Sunday, April 18, 2010

Feeding Picky Eaters - Green Rumps

Once again I'm asking for advice. I can't seem to get my green rumps interested in any fruit or veggies I've offered. I tried apples, oranges, spinach, carrots, broccolis, and fresh as well as dryed egg food with no luck. They will take whole grain toast. I have not tried cooked dried beans yet but today I did give them cooked rice. They at least played with it. I'm thinking that they my prefer their veggies cooked. What do you think?


Green Rumps are notoriously bad eaters. Also, if the previous breeder/owner did not offer a wide variety of fresh foods starting at a young age, this will certainly make it even more difficult. All I can tell you is to keep trying. You can feed them in bowls near their favorite perches. You can chop the foods very fine. You can bake them into bread and feed it that way. You can hang them on specially designed bird kabobs. You can sprinkle sprouted seeds on the top. You can try cooking it although I doubt that would do anything except make it easier for bacteria to grow quicker but that is up to you. Rice is good to feed because they steal it from farmers in the wild but certainly it isn’t cooked. It’s the grain they are interested in not the form of presentation. If they will eat rice, I would chop veggies very fine and mix it in with the rice. And playing with food is always a good sign – they play with it first and then they usually start eating it. Unfortunately, there is no magic formula and there are no magic foods. You just have to keep trying until they accept the food offered. It may take weeks, months or even up to a year or more. And even then, there are no guarantees. But as a long time bird breeder I’m sure you already know this. Just keep trying and making different offers and hopefully you will eventually figure out what it is they will accept.

Best of luck!!

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