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Help with Conure

Dan Ruggiero

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Hello everyone,

I have a few questions/concerns about my CBC!
1. He won't eat vegetables. We've tried eating them with him, making chop and adding pellets and seeds to the veggies but he just won't budge! How can we get him to eat them?
2. He Doesn't play with toys a lot. He is scared of most of them and plays with a few but after a 10-second session, he gets bored! This is why even if we leave the house for 30 minutes he screams hen we get back because he is very bored. Any of you have a bird like this at home?
3. Since he gets very bird we have been thinking of getting him a buddy. Is this a good idea? We are undecided because on one side the sooner I introduce them the higher the chance of them liking each other but if I introduce them at such a young age they will bond and won't like hanging around humans anymore! What are your thoughts?
4. He has some black spots at the ends of his feathers! Is this because he doesn't eat vegetables? IMG_2999.JPG
Thank you for the help
 

expressmailtome

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Bump.
 

Begone

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#2. The best way to introduce them to new toys is that you are playing with them.

#3. That is great. And you are right do it now. And it's great if they bond, that is the normal thing for them, but they will love to hang out with you, they are flock birds.
And for their sake chose the same specie.
 

Mark & Da Boyz

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Sounds like my Tiels when it comes to the veggies. I tried everything and they did start to try them but it took a couple of years!. I offered the veggies cut up pretty fine and that seemed to do the trick. Corn, Sweet peas, broccoli, cauliflower matchstick carrots with Baby Kale and spring greens. BUt like I said it took years so buy what you like because you'll be eating a lot of what they won't or tossing it.
 

Vmax

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I’d second what Mark said. Keep offering the vegetables finely chopped and a decent variety. Gus, my GCC, took for-freaking-ever to eat veggies...or anything that wasn’t seed.:shifty: Max had been fed fruits and veggies by the breeder, so he’s easy to feed. Don’t give up :fairy2:
 

PierreRenoir

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Pierre would only eat seeds when I first got him, no pellets or veggies. What worked for me with Pierre was to eat the veggies first and make sure he sees me, then he wanted to taste some of what I was eating. I have even gotten him to eat fruit through the cage by biting into it first, then offering it to him. I have also chopped veggies finely and mixed them in with his seeds. I guess my hope was that he would accidentally eat some veggies and discover he likes them. The pellets I noticed he was dipping them into his water before eating them, so to encourage him to eat more of them I would give him some already wet and mashed up a bit, which worked for a while. After a while he decided didn't like that and began eating them dry lol :shrug:
 

Leih

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Re: #4, someone else posted about this recently, and my conure also has this on his feathers. General consensus is its feather bronzing, which sounds like something that happens as the feathers get old and banged up. My vet said it was nothing to worry about and now that he's molting, I'm seeing his new feathers coming in nice and bright green.

What pellets is he eating? I'm lucky that my conure readily took to fresh vegetables, but my lovebird completely refuses. Lots of people say to try giving them some chop first thing in the morning before pellets as they're more likely to be willing to try it. I haven't tried this yet as it doesn't work well for my schedule. Meaning that you don't want to just leave it there all day while you are away. I've been giving her freeze dried veg because she will eat that.
 

Leih

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Re: #4, someone else posted about this recently, and my conure also has this on his feathers. General consensus is its feather bronzing, which sounds like something that happens as the feathers get old and banged up. My vet said it was nothing to worry about and now that he's molting, I'm seeing his new feathers coming in nice and bright green.

What pellets is he eating? I'm lucky that my conure readily took to fresh vegetables, but my lovebird completely refuses. Lots of people say to try giving them some chop first thing in the morning before pellets as they're more likely to be willing to try it. I haven't tried this yet as it doesn't work well for my schedule. Meaning that you don't want to just leave it there all day while you are away. I've been giving her freeze dried veg because she will eat that.
Editing to say that if he's on a good pellet, he should be okay, although of course eating fresh veg is ideal in addition to the pellets and worth the continued effort.
 

Dan Ruggiero

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Re: #4, someone else posted about this recently, and my conure also has this on his feathers. General consensus is its feather bronzing, which sounds like something that happens as the feathers get old and banged up. My vet said it was nothing to worry about and now that he's molting, I'm seeing his new feathers coming in nice and bright green.

What pellets is he eating? I'm lucky that my conure readily took to fresh vegetables, but my lovebird completely refuses. Lots of people say to try giving them some chop first thing in the morning before pellets as they're more likely to be willing to try it. I haven't tried this yet as it doesn't work well for my schedule. Meaning that you don't want to just leave it there all day while you are away. I've been giving her freeze dried veg because she will eat that.
We have chop ready but he doesn't want to touch so guess we have to keep trying! The pellet brand we feed him is Roudybush (Daily Maintenance). We heard a lot of people saying it was one of the best so we opted with that. He is only 5 months old so hopefully, with his next molt, the black spots will be gone!
 

Leih

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We have chop ready but he doesn't want to touch so guess we have to keep trying! The pellet brand we feed him is Roudybush (Daily Maintenance). We heard a lot of people saying it was one of the best so we opted with that. He is only 5 months old so hopefully, with his next molt, the black spots will be gone!
Oh yes, it is. My birds all eat Roudybush, too. So don't worry, I'm sure he's fine nutritionally, but hopefully he will realize veggies are great! . I often will clip a piece of something into my birds' cages, like a leaf of kale, or a piece of bell pepper, or occasionally a piece of apple, so that's another method to try.
 

Chris1234

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Re #1. It does take some time and persistence to get them eating different things. Try a bunch of different foods served all different ways. Big pieces, chopped tiny, cooked and raw, in bowls and skewered. You can also pretend to eat it and say "yum". If there's any seed or nut she really loves mix it in with the fresh veggies so she has to pick around them to get to the treats. I know it can be super frustrating. There are some good tips in this article.

Survival Guide to a Picky Parrot – Parrot Up
 

JapanBirdLover

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The pretending to eat it yourself thing worked a little for me with my GCC. She wouldn’t touch veg or fruit until I ate some apple very deliberately in front of her. But now she just goes through the chop eating the apple and discarding everything else... occasionally picks at the kale but more goes on the floor than in her tummy. So I guess it’s like others have said, just keep in for the long term gradually increasing what she will eat!
 

Monica

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1. He won't eat vegetables. We've tried eating them with him, making chop and adding pellets and seeds to the veggies but he just won't budge! How can we get him to eat them?

Have you fed fresh food first thing in the morning? Have you made it more interesting by mixing in food that your conure is already familiar with?

More ideas

Converting Parrots to a Healthier Diet - Tips | Avian Avenue Parrot Forum


2. He Doesn't play with toys a lot. He is scared of most of them and plays with a few but after a 10-second session, he gets bored! This is why even if we leave the house for 30 minutes he screams hen we get back because he is very bored. Any of you have a bird like this at home?

Have you tried making toys more interesting by hiding treats in them? Have you rewarded him for playing with toys? Does he have foraging toys?


3. Since he gets very bird we have been thinking of getting him a buddy. Is this a good idea? We are undecided because on one side the sooner I introduce them the higher the chance of them liking each other but if I introduce them at such a young age they will bond and won't like hanging around humans anymore! What are your thoughts?

Almost all birds benefit from having a bird friend, even if the two never get along. A second bird will need their own cage regardless - best for quarantine and for the fact that there's no guarantee that two birds will get along when you first introduce them. If they do get along, then it's up to you if you want them to be caged together or not.

I have never lost the bond of one conure when introducing a second.


4. He has some black spots at the ends of his feathers! Is this because he doesn't eat vegetables?

As mentioned... feather bronzing. Nothing to worry about, will go away with molts.
 

Leih

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I actually tried chop with a little bit of pellets and a little bit of seed mix in it first thing this morning and my picky lovebird seems to have actually eaten some of the chop.... I also have started making chop in my Ninja blender, just a few pulses, that way it's fairly small and more likely she will "accidentally" eat some.
 
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