Happy New Year! Zeek was excited today to show everyone his new toys and I am excited to share my continuing journey into getting all my birds to eat healthier diets that include less and less seed consumption.
Timothy loves peanut butter and this little enrichment spoon is a great way to offer him such a treat. He doesn't get this treat often, but since today is the beginning of a brand new year, I decided to spoil him a bit.
Zeek insists that all his fruit and veggies are offered to him on his skewer. He is not fond of picking out these food items from a bowl.....to each his own, I guess. Today I offered him a piece of an egg too.
Timothy, on the other hand, wants all his fruits, veggies, egg...etc, in his dish. No skewer for him. They are just like little kids. Each an individual.
Gabriel is my hardest bird to convert away from a seed diet. He fights me every step of the way. But this year....I will be victorious! I tell myself. Fake it till you make it.....well, we'll see. I have to mix all of Gabe's food in with his seed. Gradually I am reducing the amount of seed and increasing the amount of healthy food. All the while keeping an eye on his weight and consumption. He is a picky eater and has always been on the thin side.
Here is the tray all filled and ready to disperse to each bird. I really enjoy feeding my birds and fixing their meals.
Here are Zeke's favorite toys from Christmas. He got a new stuffie (he loves to feed them) and his new edible hut. I am going to use the hut as a great foraging tool. I put some millet in it to lure him to it at first. He was a little timid of it being in his cage for a few moments, but soon warmed up to it when he saw the prize millet inside. My birds love millet, but get it only as a treat every so often. Timmy got the same size hut for Christmas also, but it will take me much longer to introduce such a massive item to his environment. Gabriel received a smaller one and loved it immediately.
I inspire to spend more time blogging this year and filling it with all kinds of interesting things. I will post new toys as I create and make them, and then put them on my Etsy sight for sale. Hope everyone has a blessed 2011 and I look forward to chatting with everyone throughout the year ahead.
I love these photos! I had no idea that so much went into the feeding of the 'boys'...You sure are a good mom.
ReplyDeleteThanks....I try to be a good mom to my animals, but truth be told, I still have a lot to learn about in bird nutrition. Seed only diets are death to parrots. It's all a learning process.
ReplyDeleteAlthough I see no birds in my future (crazy cat lady here), this was really a fascinating post. I had no idea you could wean birds off of seeds!
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