When should I start feading my macaw?

[5 feathers]

I got a macaw, it's 7 months now. I feed it bird cerlac, bananas, and apples. When should I start feeding it seeds?

 

[BirdG1rl]

In the wild, macaws are not weaned until 6-9 months of age.

 

[Zara]

Welcome to the Avenue!

Could you give some more info on your feeding schedule? What you give, how much and when?
Bananas and apples should be fed in moderation. Are you offering any vegetables?
Will you be feeding pellets?

@macawpower58 @Macawnutz @MiniMacaw

 

[macawpower58]

Most of us feed little seeds, I feed as a once a week treat meal.

How many hand feedings a day are still doing?
At 7 months, your baby should be eating a wide variety of regular food.
Vegetables, legumes, fruit, nuts, and grains should be a regular part of his diet.
Has he begun to wean at all?

Can you give us a detailed account of what and when he is fed?

 

[Birdbabe]

@Hankmacaw

 

[Hankmacaw]

First, what country are you living in? Second, are you a minor?

DO NOT EVER FEED YOUR MACAW SEEDS. It's just better to never start seeds - they can make a seed junkie out of a bird and are extremely nutritionally deficient.

I repeat what @macawpower58 asked you. We need this information to give you the correct advice.

How many hand feedings a day are still doing?
At 7 months, your baby should be eating a wide variety of regular food.
Vegetables, legumes, fruit, nuts, and grains should be a regular part of his diet.
Has he begun to wean at all?

Can you give us a detailed account of what and when he is fed?

All of the ACCURATE information you need is in this article by veterinarians.

https://veterinarypartner.vin.com/default.aspx?pid=19239&catId=102910&id=4952972

 

[expressmailtome]

When macaws are young, they are more willing to try new foods. Now is a good time to try and get him/her used to a good pellet. It will provide a healthy balanced diet that is easy to maintain when his/her favorite fruits and vegetables are not readily available, and can safely be left in the cage all day.

 

[MiniMacaw]

I’d try making a whole variety of veggies and healthy foods (pellets and nuts, etc) available daily now. Your little one can pick and choose as he grows up and learns new flavors and textures. Go easy on the fruit so you don’t over do it on the sugar.
As others have said, we’d need a little more info to help more specifically.

 

[5 feathers]

Sorry for the very late reply, he eats sunflower seeds now but he spills most of the food. When I put vegetables and fruits, he does not eat it much..he was shipped from Africa.

 

[5 feathers]

And also he does not eat a lot of greens, it looks like he spills it for purpose

 

[macawpower58]

Spilling and loss is a part of owning a macaw, or any parrot for that matter.
It's how they eat normally in nature. Take a bit or two, and drop the rest to reseed the forest floor.
You have to just deal with it.

Feeding sunflower seeds, is like feeding your child a diet of candy bars.
Tasty, but not at all healthy.

Keep offering the veggies and fruit, more vegetable than fruit.
Cut them big, cut them small. Eat some in front or with him to show how good they are.
Find a place to purchase pellets, and add those into his diet.
They are balanced in nutrition, and will catch what his diet of veggies and such miss.

Ease off the seeds. Use them for tricks, bribery, and training. Not a diet staple.
You can even bake some healthy bread and sneak veggies in it.
A few seeds baked on top may get your picky baby interested.

Don't give up, it can be a battle getting them off the seeds.

One thing nice about having a parrot to dinner, you yourself will start eating healthier foods!
We all love sharing our food with our birds.

 

[5 feathers]

Thanks so much. I'll try those

 

[5 feathers]

But the veggies and fruits won't fill his crop, and he'll still be hungry and ask something else. That's what happens when I feed him veg and fruits

He's too picky

 

[Hankmacaw]

If he is still begging, he isn't ready to wean. It's called abundance weaning and they should be fed formula as long as they ask for it.
Some macaws don't wean until one year old or even older.

 

[5 feathers]

Okay, thanks a ton

 

[macawpower58]

Hankmacaw is spot on! If you're seeing baby begging, he needs to still be handfed.
You can do a smaller feeding first to ease the begging, then offer your diced up real food.
We've heard many stories here on AA about macaws still being hand fed up to a year or more.
My boy was on a night time feeding way past the time he was eating solids food.
He finally did decide he was finished with baby eating, but I let him decide when to quit.

 

[Shezbug]

My baby still had hand feedings (from a teaspoon) of baby food everyday until two weeks before his first birthday. He stills loves a bowl of warm mushy pellets every day and he’s nearly 4. I actually grind a heap of pellets into a powder and use them for making bird bread and for making some nice warm sloppy food for my bird that he enjoys daily.
I give no seeds at all to my macaw, he fills up well on veggies, pellets and cooked grains or legumes. He has tried some seed but only because he has broken into my budgie seed mix a few times and picked out three or four sunflower seeds but that’s about it.
My boy loves warm cooked sweet potato, pumpkin either cooked or raw- he especially loves the fresh pumpkin seeds, green peas- I get frozen ones and serve them defrosted or I give him the whole pea pod if they’ve grown in our garden, little capsicums and hot chillies (he likes them all except the green ones), he also really loves cooked chickpeas and cooked black, red or wild rice. There is always more food on the floor than he gets into his crop so your baby wasting lots of food is totally normal