought was safety. Maybe she only got hit when she came out of the cage. I figure the reds are the same thing

Can you let her explore the room while she is in the cage by moving it from time to time during the day so she is familiar with the room and also comfortable in all areas of it? I don't even know if that will help, it is just something I think I would try for a few days.

I never really considered that. Her cage is on casters!

I love that her name is Sherman.

I'm glad someone does. She answers to Saint Ras well.

 

[tka]

Leia loves almonds - I use flaked almonds as a training treat and she gets one as I close the cage up at bedtime. Flaked almonds are a bit more manageable for a pi.

 

[LSA]

I love AA! It just posted for me while writing. HAHA
Anyway, she answers to Saint Rebecca as well, but I've always known her as Sherman.

Excellent that the VA declared her all healthy! I have not heard of feeding scrambled eggs, is that due to flaky beak or something in relation to low calcium levels?

The AV knows the flock gets scrambled eggs weekly and probably thought Sherman should join the party. She goes back in when the NYA begins. No doubt she'll get an "end of quarantine" blood test and we'll know for sure.

 

[LSA]

Leia loves almonds - I use flaked almonds as a training treat and she gets one as I close the cage up at bedtime. Flaked almonds are a bit more manageable for a pi.

I don't even know what those are! I just put one in her morning treat cup and another when I change it at lunchtime. She still won't take food from my hand... even through the cage bars. She does watch as I put in her treat cup.
Hmm I hadn't considered almonds as a bedtime treat! Maybe I should try that.

 

[LSA]

Oh yeah, when we all visit the AV this time, it'll only be the new man only and not both. I guess we got lucky. Sherman seemed to like him immediately which is good. JoJo is still fascinated by the old one. He's too little for a blood test though. Hopefully, JoJo, who is down to annual exams will adjust. Everyone else will only have experience with the new AV! I hope he continues the "toy" tradition!

 

[tka]

I don't even know what those are! I just put one in her morning treat cup and another when I change it at lunchtime. She still won't take food from my hand... even through the cage bars. She does watch as I put in her treat cup.
Hmm I hadn't considered almonds as a bedtime treat! Maybe I should try that.

They look like these: Flaked Almonds - Buy wholesale or retail, in small or bulk size - you may be able to find them in the baking aisle of a supermarket.

Leia's bedtime routine started when she was willing to take food from my hand but before she was stepping up. She has a perch attached to one of her cage doors. I would ask her to fly to the perch using a flaked almond as a treat, and as she was eating the almond, I would swing the door shut. I wanted to pair something not-so-good (being put back in her cage after flying around a room) with something good (a tasty treat). I try to avoid asking her to step up and putting her on her perch for the same reason - I don't want her to associate stepping up with something she doesn't want.

She still gets her nightly treat even through she will fly to her perch herself when it's bedtime.

 

[LSA]

Those look like sliced, peeled almonds. I gave Sherman whole almonds. Sliced would be both cheaper and easier. Interesting. I would like to hear others' results, too. How much do you give Leia?

 

[LSA]

I discovered Sherman's secret love... potato chips! Here I was giving her all this healthy food and what she really wated was chips!

@ConureTiel had that forum and video about Eddie's Obsession. HMMM Chloe loved microwave popcorn almost as much as healthy Chia seeds. What if Sherman wants some of my junk food, too? So, I offered her a potato chip. She loved it! I thought it must be a fluke so tried a little one. Again, she loved it! That just may be the key to her heart!

 

[camelotshadow]

Almonds are good fat & have calcium. Penny has always had them in her diet but hawkheads are a bit different than pionus who can put on the weight. Still a few are a good thing

 

[Begone]

potato chips!

A big No No! Sorry! That will for sure shorten her life. Also microwave popcorn.
Best is to never offer them unhealthy things. What they don't know, they can't miss.

Almonds, walnuts, dried fruit with no added sugar, hemp seed and pumpkin seed is great and healthy treats.

 

[LSA]

Uh oh. Is it too late? Have I irreparably harmed her? Until this very evening, I'd only given her almonds, walnuts, fruit and carrots. Once a week, I scrambled eggs that we all eat. Sherman has never had microwave anything. Oh wait... She also was given but uninterested in dry cured pork from my lot.
As I've maintained, she is my first Pionus and my research only listed what was good not bad. The last thing I want to do is hurt her more than she already has been.
The avian behavioral consultant recommended Glenn getting his wings clipped, so I thought I'd take Sherman, too. Is this wrong as well? I've never read anything regarding this but in babies.
The last thing I want to do is hurt her!!!

 

[LSA]

I live in a small place here in AR. I only get to the grocery store in a nearby town biweekly at best. It's a Walmart that's NOT a supercenter and without instore pickup. We have a grocery store here, but my house is bigger than it!
The Wal-Mart sells a bag of trail mix, but I don't remember the brand or ingredients. I'll be going back next week. My lovebird, my cockatiel and my GCC all ate it in TX with no problems and lived long lives. Obviously, what works for them doesn't work for my Pionus.
Can she, too, eat this trail mix? What about dry, old-fashioned oats? I want us to live out our lives together!

 

[BirdManDan]

My whole flock loves almond treats for training and occasionally for Foraging! They would eat them all day if I let them. I use whole ones for Foraging and broken pieces of the slivers for training treats!

 

[LSA]

My whole flock loves almond treats for training and occasionally for Foraging! They would eat them all day if I let them. I use whole ones for Foraging and broken pieces of the slivers for training treats!

I'm glad to hear that. I put whole almonds in Sherman's forage basket. The three things she likes from her forage basket are a homegrown corn cob, almonds and a braided kale leather chew.

She doesn't like my hand very close even through the cage bars. She gets 2 almonds in her treat cup in the morning then, again, when I change everything at lunch and, finally 1 before bedtime. That's 5/day in her treat cup and 2/day in her forage basket. I put pellets in her basket, but she only likes them in her food cup.

I keep her main cage door open for the hour before bedtime and she no longer tries to hide. In fact, Sherman even turned around and let me see her scars as well as casually chirping and grinding her beak. She originally seemed terrified of making any noise but not really now.

Sherman obviously has chewed on her toy. Training is still a dream. She's slowly coming around.

 

[camelotshadow]

I really wanted a pionus so was researching them for a while. Still would love one esp a bronze wing but I found Penny my hawkhead & she is all ever wanted in bird. Had her 6 weeks & she is not afraid of me & has stepped up a few times but recently has chosen not too so we are still getting to know each other but she seems happy & content.

Pionus are more laid back & quiet but the white cap is the most active of them & the smallest. I'd ditch the potato chips. A few won't hurt her but there is nothing really nutritious in it & its alot of oil.

224 g is a good size for a white cap

Roast some sweet potatoes with herbs & some coconut oil.
Hi in vit A.

Some people food is fine but I choose organic for root veggies or berries if possible.

I don't offer bread even whole grain as it has yeast & I don;t think they need that. I have ezekial sprouted grain bread which is good but still has yeast.

I'd like to try sprouting but never did yet & it goes bad fast.

Not sure whats wrong with popcorn. Its basically nothing nutritious but don;t see it as bad if they deem it a treat & will work for it.

 

[LSA]

This season at home, I'm growing a row of popcorn. (A home row is about 40 plants.) I'm already harvesting dent corn, which is mostly at the farm except 14 home plants which were detasselled early. (A farm row is 300-500 depending on the plant.) I don't fertilize or spray at home except with diy stuff. (Dawn as insecticide and salted vinegar as herbicide.) Sherman gets shaved home dent corn and home dent cobs.

My poor birds endure my food experiments. Sherman doesn't like B foods. (Berries, Beans, Broccoli, etc.) On the other hand, C foods are her favorites. (Carrots, Corn, Cantaloupe, etc.) Other foods, she seems neutral about. (Spinach, Plums, Watermelon, etc.) Oh yeah, she LOVES any nuts.

After those two potato chips, I got scared off most people food! Sherman didn't care about my scrambled eggs this morning. The other birds like them ... even Tommy, the new budgie. "You get scrambled eggs while I clean your cage." Glenn, well, is Glenn and likes them. JoJo, my older budgie, opted to watch me "massacre" his cage and save his for later.

Wal-Mart has some oyster crackers. Can Sherman have those? My other birds like them. (That's why Wal-Mart carries them.)

 

[camelotshadow]

I'd nix the oyster crackers not much in that but white flour & salt!

Get some whole grain..