Food management- Am i feeding too much/little?

[justjohn]

Hi All

I have an indian ringneck called casper, probably around 5ish months old. I have had him aprox 1 month.

Casper gets out off his cage for aprox 7 hours per day during week and aprox 11 hours per day at weekends.
Our first problem was he would not go into his cage at night so decided too use food management.

He does now go into his cage and looks inside if i say "seed".(well if he is hungry,after a while..sometimes...ok when he decides..lol)

Casper eats aprox 15grms of seed in 24hrs(always has veg availiable). He no longer gets fruit,nuts,saflour or sunflower seeds unless i give it too him as an extra


He never used too eat veg at all , but now he does. His seed has been cut down to 10 grms at night only.(as he eats 6-10grms at night). Veg always availiable.

I have tried feeding him by hand millet sprays,grapes,apple, sunflower seeds. He will let me get aprox 1-2ft close to him then flys off. he only eats his veg when we are out the house because there is no seed in the cage. he never returns too his cage for his veg if he is out of the cage.


Am i feeding him too much ? Too little?
How can i close that 1-2ft gap?
Should he be getting his veg?

I have seen many articles stating only remove food for 3ish hours ..Sometimes casper does not eat for longer when left in his cage(with plenty food)??(is that normal??)

[pinkdevil]

Hi justjohn.

I am not sure just how much 15grms of seed would be.
I give my birds just under 1/4 cup of seed and they get fresh seed when most or all is eaten. This encourages them to eat their less favourite seeds instead of always picking out the best bits and leaving the rest. If it looks like your bird could be hungry for more seed, I would offer a bit extra and see if he eats it.
I do not hold back all fruit and just offer vegies. I give them a mix of both. I do hold back ONE of their fav food, whether it be sunflower seed, apple, corn etc and only give that to them as a reward.
I had a hard time getting some of my birds back into their cage to. I used a fav food, for example one really loved capsicum, so I only gave capsicum when I wanted the bird to go back into the cage. After a while I had no trouble putting them away.
Have you tried leaving the door open and placing a few goodies or toys in there before ready to put him back in the cage? Might return on his own.
You could try getting him to step up on a longish perch and try to return him to the cage.

[justjohn]

Hi justjohn.

I am not sure just how much 15grms of seed would be.
I give my birds just under 1/4 cup of seed and they get fresh seed when most or all is eaten. This encourages them to eat their less favourite seeds instead of always picking out the best bits and leaving the rest. If it looks like your bird could be hungry for more seed, I would offer a bit extra and see if he eats it.
I do not hold back all fruit and just offer vegies. I give them a mix of both. I do hold back ONE of their fav food, whether it be sunflower seed, apple, corn etc and only give that to them as a reward.
I had a hard time getting some of my birds back into their cage to. I used a fav food, for example one really loved capsicum, so I only gave capsicum when I wanted the bird to go back into the cage. After a while I had no trouble putting them away.
Have you tried leaving the door open and placing a few goodies or toys in there before ready to put him back in the cage? Might return on his own.
You could try getting him to step up on a longish perch and try to return him to the cage.

hi
15 grms is aprox egg cup full.

I have not been sticking to the food management as well as i probably should have.
However i have being taking his seed out first thing in morning and replacing at night. It has not helped getting him in the cage.

I have started toweling him when i get him out of cage and towelling him to put him back in.

first two times he screeched and squacked when i showed him some apple. Now he just attacks the apple no screeching. Still attacks our fingers if he see them. I did put some sunflower seed on top of the apple and he did eat them.

Trouble is casper does not play with toys he occasionaly will undo a knot in a toy(he has done it twice since we have had him). We have a big hoop with different shaped wooden blocks on it and a fruit shape plastic chain. Only time he does anything with them is give them a peck if they are in the road.

I am unsure if i have even found his favourite food yet. he has had apple,saunflower,saflour,mango,strawberrys,raspberrys,bannana,grapes,millet sprays and nothing seems to bribe him.

when we get him out of the cage he sits on top of our window frame for most of the night, does not do anything.

To be honest had crossed my mind that maybe he is a bit thick LOL.

He knows the word seed as he looks at his seed pot if you tell him too....we say "seed go home" he looks at it then usually ignores us....and does not go in his cage. We then get the towel out and he see's it and gets agittated. We then tell him "seed go home again" but again just ignores us and keeps a good eye on the towel....You would think logicaly he we go in the cage for fear off the towel.

[bec]

the attaking fingers is one i had to deal with alot i was told that alot of birds react to fingers like that due to preservation instinct beacause fingers can look to a bird like snakes
try offering a fist to the bird instead i cut strip of apples so i can jam them between my fingers in the fist so they are more interested in the "yummies" than biting the hand that feeds them

[justjohn]

just baby sitting a red rump parrakeet. She is sitting on my coffee table in a cage. Casper is totaly ignoring it!!!!

[justjohn]

the attaking fingers is one i had to deal with alot i was told that alot of birds react to fingers like that due to preservation instinct beacause fingers can look to a bird like snakes
try offering a fist to the bird instead i cut strip of apples so i can jam them between my fingers in the fist so they are more interested in the "yummies" than biting the hand that feeds them

Casper just attacks whatever he can get at LOL

[alenshowbrizz]

I think if you have been providing one or two time feed your bird so I think its a bad manners because they always want to eat little amount in short short time period. You can just try this idea definitely you will get success.