Dealing with picky Grey

[MochiRed]

Hello hello! Glad to meet you all!
I've been wondering as a of late something and came to the realization that a lot of the stuff I've been wondering can be answered here haha.
So! Lets get right to the context here, I've been trying to figure out how to put on weight for a picky female Grey who no matter how hard I try seems to hate anything healthy. My lovely girl is a meer year old and already she's been to the vet 4 times over weight concerns. She's always been on the thin side (keel bone can be felt easily) but we've done several blood tests, fecal tests and parasite tests (last one was in June) and everything come up fine. The vet figures that since she is out all day and freely flies around she just a very active bird burning calories, so she suggested I try almond butter, Harrison high potency, a bit of treats but haven't had much luck with any of these.

Never have I had a bird that hates seed as much as this one.
Shelled nuts? How dare I have the audacity to present her with rocks
Almond butter on a little toasted wheat bread? I am trying to poison her
Dry fruit? What is this unedible matter in my bowl!

She'll eat healthy chop just fine but I really do want to vary her diet with a few fattening foods a little and she pretty much refuses anything that doesn't look like human food. She goes crazy for everything shes -not- suppose to eat and we have to set a bowl with a little bit of rice and sometimes human food as long as it isn't overtly seasoned. She has a thing for salt and hot drinks that makes her a menace at the table. If she sees us preparing raw meat or anything dairy she needs to be put away because she will just dive right into the bowl for a forbidden bite. She is far too bold for her own good sometimes.

But fattening bird safe treats? no chance.

Recently I picked up some raw sunflower seeds in another attempt to get her to at least try some sort of treat and made a big deal about eating it, but nada, she'll pick it up and toss it!
I am completely stumped as to how I can help get her a little bit of variety at the moment! It's made clicker training a bit difficult since anything she views as a treat isn't something that should be given regularly.

I really would appreciate any suggestions

 

[Icey]

Does she like nutriberries or fruit pellets?

 

[MochiRed]

Does she like nutriberries or fruit pellets?

Unfortunately, no. She'll pick them up and just rip them apart like paper at the most. She's watched my friends Macaw eat them as well when I was babysitting for her so Im fairly certain she knows their edible, but I think she may just have a preference for softer foods?
She won't touch dry fruit or fruit pellets, but she at the very least does eat fresh fruit. However, from what I've read for Grey's sugar content should be limited and most of her favorite fruits (grapes, guava, apples, bananas) have pretty high sugar content

 

[Icey]

There are quite a few recipes on here for "Birdie Bread" which alot of members make. I give my macaw and and cockatoo scrambled eggs and oatmeal. There is a blueberry and apple one that my macaw loves. My cockatoo prefers the golden honey. Either that the plain and mix some fruit in. Pasta, if she will eat it, might help.
Other will be along in a few hours to offer suggestions.
I'm in the UK so it's just about 8 am here.

 

[MochiRed]

She's rather fond of eggs and oatmeal (despite my distaste for the smell and taste of both lol) I think she's given me a dozen grey hairs over how many times she's dived into peoples plates for breakfast. I've never really given her much other than a few bites since she has a tendency to overeat and act like she hasn't eaten in a week and just scarf things down. How much portion wise do you suggest? Also I had no idea honey was ok for parrots, I just assumed it was like how you cant give infants honey, the more you learn!
Yeah its very late in my case haha

 

[Toy]

Our CAG pretty much eats anything you put in front of her. All tho she's not fond of a few seed mix items. Lately she isn't fond of in shell pumpkin seeds & dried fruit. They tend to change their likes & dislikes over time.

It sounds like your bird hasn't really weaned off soft foods yet. I would try sweet potatoes. Microwave a sweet potato 2-3 minutes until soft. Cook time depends on the size of the potato. Let cool & scoop out, mash with a fork. I usually feed a heaping teaspoon or so. Cubed sweet potatoes roasted in the oven. Peel & cube potatoes. I cut them to around 1 inch or so in size. Lightly oil a foil lined baking sheet. Lay the cubes out flat & bake at 375 degrees for 10 minutes. Then roll each piece over (I use a fork to flip each piece) & bake another 10 minutes. They should be fork tender, but not heavily browned. Bake time may vary due to oven temps. Let cool to room temp. I usually give 2 cubes.

Scrambled eggs. I usually scramble the eggs in a bowl & cook them flat. Then I let cool & cut off pieces in a sort of triangle shape. I would guess the piece is around 2 inches across & 2 inches long. You can also make veggie omelet by adding in some mixed veggies. I also add in a tiny bit of ground cinnamon. Perhaps try adding in some dry pellets to add some crunch & see if she'll eat that. Add in some sunflower seeds hulled. All of the above left overs can be refrigerated. I warm to room temp before feeding. We usually try to feed all wet foods in the AM & dry foods in the PM. I do feed an occasional piece of banana/skin on in the PM.

Pellets....I would try soaking some in hot water until soft. It should only take a few minutes, then pour off the water. If she eats those then gradually soak less & less until she's eating them dry. Our CAG has been on the "Prettybird Species Specific-African" pellets since we got her almost 24 years ago. We also fed a seed mix. She usually eats 1/2 - 2/3 of her in cage dish each night. She also eats the same amount of pellets each night.

 

[MochiRed]

Thank you! She already approaching 21 months I believe but I’ve noticed she sitll exhibits a number of baby behaviors and she still has quite a bit of baby plumage, I hadn’t really considered that. Definitely going to try out these recipies, knowing her she’s probably going to enjoy an omelette haha. I’ll keep y’all updated if she enjoys the sweet potato too
Thankfully she loves pellets (although we have to keep her water bowl on the other side of the cage to prevent soup) but I’ve been considering changing from zupreem natural to something a bit more specialize.

 

[Shannan]

My African gray also stays on the lean side (but he is 39 years old). I have found eggs really help. Also someone suggested palm oil (which I still need to order). Mine loves seeds but I try to put weight on him without too much seeds. What about pumpkin? That really helped my bird when he had lost so much weight due to illness. Sweet potatoes are good as well. When he was recovering I added a tiny amount of a bird safe oil to his pumpkin and sweet potatoes.

 

[MochiRed]

Well! Turns out we had some sweet potato on hand so I went ahead and tried giving her some mashed sweet potato. I made a big deal about “preparing a meal” in front of her and tried to shoo her away while mashing it so once I had my back turned she went right to stealing bits of it. I mixed some of it into her veg instead of carrots today and she ate a decent amount before she decided to paint the floors orange! Success with something!