to eat the food they need to be healthy which for some of our birds is a challenge. Let's share your successes.

One of the ways I have found to ensure that my birds get their vitamin A is to blend carrots and sweet potatoes with Pomegranate juice and add to birdie bread.



What do you do?

oh that is a good idea! i wish i could get ivy to eat birdie bread, it's a no win so far!

honestly, i haven't had any successes yet, EXCEPT getting her to eat her harrison's. she ate a full 12 pellets yesterday she likes to throw her greens across the room. fortunately, she does love her sweet potatoes so she is getting some vitamin a. she is terrified of pomegranite, lol.

This happened a while ago. With that, I'll get started.

When I got Winkie last winter he ate broccoli, corn, peas & apple bits happily. But, when I tried carrots on him - no dice. He refused to touch it. I tried slicing it different ways, he still refused it. I kept at it. From December to March I worked at it. Then sometime in March - He ate the carrot! He now will eat them when they're sliced almost paper thin. Now, I gotta get him eating sweet potatoes. He seems to not like anything orange - I think.

Winged Victory doesn't like anything orange either. It is very difficult to consider taste, appearance and color all together. Sometimes we just don't know which it is, but keep trying. None of our birds like carrots. They like to throw them over the side or down to the bottom of the cage!

It's funny this thread came up, because I was going to try something new wtih Cleo.
I read where a well known bird trainer says that when an owner offers WARM food from the hand, it is the ultimate to that bird. And it makes sense now. I mean, a mother chews/warms/regurges the food to the babies. So, it would make sense that if you slightly warm the food and give it from your hand while it's warm, it'll increase trust.
Cleo trusts me, but this could optimize that trust. I dunno.
I was going to try with carrots. She hates carrots. I was gonna boil some, mash em up let em cool. Then, put some in a baggie, soak in warm tap water and hand feed em while they are warm. I'm afraid of burning her so I'm letting the boiled ones get cold and then rewarming.
But, she needs the Vit A.

I never had a problem with carrots or sweet potatoes. I do warm them both though, and he dives in them likes he's never eaten before. He can't eat either one of them fast enough, and actually makes a gobble sound while sucking them in down his throat. It's definitely a sight to see.

It's the fruit that I have a problem with. We've been stuck on apples, pears and grapes, and just recently moved on to pineapple. That's about it. he will not touch any kind of berry and if I attempt a banana he throws at me. Very picky with fruits here.

OK don't accuse of me of avian abuse, but when I want them to eat something, I feed them later than usual so they are so hungry they chow down.

Additionally (but this might work mainly for the macaws) I am very liberal with the homemade hot sauce I spoon over their food. Like the broccoli - they eat it with hot sauce.

When I was trying to get Harley and Echo to eat pellets, they absolutly refused. I soaked them, mixed them with seed, tried everything! When my parents discovered coconut oil, I wondered if the birds would like it. I would give them a little to taste and then coat a pellet with it. I found that the birds LOVE it! I still give coconut oil to them, even though they'll eat them w/out it. It really seems to help make their beaks and feathers really shiny!

To get Lucy and Echo to take their calcium, I put it on a part of a roll up wrap (they love the wraps). The wrap absorbs it and the birds absolutly love it.

But what do you put in the wrap, and what is the wrap made of exactly? What kind of calcium do you use? And, how much coconut oil do you use. Do you ever sprinkle it on veggies? Is there such a thing as too much?

Need to know the answers before I start experiementing around, thanks!