Unweaned...

[Franky]

It is time that I bring up an issue that I would like to keep from becoming a problem...
I know that many of you have experience on this subject...

I enjoy my birds and try to give them various foods, and to avoid a total seed diet...
My youngest 10-month old Blue and Gold was sold to me "Unweaned"...

He was taking 60cc morning and 60cc at night along with these foods, cheese/oatmeal cookies/peanuts/brown rice/sweet potatoes/wheat bread/yogurt/safflower seeds/broiled chicken/mashed potatoes and hamburger gravy/cooked carrots/bananas/Scrabbled eggs ... That is all that comes to mind...
Anyhow, Sam wants his syringe of baby formula morning and night...

When he is weaned I worry about him losing weight, or worse... I want No harm coming to him by the act of weaning...
Can anyone give assistance through this process of weaning?

Sam is now consuming 40cc twice daily and seems to be comfortable with his feedings...

Tonight I added about 20cc of sweet potato “Baby Food” and reduced the formula by 20cc...

My hope is to increase the sweet potato and made it more of a common taste and possibly more desirable...

I have heard that baby food will help with introducing new foods...

June 7th will be his hatch day and he will be a year old...

Thanks...
Franky

 

[rocky'smom]

hi Ryan, I'll add my 2 cents in here, birds and milk products are not good combo. birds do not tolerate lactose at all. JMO I would stop any and all milk products cheese yogurt also stop giving peanuts and peanut butter they can get sick from them also.
@Hankmacaw

 

[Franky]

Thank You...
These are things that I did not know, and others have advised Yogurt/Cheese/ most all of what I give is used by some bird person...
Thanks for the heads-up... I'll be Rewriting my Menu...

 

[melissasparrots]

If it were me, rather than putting other foods into his syringe, I'd give him 20cc of formula by syringe and then put some warm mashed sweet potato in his bowl for him to eat like a grown up. Not baby food sweet potato either. The real thing. My birds always like real microwaved until soft sweet potato, cooked until soft brown rice, with a little bit of banana and coconut milk drizzled over the top. Its full of calories and a good base to even feed as an adult. Most often a baby that is nearly weaned will almost immediately go to their food bowl after receiving a partial meal of formula. Its better to have him transition to eating grown up food on his own rather than just broadening his horizons still attached to the syringe. If you need to start him out by feeding him clumps of sweet potato from your fingers or a spoon that is fine. You can then move toward holding the bowl for him to eat himself and then having him eat in his cage out of the bowl.

Cooked until soft quinoa and other mashed veggies and beans are good too.

Also, I'd back off on the people food served the way people like it. The occasional bit of cheese, or small piece of egg or chicken is okay. But it shouldn't be an everyday thing. I've found that people tend to fixate on feeding people food to birds. Feeding people food to birds is fine, just prepare it for the bird not people. So, rather than giving broccoli with cheese or sauce on top, just give the broccoli. Skip the chicken all together and substitute some veggies from your meal. No more gravy or anything resembling gravy or butter. And make sure he has access to pellets and some seeds in his cage all the time. Unless you are a hard core bird nutritionist expert or spend all your time researching all the conflicting theories of bird nutrition, you should probably be feeding pellets as a decent portion of his diet. Supplemented with plenty of veggies and a few nuts and seeds since he's a macaw. Just an a little honesty check for yourself, if you are feeding him more than half a teaspoon of animal protein or animal based product(cheese, eggs, meat etc) a week, you are probably giving him too much. Not that there is a set amount that is bad for them, I just find people start sneaking in more and more of that stuff and having a set amount and not going over it keeps people from feeding their bird a bunch of trash. If you are tempted to give him meat, drizzle some coconut milk over some warm veggies or pellets and give that instead. Going to the grocery store and getting the lowest sodium frozen mixed veggies you can find is a decent short cut for busy days. You can freeze some cooked sweet potato into tablespoon sized portions and similar sized portions of cooked beans and grains. Then just thaw. So instead of eating people food, he's eating produce that is bird healthy.

Also, birds normally lose weight as part of the weaning process. However, they normally lose most of the weight when they are about 2-3 months old and then go up from there. If you fixate too much on not letting him lose weight, he may never get hungry enough to eat on his own. You might want to have a vet check him over and make sure he isn't alarmingly skinny as is. If not, I wouldn't worry about a slight weight loss when transitioning from heavy, water based formula to a drier, lighter weight adult food. The gut tends to shrink as they eat more adult food and they carry around less water in their system. So a minor weight loss is semi-normal. Also, some birds even just lose weight period as part of weaning. You just monitor it so its not too much. Most commonly however, you can prevent the worst of the weight loss by giving partial hand-feedings morning and evening followed immediately by warm, mashy adult foods. If your birds just wants to run around and play after a hand-feeding, maybe give him run around and play time before hand-feeding him so he gets it out of his system and then put him back in his cage right after his formula to start eating all that nice warm veggies and rice you cooked up special for him. Or, you can give him the formula and then sit him on your lap to eat the warm veggies out of the bowl you are holding. Just don't let him con you into thinking you always need to be there to hold the bowl. You should be quickly moving toward him eating out of the bowl that is in his cage like a big boy.

 

[Franky]

Staying away from All animal parts in food is possible, while still receiving an ample amount of usable protein...

I was not raised this way, but I'm aware of the Fact...

Knowing the best source of Baby growth foods takes rewiring the brain, and a time of programming...

Sam is young and has not had an abundance of unhealthy foods that can slow or alter his growth...

Sam started his morning with papaya/walnuts/Bananas/Almonds and a short time later he ate his Mush of Almond flour/Oat flour/Spelt flour/Banana Carrot and Mango Baby Food...

I hope he is good to go...

Once set with the Idea that only Good Food comes from the syringe, The Peas and Carrots will come into play... Then onto the frozen and fresh vegetables...

I have already seen the light at the end of the tunnel with Sam licking my fingers... He is loving this way of interacting, and I have to say that it is pure gold...

Thanks, and I am sorry for posting on the wrong board...

Many things are being learned at this time...

 

[Hankmacaw]

@rocky's mom is exactly correct birds are not lactose tolerant and dairy products can give them a tummy ache (nausea). As a new parrot owner 19 years ago, I discovered that Hank and Jasper loved yogurt (plain unflavored) and let them eat as much as they wanted one day - that cost me $275 because I had to take them to the veterinarian the next day - they were throwing up and dumpy and had diarrhea.

Besides being a major source of Aspergilloisis and aflotoxins peanuts are very fattening with the wrong fats. It's easy to avoid peanuts and you really should. Walnuts, pistachios, almonds, pine nuts are all good substitutes and much better for your macaw. They really enjoy inshell nuts - cracking them, picking the meat out and playing with the shells.

As far as proteins go vegetable protein is much better for parrots - beans, pellets, romaine lettuce (plus many others) are all high in vegetable protein.

 

[Franky]

I'm trying to pack-in all the understanding of Baby Bird Food 101 in the shortest period of time possible ...
I would like to answer all posts, but I am unable...
Much of this information will be saved in a file... Thank You All...

 

[melissasparrots]

Macaws aren't known for needing a lot of protein. As an almost 1 year old, your bird doesnt need as much protein as a young baby. So meat isn't required to meet their needs. A vegetarian way to ensure he gets protein is to make sure he eats an assortment of beans and grains. Beans have certain amino acids and grains have others. So rice and quinoa with breakfast and some sprouted beans or cooked peas with supper will likely take care of it. Also, pellets have protein too. Macaws tend to have way more problems from too much protein than too little.

 

[Franky]

Thanks for the information... This information will ensure that Sam gets a good start in life, and I worry less... Thanks...

 

[Hankmacaw]

I'm trying to pack-in all the understanding of Baby Bird Food 101 in the shortest period of time possible ...
I would like to answer all posts, but I am unable...
Much of this information will be saved in a file... Thank You All...

There is no need for you to answer each and every post - just adsorb the information and make sure your baby has the very best start he can possibly have.

If you have a question or don't understand "why", please ask.

 

[Franky]

Thank You, All... I will ask ...