When you get a new bird, you want to keep them on the diet they came to you on. After a few days = 2 or 3 days you can start doing 70% the Food they came with and 30% the pellets you want them on and every day make the gap go smaller and smaller until you are only giving them the pellets you want them on.
This is only if you want to change their diet. Most of my parrots I do change their diet because I give Harrison pellets and a lot of breeders do not feed Harrison’s for many reasons. 1 – It’s all brown and organic so not intriguing to choose and 2 – it’s more on the expensive side of a pellet diet. If you do not want to change their diet then this process is not needed.
Now if you want to feed fresh foods, where should you start? Well, what do you have in your fridge? Let’s start with easy stuff like:
Carrots Apples – No seeds (it’s a complicated topic so better to just avoid seeds)
Snap Peas Oranges
Broccoli Pomegranates (Very messy to clean up after)
Cauliflower Bananas
Sweet Potato Kiwis
Bell Peppers Pears
When introducing new fresh foods, you need to approach it like you would for a new baby, one item at a time for a few days. Once you realize that there is no aversive reaction to it then you can introduce another new item. I would say one new item every 3 days.
As for table cooked food, I would wait to introduce that until you are comfortable with your fresh fruits and veggies selection but some cooked food you can eventually try is:
pasta
rice, (be careful when you serve these that it’s not breeding season)
eggs
shrimp
chicken
oatmeal
shredded wheat cereal with no milk
whole wheat bread with organic jam
If you have tried feeding the fruits and veggies or pellets and your new parrot isn’t taking them, there are a few steps you can take. Fruits and veggies can be chopped, sliced, diced or pureed. Made different ways can have different results. Even giving them the foods at different times during the day can have a different effect. If that doesn’t work you can always try some Red Palm Oil on top of the fruits and veggies or pellets. A little goes a long way. Some parrots love the Red Palm oil and some don’t so it’s a hit and miss but make sure it’s RED palm oil. Pretending to eat the food first and then giving it to your parrot will work if you find your parrid to be bonding with you.
Also, just keep trying for at least a week before giving up on that particular food type and don’t get frustrated. It’s not the end of the world if your parrot doesn’t like apples. Just like humans have specific likes and dislikes so do birds so respect your bird’s wishes. Keep in mind that just because they may not like it now doesn’t mean that two years from now they will still not like it so you can still continue to try to give it periodically and see if “Today is the day”.
