Syringe Feed Parrots Regularly

When baby parrots are born, most of them are fed with a syringe by the breeder to make the babies bond to the human touch. It is recommended that you continue to feed your adult parrot in this manner occasionally. Someday you might have to give him liquid medicine in a syringe and if he is used to being fed in this manner, then it will be a lot easier to medicate him. It is NOT FUN to try to give a Moluccan Cockatoo medicine.

I make up a solution of baby food: carrots, sweet potatoes, green beans, peas, chicken, bananas, broccoli, plain yogurt, and sometimes another fruit. I mix all this together, and freeze in daily portion sizes. When I thaw it out to feed to him every night, I add a little dry parrot formula to the mix to thicken it up a bit. I feed Tinker every night in this manner, instead of occasionally, due to his habit of tossing his food out of his bowl every time I put some in, which makes me wonder if he is getting enough to eat. I limit sweets in this diet, due to the presence of yeast in the birds system. Yeast can be a problem if the bird is fed too much sugar, as sugar feeds yeast.

It can be a problem to feed the bird too often with a syringe; they like it because it reminds them of when they were a baby and they will get spoiled and want you to do it all the time and some can even refuse to eat any other way. But it is important to feed them in this manner occasionally, to keep them used to being syringe-fed.

The bird in the picture is Hootie, an Umbrella Cockatoo. He is "displaying", because this is the day that we brought him home, and he was so scared, and unsure of what to expect. Hootie is only about 4 years old, and has been rehomed several times in this short time period. I don't know why, because once I won him over, he is one of the sweetest and most loving birds in this house!

By one.of.a.kind from AL