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Getting a bird to eat foods
that it is unaccustomed to can be difficult, but not impossible. Go slowly, add a
new food item only when all other items have been accepted. Feed only small amounts
of seed to encourage consumption of the other foods. Offer broccoli, corn, chard,
carrots, china peas, apple, orange, banana, and many other fruits and vegetables.
Do not feed avocado and lettuces; avocado may be toxic to birds and lettuce offers
little nutritional value. Fresh hot peppers such as Anaheim chilis, poblanos, habaneros,
serranos, and long red cayennes are very enticing, especially if they are sliced
in half and laid on top the seed mix such that the bird can see the small pepper
seeds.
Provide your parrot with pasta (cooked or raw), cereals such as Kix, Cheerios, Grape
Nuts, and Chex. Small amounts of cooked meat such as chicken can be offered 2-3 times
weekly. Try pea sized portions of lowfat cheese. Cooked chicken bones are also fun
toys as well as an excellent source of calcium and phosphorus. It’s important, however,
to peel the meat off the bone and not chew it off since human oral bacteria can be
highly infectious to pet birds.
Be persistent and do not give up when your bird avoids these new food items. It may
take weeks to months for parrots to even begin to pick at these selections.
It is believed that it takes a parrot up to three days to even recognize a new food
as something edible. Placing it in the food dish does not necessarily get the bird
to understand they’re supposed to eat it. Be patient and remember that our birds
will only eat what we provide them, so provide a lot.
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