I'm so jealous of birds that will eat fresh food!
This week Monaco has turned her beak up at everything but grapes and roudybush pellets. I like to think that she's getting what she needs, but I doubt she's making choices for nutrition. She will run to snatch any junk food she can, so I think she's more likely on a roudybush potato chip binge.
Hi. thats a funny description. I think you are doing great. Part of the problem is that writing on a board doesn't always give the whole story. I try to be as brief as possible so perhaps the diet my birds developed doesn't translate well or makes it sound easier than it was? My guys eat a lot of fresh food. When I got them they didn't.
Ruby was on a seed diet with a bit of apple and occasional green leaves or a nut. The owner said she had chop but when I got her home she had no idea what to do with it. Turns out she was offered some basic mix of salad every few weeks but because they are grazers, the food went off before she could eat it. He left it in her aviary all day. So any chop was rejected as not worth trying. Its also why she hates her fruit and veg mixed together.
One of my lorikeets had a seed and honey bread diet, my caiques on pellets etc.
All of my birds were breeder bred and when people took them home, they were only birds. That meant they had no way to imitate other birds eating habits. The six week isolation period was just me eating in front of her and sharing. It took months of coaxing before they would eat enough fresh food so that I could cut down, then eliminate their original diets. So instead of their normal amount of pellets I would offer 3/4 and and when they finished it they only had fresh food to eat, then half the amount and so on.
Some things I did are not ideal long term but their habits were hard to change. I found that smearing a piece of fruit with peanut butter worked for some things. Feeding her with a teaspoon filled with sweet potato was more acceptable than placing it in her bowl. I broke some rules such as offering her whatever I was eating as long as it wasn't on the bad list.
Smearing some plum on her beak so she had to taste it rather than giving it directly to her worked. She would take what I offered then drop it so it took her awhile to figure out that everything was edible and worth trying.
I also found my birds all have preferences as to how the food is presented. Some chopped small, some in large chunks etc. A large cucumber cut lengthwise for the seeds but chopped small is not ok although I do add some chopped anyway.
I also take their bowls away after a couple of hours to give them a food break and a chance to develop an appetite, but I am home all day.
Its early days. Monaco will definitely start eating new things. As you say, she is on a binge. Next week she may change her mind.
