I'm going to have to get Kiko off of seed and I'm looking forward to using the conversion recommended at the top of the forum. I'm just trying to get a baseline for her usual body weight to make sure we're doing it safely. How long do you usually track a bird's weight?? I've only had her home for 5 days now and I've had to make sure to offer her food multiple times during the day to ensure she stays stable with her grams (came home at 100g, she's sitting at about 97g now) and I know she's still adjusting to the house and then environement. She's JUST beginning to show signs that she's adopted her new cage as her territory and yesterday was the first time she started really checking out the toys. She's also growing in new feathers like they're going out of style so I've made sure one of her toys has pieces of cuttlebone for the extra calcium.

I don't want to overload the poor thing but I really want her off of the nasty stuff she's used to eating. I've got zupreem natural pellets next to her water dish and I keep a very small amount of seed way in the back of the cage right now - about two tablespoons in the morning. She's getting her rice and veggies in the am, when I step out for two hours in the afternoon she gets fresh on her little kebob thing, and throughout the day she's getting small amounts of millet and pumpkin seeds as we're working on her target training in 3-5 minute sessions. LOL I'm using her territorial drive to teach her how to move all over her cage on command... at first she was charging across to bite her target stick, this morning she was catching on that there was food involved and was trying to anticipate where I was going to tap on the cage next.

Should I give her the two weeks chill'out time before I start really messing with her food?

I track them for a good week before attempting to change their diet. I take the average of those 7 or so days, and I don't want to see a change of more then 5% of that average during a change. I tend to be really cautious with the sick/neurotic birds and will do a slower transition if I see a drop of more then 3%.

I find it generally takes a few weeks to a month to get them settled in and used to simple things, like clean cages, no sudden noises/abuse, fresh food/water, toys, proper sleep time, proper lighting etc etc etc. So, I am cautious about doing too much too soon. Take it slow. Yes, a good diet is necessary and wonderful! BUT, they are like little children, and something that you would just say "great, its better" still counts as stress. If you look at human psychology, a move is one of the top 10 stressors that can take 6-12 months to adjust to. So, slower can be better. It is best to judge by not only her weight but how she seems. Each bird, like each person is very much unique!

I hope that helps!



J

Wow, it sounds like Kiko is doing a lot already! I'd definitely give her a few weeks to settle in before you change her food... you can definitely offer the pellets in a separate dish, but I'd leave her regular food available 24/7, a few more weeks of seeds won't hurt him I think most say to wait about a month before making drastic food changes.

As for her weight, weighing her in the morning before she eats and after she poops is ideal, but that's difficult, lol, so as long as you're doing it at the same time everyday you should get fairly accurate results. Weights can change dramatically throughout the day though (Casey can change fluctuate ~5+ grams in a day)

How does she seem to be reacting to her new home? Adjusting okay or is she still pretty nervous? I'd try to take it real slow for the next couple weeks, introduce new things, but don't overload her

Good luck!!

Sounds like you are doing the right thing. Just remember, if they have seed, they definitely will eat seed first. Also remember to weigh first thing in the morning, before eating....

I don't know much about this kind of thing, just wanted to say "Good luck!!"

*snorts* There's not a nervous bone in this bird's body.

She's already gotten used to everything in her cage - each toy has taken an experimental beating and she'll step up without hesitation onto any perch I ask her to. She's moving seamlessly into her sleeping cage every night (starts getting cranky at about 10:00pm... I finally took the hint and just started putting her to bed then) and not only is she following her target stick from one end of her cage to the other, we've solidified her waving and today for fun we started teaching her to spin in a circle. 8 repeatitions and she was doing it without being baited all the way around. She's got a PVC playstand I made and covered in vet wrap in my grooming room (in the bathtub) so she can hang out while I'm working safely up and away from every other animal in the room. She stands in the shower and cusses me out while I do the morning s-s+s thing. She waits for the scale to register her weight before she gets her bath and breakfast now - the first couple of days she tried to climb down off the scale and I had to keep putting her back into the bowl she hangs out in while it registers her weight...

I'd worked with a lot of birds going through the transition (when I worked the pet store... someone was ALWAYS new) and she seems to have settled in faster than anything I've ever worked with! The "honeymoon" period lasted all of four days and now she's acting like a typical dragon chicken, demanding up when she wants to come with me and hiding under her cage top branches when she doesn't. LOL The temper tantrums have been interesting... we're working on whistling the Inspector Gadget theme song instead of using her car alarm noise when she wants to flock call. It amazes me how LOUD a sound she can create in that little body! She's decided she likes the dogs, has mixed feelings about my boyfriend (he's fine when she wants to go somewhere, not fine when I'm closer) and she's completely at a loss on how to handle my 2 year old who is showing absolutely no fear. Kiko opens her beak and Rowan opens her mouth, singing "Open... AHHHHHHHHH! Look, Mommy! Kiko AHHHHHHHHH! Mouth open!" I'm supervising that one REALLY closely.

*grins* I don't think I COULD overload her if I tried....