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Weening help

Valentine

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We have an African grey. 2.5 yrs old. My wife is still hand feeding him.with a syringe twice a day. How can we get him to eat normally. He won't eat anything but formula.
 

macawpower58

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@Macawnutz

Will he eat anything else, like food you're eating?
Has he seen a vet lately? I'm not sure pure formula is healthy for an adult, our experts will weigh in on that.

IMO (and you'll have many) he's emotionally attached to the syringe and you have to slowly show him he doesn't need it. For some reason he missed that time slot where he began swapping to real food. Has he ever tried real food? I'm sure you've tried weaning in the past. Was he sick as a baby/young bird?

I'm tagging a member that had a baby that was very sick and handfed longer than most babies. She may be able to offer some advice on how she transitioned him.
 

Valentine

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Thank you for response. He fractured his leg at 9 months old. Other than that he has been healthy. His weight is great, but he is fed twice a day morning and evening. He don't do much more than maybe play with a few human foods. We leave vegetables for him daily and he seems to "sometimes" just tear them up. He talks great and actually he bonded with my wife but within the past few months has allowed me to finally take him out of his cage.
Was wondering if we should skip his morning feeding, leaving bird feed, and just feed him his evening feed to start?

At this point I feel he is to dependent on us.
 

Shezbug

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Rather than the formula through a syringe could you maybe offer soggy warm pellets from your fingers?
 

Macawnutz

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You are going to want to transfer him to "formula in a bowl" then "formula over soaked pellets" then "soaked pellets".

Start by giving him a little by syringe and then letting him watch you squirt the rest into his bowl. ;)
 
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