Ask Lafeber

Question:

March 17, 2021

African grey parrot 2 month old -diets


I am new to African grey parrot,
We have just brought an 2 month old african grey,

We have some of the questions.
1. What is the main diet? If it’s seeds and nuts, do I need to grind it to powder for feeding

2.how many times I need to feed it perday?prefer timings

3.i have nurti A19 powder, if I provide it to parrot do I need to feed any more after it?


Answer:

Hi Raghul,

The seller needs to tell you how often they are hand feeding the bird, and show you how to hand feed. The formula needs to be the correct temperature – if it is too hot, you can burn the bird’s crop and if it is too cool, the food will not digest. It’s very important that the seller show you all of the as far as amount, how often they are feeding and the formula temperature. It can vary with birds of the same age, so they need to help you with this since they are selling you the bird.

As far as what he can eat on his own, again, ask the seller if he is eating on his own. It is best to wean him to a lot of healthy foods, and let him wean at his own pace. Never force a bird to wean – if offered foods to eat, he will naturally start eating more on his own and less of the hand feeding formula, until he refuses the formula. You should offer him a nutritionally balanced daily diet like pellets or our foraging diets. A loose seed mix will not provide the nutrition he needs and he will only want to eat the loose seeds since they are somewhat of a junk food. Pellets contain ground seeds and our foraging diets contain whole seeds, but they are balanced with other ingredients so that he gets the nutrition he needs. You do not need to grind these foods – he will learn to eat them.

In addition you can cook some brown rice and add frozen mixed veggies to this. Warm a small amount up at a time and offer him some in a dish. You can also offer him a dish of greens, other veggies and a small amount of fruit. He needs fresh water, too, although he may not drink it at first. But you want all of these foods available to him while he is learning to eat. You will waste a lot of food, but this is the best way to wean him. You can google “abundance weaning parrots” to learn more about how to wean your bird. He is at the age he should be starting to eat some on his own, and he will wean in another 4 to 8 weeks in general. I’ll also give you the link to our feeding guide with more information.

Bird Food Guide

Thank you for asking Lafeber,

Brenda

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