Trained Parrot Blog

Trained Parrot Blog

Kili

Type: Senegal Parrot
Genus: Poicephalus
Species: Senegalus
Subspecies: Mesotypus
Sex: Female
Weight: 120 grams
Height: 9 inches
Age: 16 years, 5 months

Truman

Type: Cape Parrot
Genus: Poicephalus
Species:Robustus
Subspecies: Fuscicollis
Sex: Male
Weight: 330 grams
Height: 13 inches
Age: 14 years, 8 months

Rachel

Type: Blue & Gold Macaw
Genus: Ara
Species:ararauna
Sex: Female
Weight: 850 grams
Height: 26 inches
Age: 12 years, 5 months

Trick Training Guides

Taming & Training Guide
Flight Recall
Target
Wave
Fetch
Shake
Bat
Wings
Go through Tube
Turn Around
Flighted Fetch
Slide
Basketball
Play Dead
Piggy Bank
Nod
Bowling
Darts
Climb Rope
Ring Toss
Flip
Puzzle

Additional Top Articles

Stop Parrot Biting
Getting Your First Parrot
Treat Selection
Evolution of Flight
Clipping Wings
How to Put Parrot In Cage
Kili's Stroller Trick
Camping Parrots
Socialization
Truman's Tree
Parrot Wizard Seminar
Kili on David Letterman
Cape Parrot Review
Roudybush Pellets

List of Common Parrots:

Parakeets:
Budgerigar (Budgie)
Alexandrine Parakeet
African Ringneck
Indian Ringneck
Monk Parakeet (Quaker Parrot)

Parrotlets:
Mexican Parrotlet
Green Rumped Parrotlet
Blue Winged Parrotlet
Spectacled Parrotlet
Dusky Billed Parrotlet
Pacific Parrotlet
Yellow Faced Parrotlet

Lovebirds:
Peach Faced Lovebird
Masked Lovebird
Fischer's Lovebird
Lilian's (Nyasa) Lovebird
Black Cheeked Lovebird
Madagascar Lovebird
Abyssinian Lovebird
Red Faced Lovebird
Swindern's Lovebird

Lories and Lorikeets:
Rainbow Lorikeet

Conures:
Sun Conure
Jenday Conure
Cherry Headed Conure
Blue Crowned Conure
Mitred Conure
Patagonian Conure
Green Cheeked Conure
Nanday Conure

Caiques:
Black Headed Caique
White Bellied Caique

Poicephalus Parrots:
Senegal Parrot
Meyer's Parrot
Red Bellied Parrot
Brown Headed Parrot
Jardine's Parrot
Cape Parrot
Ruppell's Parrot

Eclectus:
Eclectus Parrot

African Greys:
Congo African Grey (CAG)
Timneh African Grey (TAG)

Amazons:
Blue Fronted Amazon
Yellow Naped Amazon
Yellow Headed Amazon
Orange Winged Amazon
Yellow Crowned Amazon

Cockatoos:
Cockatiel
Galah (Rose Breasted) Cockatoo
Sulphur Crested Cockatoo
Umbrella Cockatoo
Moluccan Cockatoo
Bare Eyed Cockatoo
Goffin's Cockatoo

Macaws:
Red Shouldered (Hahn's) Macaw
Severe Macaw
Blue And Gold Macaw
Blue Throated Macaw
Military Macaw
Red Fronted Macaw
Scarlet Macaw
Green Winged Macaw
Hyacinth Macaw

Glossary of Common Parrot Terms

Tasting Various Parrot Pellets

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By Michael Sazhin

Wednesday July 14th, 2010

Have you ever wondered what the bird food you are feeding tastes like? I suppose I have but I've never really given it much further thought. Howeverr, recently someone on my parrot forum was asking about the smell of a certain pellet. So I took up the challenge and even went a bit further and sampled each of the three brands of pellets that I feed my parrots. Ultimately my goal is to select the best one and consolidate both parrots to eat the same pellet.

Kili was originally weened onto a Purina Chow pellet. It doesn't have added sugar or coloration so I had no problem continuing to feed her this since I got her. Truman on the other hand came weened on Pretty Bird so I wanted to switch him to a color free pellet up front. In the course of just over 2 weeks I switched him to Roudybush. Kili took it up on the first try and seems to prefer it to the Purina but Truman was a bit more work cause he preferred the Pretty Bird.

First I sampled the Roudybush. It is definitely quite smelly with the scent most closely resembling vitamin pills. The shape and look of the Roudybush further resembles the "all natural" kinds of Vitamin pills as well. The pellets are compact and shatter when chewed rather than being crunchy. For the most part this pellet is pretty tasteless but once again the taste most closely resembles a vitamin pill. The smell is definitely more unpleasant than the taste. Eventually I gagged and had to spit the pellet out but I don't think it was because of the taste itself but either the smell or texture. The pellet definitely doesn't have any sweetener or coloring additives.

Next I tried the Pretty Bird pellets. They most resemble a fruity children's cereal. The pellets come in an assortment of colors and shapes and the smell is sweet and fruity. The taste is actually surprisingly bland and for the most part the scent is misleading. The pellet is nowhere near as sweet as it smells. It is more crunchy, once again like a cereal, and it leaves a slightly sweet after taste. So it makes me guess that it isn't loaded like sugar like it may seem from appearance, however, I'm sure that the absence of extra sugar, scent chemicals, and colors can only benefit the parrot.

Finally I tried Kili's Purina pellets. These are small brown pellets approximately the size of millet seeds. These had the weakest smell of the three which was a bit salty. They also were the most tasteless out of the pellets sampled as well. This may just be because they are so small that it's hard to pick up a taste on them though. I just now that Kili prefers the Roudybush to the Purina but Truman prefers Pretty Bird.

It seems to me that the Roudybush are most natural and that less effort is put into hiding the natural smell of it. The Pretty Bird pellets are probably the best alternative to a bird that strictly refuses to eat uncolored ones because it's more about appearance than taste. However, it makes sense now why transitioning Truman from Pretty Bird to Roudybush wasn't too hard. It was more about getting him used to the appearance rather than taste of the new pellet. For the sake of convenience and economy I'm getting both parrots onto a single pellet. Once I feed off the remaining other ones, I will stay with the medium sized Roudybush for both Kili and Truman.

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Trained Parrot is a blog about how to train tricks to all parrots and parakeets. Read about how I teach tricks to Truman the Brown Necked Cape Parrot including flight recall, shake, wave, nod, turn around, fetch, wings, and play dead. Learn how you can train tricks to your Parrot, Parrotlet, Parakeet, Lovebird, Cockatiel, Conure, African Grey, Amazon, Cockatoo or Macaw. This blog is better than books or DVDs because the information is real, live, and completely free of charge. If you want to know how to teach your parrot tricks then you will enjoy this free parrot training tutorial.
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