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
Truman the Cape Parrot reflects about his African ancestry on Martin Luther King Jr Day. African Greys, Lovebirds, Vasa Parrots, and all the Poicephalus originated in Africa. Kili is a Senegal Parrot with ancestry most likely originating from portions of West Africa. Although other subspecies of Cape Parrots span distant portions of Africa, the Brown-Necked subspecies of Cape Parrot is also from the same region of Africa as Senegal Parrots. Kili and Truman wish everyone an enjoyable holiday.
A common question I am asked by parrot owners is how I get my parrots to eat new foods. I'm not going to lie, my parrots don't have the best diet out there, but they do get a fair mix of pellets and fresh foods. It used to be much harder to get them to try new foods so I can understand the frustration parrot owners feel when their parrot refuses to try anything.
There are three main factors affecting if the parrot will eat a new food:
1) Hunger 2) Taste of the food 3) Motivation/interest
We can control all three of these variables and the likelihood of success is best when all are managed. While it is true that if you starve the parrot long enough, it will eat practically anything, there are many reasons we do not want to do this. Instead, we just want to focus on offering new foods when the parrot is hungriest. This generally tends to be in the morning and evening prior to meals. Similar to the food management practices I recommend for training, withholding food for a few hours prior to offering new foods increases the chances of the parrot eating them. As they say, everything tastes better when you are hungry. Which brings us to taste.
There will be foods that the parrot will not eat no matter what. It just doesn't like them and you have to accept that. However, there are other foods that it may desire a preference for that it is just being too stubborn to try. These are the foods we can try to get them to eat through hunger and motivation. If you know that there is a particular food that your parrot never likes, your chances of getting it to eat something similar are slim. For example, Kili doesn't like mushy foods no matter how sweet they are. She hates blueberries, raspberries, watermelon, etc. You would think most parrots should like these but she just doesn't. For this reason when I want her to try a new food I try to make sure its more similar to other foods she likes. She likes hard/crunchy foods so I knew that I had a better chance of getting her to eat pineapple on camera than some new kind of berry.
This brings us to motivation. This is where most people go wrong when introducing foods and then are disappointed the parrot won't eat them. Think about children refusing to eat what their parents try to force them to eat and then being insatiable when it is something their friends are consuming. Whenever I am eating something, the parrots are always flying over to check it out and watch anxiously. On the other hand if I just slop something in their cage bowls, they couldn't care less. In fact, if I put an unfamiliar food in their food bowls, the most likely thing is that they chuck it out piece by piece. Forcing the parrot by stuffing the food in its beak is pretty much the worst thing you can do because then it will not trust that foods you offer are enjoyable. No. The way to motivate parrots to eat new foods is to make as much excitement and anticipation about the new food as possible.
A very easy way to make a parrot want to try a new food is to let its "friends" try it too, meaning if you have other parrots that will eat the food, the new parrot will want to try it too. I wrote previously about how Truman refused to eat veggies until I had him watch Kili eat them. Of course that article didn't help if you only have one parrot or a new food that none of your parrots has yet tried. This is why I am writing this article to get you started.
I truly appreciate the power of modeling new foods when I got Kili and Truman to try Mango for the first time. The two parrots were spending outdoor time in the aviary when I had some mango slices to offer them. They were becoming accustomed to a midday fruit snack time so they waited eagerly to get their day's share. I had a lot of Mango so I wanted to eat off some of the pieces before giving the birds some. The two parrots watched eagerly as I ate it. Truman was just boiling with jealousy that he wasn't getting any. In fact he flew over to me in hopes of getting some. I stood there relishing the mango until it was nearly finished. I broke the remaining pieces into smaller bits and offered them to the parrots one at a time. However, I did not just give them mango outright but made them do tricks for it. This wasn't just an ordinary "here you go" kind of food, this was a super treat that they had to earn. They didn't know what it was but if they had to go through so much to get it, they knew it must be good. They eagerly performed their tricks and loved the mango off the first taste. During previous occasions when I offered equally tasty food to them in their cages, it would get tossed out uneaten. This is why turning the new food into a treat rather than a chore is so important.
This is just another reason why trick training is so important to parrot ownership. The parrot learns that the food it receives for performing a trick is always a good thing so when you offer the new food in reward for a trick, the parrot is more likely to try it. However, this only gets the parrot to put the food in its beak. How much it enjoys the food and is likely to eat it again depends on the taste and how excited it is about the food. Even if the taste isn't the best, if the entire experience is highly pleasant, a positive association will still be established. It can develop an acquired taste for the food in response to the positive stimuli coexistent with the food. This is why those first experiences are so critical.
The first piece offered should be quite small. A large piece is more likely to be dropped and less likely to be tasted and swallowed. Start with very small pieces so that the parrot has a better chance of feeling the taste. Then if you see it eating the small pieces can you go onto bigger ones. You see the parrot isn't likely to hold the food with its foot unless it likes it. And it doesn't know that it likes it until it has tried a few pieces. Once you see the parrot use its foot to hold or at least support the food, you will know that it approves of it. If you see eyes pinning or other signs of excitement, then you'll know the parrot absolutely loves the food.
Once you have developed this first level of food acceptance, it is your choice whether to continue offering it only as treats or as cage food. If the food is healthy in large quantities, then it is alright to offer it in the cage. However, if the food can be considered empty calories or junk food, then save it strictly as a treat.
Just remember that even though a food might seem really tasty to you (and even other people's parrots), it doesn't mean that your parrot will eat it. Most of the time the experience around eating the food plays a large role in it but sometimes your parrot will not eat it no matter what. Do your best to get your parrot to try stuff but if it just isn't working you have to accept that. Just because a parrot won't try something this time or even a bunch more times doesn't mean that it will never eat that food. I had tried to feed banana and grapes to Kili many many times and she always refused. Then I skipped offering it to her to avoid wasting time. Then at some point I tried again and they became some of her favorite fruits. So even though you may fail with a particular food in the short term, it still pays to try every once in a while in case your parrot changes its mind.
In the video, you will see me offering pineapple to Kili and Truman for the first time. They had never seen or eaten it before. I picked pineapple because it is less mushy than other things I could think of that they hadn't tried. At first I just ate the pineapple in front of them to build up the anticipation. I peaked their interest by not giving it to them even when they made it clear that they wanted it. Finally I gave in but only gave it to them in response to tricks. Truman liked it off the bat but Kili was being picky. She was dropping the pieces at first. But after watching Truman enjoy it a lot, she began to chew/swallow as well. I did this new food introduction during training time but just before starting any training so the birds were at their hungriest. So without further ado, here are Kili & Truman eating pineapple for the first time.
On a recent visit to the bird store I came across a Jardine's Parrot I recognized from last time. It has remained unsold for a while and is around 6 months old already. Besides the fact that parrot sales are down during this terrible economy, you could say that Jardine's Parrots look rather dull in front of all the Sun Parakeets, Cockatoos, and Macaws. To make matters worse, this little Jardine's Parrot didn't even know how to step up.
When I reached my hand into the tank housing the two available Jardine's Parrots, all havoc broke loose. The two terrified parrots fled my approaching hands. I was unable to get one out without a bite. However, once I got a hold of its neck all matters were settled. With the restraint of my parrot hold, the Jardine's struggle was over while I protected myself from additional bites.
Within minutes the parrot calmed down and sweetly cuddled as I held it against my chest. As time progressed I was able to hold a looser grip on the bird with less fear of biting or fleeing. I was able to pet it on the head and neck and hold it any which way.
I was surprised to find out that the bird did not know how to perch or step up. Well it was obvious in the tank that it didn't want to step up, however, it wouldn't step up outside of the tank either. While I held the bird in my hands it stayed calm but would get very uneasy when I tried to let it perch on my finger. The Jardine's Parrot became scared when I approached with a finger to ask it to step up. Worse yet, if I pressed my finger toward its belly to edge it to step up, it simply knew not what to do.
The Jardine's Parrot simply did not know how to lift its legs to step up to perch. Having gone unsold for so long, the poor little bird never learned to perch while living in a flat bottom tank. This is good for the younger birds but they are not expected to go unsold for this long. It had trouble perching on my finger because it curled its toes instead of wrapping them around my finger. I had to straighten the toes out to show it that it can grip my finger better that way.
Although scared at first and unable to step up, this Jardine's Parrot turned out to be really sweet. As long as I held it close, it did not try to bite and let me pet it all I wanted. I carried the parrot around the store with me for nearly an hour. The bird was starting to get the hang of perching. However, when I put it down on a perch to poop, it would not step up when I tried to take it back. Yet when I grabbed it with my hands to pick it up, it did not protest one bit. I was amazed that here was a bird that preferred to be forcefully grabbed to being in control and stepping up. This is quite the opposite of most parrots around though this is not the first Jardine's Parrot I have made this observation with.
I began working on the basics of step up by using a finger to pry its toes off the finger it was perched on. I slowly lifted that foot until it would have to pick the other foot up to follow. I also used a slight disbalance in the hand it was originally perched on by tipping it downward while offering the rock solid finger to step onto. I began adding a reward to the process as well. What reward could I possibly use on a bird I do not own, that isn't hungry, and no training supplies to use? I used stability, attention, vocalization, and height to reward the Jardine's Parrot for stepping up. First I lowered the hand it was perched on to the height of my stomach. Then I offered my other hand slightly higher. The early step ups were forced to demonstrate to it what to do but soon enough it was picking its foot up on its own to step up. Then as soon as it stepped up, I lifted it up to eye level and made excited sounds. This was positive reinforcement based training at work here and it shows that not all positive reinforcement needs to be food. This method proved to be positively reinforcing because the Jardine's Parrot was more readily stepping up with each trial. Positive reinforcement is measured by its affect on behavior and the behavior was increasing. Success.
For a parrot unaccustomed to perching or much exercise, I'm sure this was challenging. I gave it breaks longer than the actual training session bits for scratches and cuddling. Then I would ask for a step up again and it would do it. Before the end of our short interaction the Jardine's Parrot would simply pick up its foot on the sight of my approaching finger (almost like wave) in anticipation of stepping up. The bird even stepped up for other people and let others pet it as well.
Besides stepping up, I also managed to teach it petting etiquette in the time I held it. I only pet its head if it would let me hold its beak (like I do with Truman). It enjoyed the petting so it did not mind being held in this way. There were children attending the store who were disappointed they couldn't pet the other birds so I carried the Jardine's around and let them interact with it. One lady commented that it's a great idea to hold the bird's beak during petting that way as I let her daughter pet the Jardine's. You don't want the children to get scared of parrots from getting bit and you don't want the parrots to learn to bite. So prevention is key.
Unfortunately I wasn't able to convince anyone to buy the bird and I surely couldn't buy it either. However, now that the bird is a bit more used to hands and knows how to step up, it will have a better chance of finding a good home. Someone will become entranced by this parrots sweetness and will have a cuddlebug on their hands. The store owner was impressed and grateful that I tamed the bird a bit for her. She told me to leave the bird out front to showcase it for buyers.
Even if you don't intend to buy another parrot ever again, it's still a great experience builder to go to a store, rescue, and breeder to handle some parrots. It's win/win for everyone. Most stores/rescues are too busy to give all their birds sufficient handling time and will appreciate an experienced/caring parrot owner to spend time with their birds even if they aren't buying. By handling other birds (possibly bigger or more aggressive) it will give you greater confidence in handling your own. The eventual buyer of the bird wins too because they will acquire a more socialized bird that is accustomed to handling. The biggest winners of all though are the birds themselves. They can really use some love and attention. Here's a brief clip at the bird store and how I was working with the Jardine's Parrot.
Between Christmas and New Year's I took a trip to Arizona. In the process I had a chance to visit the Oasis Sanctuary. The Oasis is a life-care facility for rehomed parrots and other birds. Although many of the parrots that end up there have plucking or behavioral issues, some are perfectly normal and were simply retired to the sanctuary by deceased or incapacitated owners.
Located on what used to be a Pecan orchard, the Oasis has a seemingly endless supply of natural perches and chewing supplies for the parrots. All of the surrounding trees harbor ravens but their calls are entirely drowned out by the unceasing screaming of busy parrots. The facility has several aviaries and many individual cages as well. Virtually all of the parrots are paired with a mate of the same species or sometimes a buddy of a different one.
Jean Gauthier gave us a personal tour of the sanctuary. She showed us the many aviaries and cages. Amazingly she remembers the names of hundreds of specific parrots and can name them off as she sees them. Jean has clearly made some friends amongst the retired parrots because any aviary we would walk into, some parrot would immediately fly over to Jean to hang out with her.
Most of the parrots that arrive at the Sanctuary are unfortunately clipped and often plucked. They cannot immediately be integrated into the large open aviaries so instead they are held in smaller indoor cages to regrown their feathers and adapt to other parrots. They are taught to break their dependence on human attention and instead to seek it out from one another. Once the parrots are flighted and self sufficient, they are moved to large aviaries with others of their species.
The Oasis has some fantastic aviaries housing hundreds of parrots each. Cockatiels and Budgerigars share an aviary with a few quail, a pigeon, and a grackle. Next door is an aviary with Ring-Necked Parakeets. Another aviary exclusively serves Monk Parakeets. It is a unique structure in that it is actually made of two aviaries and a fly through bridge which links the two. As we walked into one of the sub-aviaries, all of the wild caught Monk Parakeets zoomed out and over the bridge with only the tame ones remaining. The Oasis receives many confiscated or ferral caught Monk Parakeets.
The male Cockatoo aviary is off limits due to major aggression, however, one playful 'too came up to the bars to make everyone laugh. In the Lory aviary lives the sweetest parrot in all the Sanctuary named Ophelia. She is a Black Lory with a bad leg. Despite the injury she limps around and flies effortlessly. Ophelia flew right over to Jean and was eager to be handled by everyone.
Another aviary is dedicated to African Greys. It is a tall box aviary with four Pecan trees outlining the corners. These are original trees from the orchard but have dried out over time. An endless chatter of mumbled words and whistles roams this aviary full of Greys. However, the most impressive aviary of all is the Macaw aviary. About the size of a warehouse, the Macaw aviary is justified by the heft of the parrots which reside in it. The doorway is guarded by two vicious Blue and Yellow macaws. They test if your will is strong enough to enter the dwelling of the great Macaws. If you can get by them, you are free to tour the aviary. Discarded shells of walnuts and almonds line the floor of the building.
A major problem for the sanctuary is mice. Unfortunately for the sanctuary, mice love the same grains that parrots do. And parrots make no effort to keep their mess contained off the floor. While mouse holes are apparent in all the aviaries, they are most prominent in the Macaw aviary. Devoid of predation, the mice fearlessly and lazily walk around on the aviary floor ignoring strangers and birds. The Oasis cannot come up with an effective way for extracting the rodents without potentially harming the parrots.
Next we toured the rows of wire cages used for parrots that could not live in the aviaries. Jean effortlessly called off the species and names of all the parrots as we walked down the rows of cages. We came upon the few Poicephalus parrots of the aviary and the only Senegal Parrot. A male and female Red Bellied parrot neighbored the lone Senegal Parrot. This Senegal parrot has the orangest eyes I had ever seen on a Senegal. I'm not sure if it's just because all Senegal Parrots are so sweet or because I have a way with Senegals, but this one just came over and melted away from attention and scratches through the cage bars.
Finally we visited the hospital building. While there is no vet on the Sanctuary premises, the staff has the expertise to administer medications and provide basic care to ill birds. Some of the parrots in the hospital ward were there temporarily while others were terminal. A handsome military macaw with cancer greeted us as we came inside. A cockatoo had so much heavy metal poisoning in his previous home that he had to be kept in a stainless steel cage (no doubt the most expensive cage in all the sanctuary).
The Oasis Sanctuary depends on volunteers, funding, and support from the parrot owners community. They can use parrot toys, food, supplies, but most convenient is straight cash. You can sponsor a specific parrot or make a cash donation no matter how small or large. However, there is one thing money can't buy: volunteer labor (at least not when you're in the middle of the Arizona desert). They can really use your help. So if you live in the area or would like to take a parrot related vacation, consider volunteering for a few weeks at the sanctuary. Please visit the-oasis.org for more information about the Oasis Sanctuary and please consider giving a donation to this Sanctuary or helping out a parrot rescue near you. Go ahead and visit a rescue or sanctuary some time. You will find it to be quite an eye opening yet enjoyable experience.
Kili and Truman were thrilled to find their stockings filled with goodies on Christmas morning. After coming out of their cages, they checked out all the wonderful things Santa Claus left for them on their climbing tree. Truman was as (if not more) impressed with the stocking itself as he was with the contents of it. Kili, having had a similar Christmas surprise last year, was less shocked.
While Truman focused on toys, Kili munched away at the almond she got. Truman loved the foot toys he was pulling out of his stocking and almost missed the Brazilian Nut waiting inside for him. He worked at it and finally cracked it open. Kili jumped down to the table and approached stealthily. She snuck up and cautiously grabbed small leftovers of Truman's nut from the table below. Truman didn't mind sharing the little bits with Kili and she benefited from mutual cooperation. In the spirit of Christmas, the two birds did not fight at all and played nice.
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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