Alexandrine Parakeet eating kiwi (actually, devouring)

I’ve been experimenting with adding variety to Rasta’s diet and it has been a lot of fun – I have to say mainly because it’s been more wins than losses. Some foods he liked without the skin, some with, some had to be served from my hand, others from his bowl while others needed to be on the end of a utensil like a fork. Some foods needed to be served with other foods and mixed in, while some I had to use the “Simon Says” effect and get him in a pattern that he thought he was getting something good and went for something new and liked it.

Alexandrine parakeet dropping cucumber, not a win.

Some stuff went over easier chopped, blended, mashed, cooked, mushy, raw… there are so many ways to prepare food.

Not on the win list:

• Cucumber (with or without the skin, I tried both)

 

Rasta loving some scrambled egg

 

On the win list:

• Kiwi
• Scrambled egg with shell (slightly warm)
• Wild rice, quinoa, red rice blend with raspberries, green beans, carrots, celery (blended on pulse together)

Alexandrine parakeet all day-meal; baby carrot (raw), cooked scrambled egg, fresh kiwi, chopped green beans & organic pellets

I just recently started blending things together for him to try and he was more hesitant when he couldn’t distinguish every single ingredient, which I found funny because usually birds are the other way around with their food.

Here is his face after the blended mixture, which I called Fun-Fetti because of its colorfulness.

Rasta diving into my Fun-Fetti recipe

I made enough Fun-Fetti for all my birds and froze the rest for days to come… (thank you, Food Saver) by the way, some birds like their foods at different temperatures… warm, cold, frozen, thawed, different textures… if you haven’t tried one yet, try it and see if your bird responds better. Some birds love frozen veggies instead of fresh – some like them cooked. You just have to experiment.

Frozen Fun-Fetti recipe in my freezer 

So remember when introducing new foods consider:

1. Texture (think about serving raw, blended, pulsed, cooked, mushy, mashed, mixed, etc)
2. Temperature (room temperature, warm, cool, frozen)
3. Colors (if your bird likes a specific color more try offering foods of the same color, for example orange; oranges, sweet potato, yams, bell pepper, pumpkin, cinnamon, carrots, etc)
4. Method of prepartion (cooking, baking, broiling, raw, grilled, steamed, etc – although RAW form is always healthiest and preferred)
5. Never give up. Always keep offering them because one day your bird will surprise you and want it.