Macaw's Diet Advice

[Tracie]

I need a little advice about Kokomo's diet. He has three bowls in his cage. one has water, one for raw nuts, apples, bananas, etc... and the other for Kaytee Rainbow Originial. I do not put seed in his cage...he can only have it when he is on his play gym. He does not eat much of the Kaytee. He eats all of the fruits and nuts, and he goes to town on the seed - it was the only way to get him to stay on his gym and not roam the house. Do I need to change his diet to something like Rowdybush? :confused: Should I take the seed off of his playgym?

[Snapperhead]

Tracie,

You might want to check out the following web link:

www.harrisonsbirdfood.com

It has some great information on it, as well as you can request a free sample to try the food. There is plenty of information regarding feeding Macaws as well as other bird species.

Tamara

[lianatch]

even though some vets recommend specific pellets (for various reasons), i was told by my vet, that it is probably better not to stick to any one kind bc there has not been enough historical evidence that any one kind provides all the essentials a bird needs. she recommended trying different kinds of pellets. i am trying different kinds with my grey and some he tries, some he ignores. the harrisons pellets appeal to me bc they have no preservatives. my grey playfully tries them but doesnt eat them like food yet. so, maybe your bird is not big on the kaytee rainbow pellets but might like roudybush or any other kinds?...

i am trying to convert mine from seed to a variety of foods. every day he has a bowl (and a skewer) of fresh fruits and veggies, 2 bowls of some seed mixed with pellets and dry organic veggies (from www.justtomatoes.com) and pellets. i am trying to reduce the seed and increase the rest of the ingridients in those bowls gradually. he also gets cooked food every night with us (pasta, meat, rice, etc.).

[Squawksx3]

A macaws diet should be 60 to 70 percent pellets... I dont think it matters what brand, Harrisons is said the be the best. We give Pretty Bird, Kaytee and a few other brands to ours, both fruity and plain. The good thing with macaws is they can have all the nuts and seeds they want because unlike other parrots, they're systems can handle the fat content. We usually only give them nuts and seeds as treats, since our cockatoo's also love them, its not really fair to them and they go into fits when the macaws get them and they dont LOL. Fresh fruits and veggies are very important to their diets and where they get most of their vitamins... especially the veggies. Macaws can eat anything you eat as long as its healthy. Stay away from alot of sugar and salt. Having seed on his gym is fine, but try other foods once in awhile instead of the seed. Ours love graham crackers, dry multigrain toast, bread sticks, cheerios, scrambled eggs w/egg shells, sweet potatoes and other foods. Our Scarlet Macaw will basically eat anything you give him. Its also very healthy to give them cooked chicken bones for the bone marrow and meat. The important thing is to be sure you have yearly checkups with an avian vet and get bloodwork done to make sure your baby is healthy and getting the neccessary vitamins and minerals he needs. Knock on wood... ours have been given a clean bill of health every year and the vet tells us to keep doing what we're doing.

When ours get off their cages/stands to roam the house, we tell them to "get back up there" and they know what it means.. in fact the Goffins will tell on the others by saying "you get back up there" when they get off and start roaming. If they dont get back on their cage or get off more than 2 times, they get locked in their cage in lockdown. These guys are very smart and they know. I have two that constantly get off their cages/stands... the Scarlet and an Umbrella Cockatoo.. so needless to say, they get put in lockdown quite a bit LOL. Our B&G, Goffins and Moluccan are very good about staying on their cages and play stands. Keep working with Kokomo, they're just like little kids and will test you to the limit. Bribing with food will not always work ;) ... maybe try putting different toys on the playstand.. ones they can have fun ripping and tearing apart. Macaws love to be destructive and its good for them. Our Scarlet is such a busy guy and always has to be doing something. He spends hours playing with the plastic liter soda bottles, brown paper bags and basically anything he can rip to shreds. Our B&G is totally opposite and is such a wonderful bird. She's so good and so much easier than the Scarlet.

lianatch~ ours also love the "Just Tomatoes" mixes.