Pickles The Parrot Returns: My Continued Adventures with a Bird Brain

by Abbott, Georgi

  He was willing to be picked up at that point and I placed him and his buttery, sugary talons on a perch while I went back to clean up the mess. No way would he allow me to clean his talons and I thought – fine, get a coronary.

  I cleaned what I could, salvaged what I could, made cookies and ate them in front of him, remarking how delicious they were and too good to share with him.

  I make treats for Pickles now and then but that’s been hit and miss. There’s a couple of different kinds of little snack cookies he likes but a real treat for him, are his Popsicles. I pour grape juice in a shot glass, add anything from banana pieces, to Cheerios to nuts and then I cover the glass with Saran Wrap, poke a piece of chopsticks through both the Saran and the juice, right to the bottom and put it in the freezer. The Saran keeps the sticks in place until it freezes so that Pickles has a perfect little handle to hold onto.

  Spoons are great for enticing Pickles into eating new foods because he knows that’s where the best food is kept. Pudding, jello, juice, mashed potato, yogurt – all come served on this silver platter. He refused to eat the red palm oil when we first got it and we never knew if he managed to eat it or spit it out when we mixed it with his supper, so I started hiding it in a small morsel of mashed potato or yogurt. Just enough for one small bite in case he tried to eat around a whole spoonful, leaving the palm oil and then not caring about it because he’d had his fill. He soon got used to the taste and even got to the point of eating it straight and undisguised off the spoon. I got so confident that I started calling it ‘medicine’. “Look Pickles! Medicine! Mmmmmm. Want some medicine?” as I approach him with the spoon. He’s thinking – RIGHT ON! Spoon approaching!! Medicine you say? Well, it’s on a spoon so it’s GOTTA be delicious! I smirk, and can’t help feeling a little smug each time he falls for the scam. Of course, I always follow it up with a mouthful of something yummy on the spoon afterwards, just so he knows that even if the palm oil isn’t such a great treat, something good will follow once it’s gone.

  If you’re anything like me, you probably find it confusing to read about vitamins, nutrition and all the foods you should feed or not feed your parrots. There’s the basic toxic items most people are aware of, such as avocado and chocolate, but the more you read the more you find such things as apple seeds, rhubarb, apricot and peach pits etc. Just recently I read that raw potatoes can’t be digested and I had been feeding them to Pickles for years. You start to wonder where it ever ends and you’re afraid that one day, you’re going to feed your bird something you hadn’t yet read about and kill the poor thing. There’s all the safe and unsafe wood out there and since Neil makes all Pickles’ play stands, cage and aviary stands, we’ve been forced to learn about toxicity in plants and trees. But when it comes to vitamins and nutrition, things get a little more complicated for me. Luckily, Neil is good at reading, absorbing and retaining this sort of information. Not only that, but he’s great at sifting through conflicting information and coming up with a sensible understanding.

  I remember posting on a parrot forum and telling people about Hemp Seed when someone replied that they would never give their birds Hemp Seed because it was too high in fat. I was at a loss because, from everything I’d read, it was the most nutritious food known to man and animal. I had even read an article that told of a shipwreck on an island in the middle of the ocean where there was no food or fresh water available and the crew survived for weeks on nothing but Hemp Seed. I’ve done research, Googled for harmful effects and have never found anything negative. Indeed, it is labeled as a ‘Super Food’.

  So, when confronted with the fat issue, I was at a loss to respond but Neil was able to put it into perspective in these terms … Fat is essential in our, and our bird’s diets. We couldn’t live without it and in fact, our brains are 60% fat - it’s just that there’s good fats and bad fats. Carbohydrates are responsible for the fat deposits in our bodies although harmful fats in our diets play a role as well.

  Healthy fats are the same for birds and people: non-essential fatty acids (can be produced in the body) and essential fatty acids (cannot be produced in the body and must be included in the diet). Omega 3 and Omega 6 essential fatty acids must also be in balance. Deficiencies or unbalance will affect health or cause death in both humans and birds. Of all the sources of Omega 3 and 6, hulled hemp seed offers the most perfect balance.

  There is a lot more to nutrition than two essential fatty acids and there is a ton of information on avian dietary requirements but in the end we rely on a few simple rules. Understand our bird’s natural wild diet and try to mimic it as best as possible with what’s available in our location. Fresh is best. Whole, unprocessed foods, for both bird and owner – after all, our birds’ long, healthy, happy life depends on our health.

  Essential fatty acids can also be found in things like palm oil, nuts and some seeds – along with hemp.

  For the first few years, we sprinkled the Hemp Seed in Pickles’ birdie breads but just recently, Neil set the twist-on bowl on the counter next to Pickles and dumped the Hemp Seed in first while he prepared the birdie bread in the smaller bowl. Pickles dove right in with an ecstatic tail shake and inhaled every crumb of Hemp as fast as possible. We hadn’t realized he actually liked it, we had assumed it needed to be hidden because the first time we ever offered it to him, he had turned up his nose at it. So now he gets to eat it while he’s helping on the counter, or he gets it on the side of his birdie bread. Now, when he’s ‘helping’ us, he stands next to his bowl and when we pour it out of the jar, he puts his head below and tries to get it in his beak while we’re pouring – kinda like drinking out of a tap. This is great because he doesn’t always eat all his supper so we knew we were wasting a lot of the Hemp Seed.

  It’s no wonder he always got so excited when we brought out the little spice jar we keep it in for easy pouring. Snatching the jar from our hands always seemed so important to him and he was always up to the challenge. He fancies himself a pretty good log roller so one time he managed to grab the jar, throw it on the counter and attempt to ride it. Things went pretty good – for about a quarter of a second – then the jar suddenly shot out from under him causing him to do a face plant in his supper bowl. He lay there on his belly, face in the bowl, wings splayed beside him and legs straight out behind while still clutching the jar in his talons. It looked, comically, like someone attempting to raise barbells by the ankles. No way he was going to let go of that jar but no way could he stand back up without releasing it. His eyes rolled helplessly toward me, unsure of how to remedy the situation and you know me, I wasn’t about to help. You can’t buy tickets for entertainment like this, so I waited and watched.

  He pushed his head against the bowl, braced his wings to help raise his body so that he was on his knees, so to speak. Now it looked like he was doing push-ups - and this worked for a moment, until the beak pressure sent the bowl flying out from under him. He tried a couple more push-ups before he finally gave up and let go of the hemp jar. I didn’t have the heart to snatch it away from him after all that, and not sure that I could have anyway because he was up on his feet, turning and lunging for it faster than a duck on a bug so he was able to reclaim it by pushing it into the corner with his beak. There he sat, back to me and face to the corner, cooing at the jar as if nothing had happened.

  But, I digress. One thing that always bugged me was that you always read how good spinach is for parrots but the trouble is, spinach (as well as some beans such as kidney, chickpea and pinto) blocks calcium absorption so we need to be careful of that. We’re fortunate where we live because at one time, Logan Lake was rated third best water quality in Canada. I’m not sure if we’ve dropped down in that list the last couple of years but the water is exceptional and chocked full of calcium.

  Pickles also gets his calcium from almonds, dandelion greens (no shortage of them in our yard), yogurt, blackberries, cherries and raspberries. Most other foods that contain calcium, he won’t eat. He likes spinach but we
rarely give it to him and there are always alternatives.

  I’m not going to go into all the nutritional information that we have learned over the years but I HIGHLY recommend www.holisticbirds.com for the most excellent information on everything from nutrition to behavior – almost anything you can think of relating to birds. There is even a search option to find past and present articles. It’s a MUST for parrot owners and will clear up some common miscontions.

  I’ve found that skewers work great for getting Pickles to eat fruits and vegetables that he doesn’t like. You can buy skewers from bird toy companies or you can just thread some rope, or something you can hang, through the vegetables. This keeps Pickles busy ripping and throwing food so it works both as a toy and a feeding/foraging tool. He may not always eat the veggies but at least he can’t help but get some in his mouth and you know parrots, they can suddenly change their mind after getting a taste of something. He especially likes it when I punch the skewer through a small pumpkin or squash and hang it for him. You need to be careful that you don’t buy those ornamental ones though because I think they’re treated with something to make them last as decorations. The pumpkin seeds are an added bonus when he gets to them.

  All in all, I think Pickles has a decent diet and he has always maintained his weight of 500 grams. We have a scale and a special little perch that sits on top so that we can weigh him often. He’s definitely a finicky eater but we do our best to get the proper nutrition in to him.

  Chapter 3

  What’s For Supper?

  “Next time someone tells you "that's how the cookie crumbles", tell them you don't know what they mean and ask them to demonstrate for you. Then, eat all the cookie crumbs. And when they get upset that you ate their cookie, tell them "well, that's how the cookie crumbles - get over it."“

  “My daddy's a great cook & an awesome baker. He's learned to cook low fat, low sugar, low salt meals & treats which means I get to eat most of what he cooks. Mom? Not so good at cooking or anything wifely. I mean, who uses a smoke alarm for a timer?”

  “I like cats but I don't think I could eat a whole one.”

  “The people at the grocery stores must wonder why mom always buys like, 10 grapes, 3 brussel sprouts, 4 cauliflower floret’s, 1 small broccoli head, 1 celery stick. I bet they're thinking she eats like a bird but probably sneaks whole cakes when nobody's looking”

  “I like rice pudding. But I like my pudding on the side. So, I guess I like rice and I like pudding but not rice pudding. Forget I mentioned it.”

  “Don't you hate it when your toes smell like garlic all day?”

  “Mom's been so busy getting ready for Xmas & house guests. That means I’m busy too cuz I have to supervise the cleaning & bark out all the orders. While we were listening to Xmas Carols & decorating, I asked mom if I could have a cat for Xmas but she said - no, you'll have turkey the same as the rest of us.”

  “Eggs give my mommy gas. I'm glad she didn't know me back when I was an egg. She might have taken one look at me and farted.”

  “Your body lets you know when something's wrong. You should listen to your body. Especially when it tells you you're dead.”

  “Sometimes, when mom cries, it makes me feel really bad. I start wondering why she's so sad. Then I start wondering where tears come from. Then I start wondering why they're salty and not peppery. Then I find myself wondering what's for lunch.”

  “Is there anything more awesome that a beautiful fresh banana, and it's dancing in the air in front of your eyes? And soft music is playing as it sensually and slowly peels its skin to reveal it's lovely flesh. And then it slinks into a bathtub of Jello and lays waiting for you to join it. And also, you just got high from one of Mom's heavy-duty prescription painkillers that you mistook for a mint.”

  “I thought it would be really funny when I landed in that gigantic bag of flour dad left open on the floor, but it went over about as well as a shark attack in a kindergarten. Did you know that if you jump in flour with wet feet, you stick to your perch after it dries?”

  I’m going to place some recipes in this chapter – tried and true recipes that Pickles loves. Your parrot may or may not like certain items but you can easily substitute for things your bird likes, or bake them as written to get your bird to eat things he normally wouldn’t. The trick is, all of the birdie breads should be almost of bread dough consistency so if you are substituting something like berries for apples, you will probably need to add more flour or cereal etc. because berries are juicier. Or if you are adding drier ingredients, add more liquid. If in doubt, tend toward the drier, rather than wetter side of dough consistency.

  Don’t be afraid to experiment and substitute anything your bird doesn’t like, or you’re not comfortable with. Many people don’t like to use flour, they think it causes yeast infections when in fact, it’s yeast in regular bread that they’re worried about and from what I’ve read, yeast doesn’t cause infections but it can promote further infection in a bird who already suffers from infection – but again, that’s yeast, not flour. Some people don’t like using white flour but I do sometimes because that may be all I have in the house at the time however, we use un-bleached, all purpose. There are many types of flour you can use – rye, whole wheat, potato, rice, corn flours etc. Or, if your bird doesn’t like pellets, you can put them in a processor, grind and use them for flour, and as a way to get them to eat pellets. Start out with smaller amounts so that you don’t turn the bird off with the taste then add more the next time and eventually your bird may eat them whole and right out of his dish. You can also grind or smash up something like Cheerios for flour.

  When making birdie breads, you need butter for consistency but I use nut butters instead – peanut butter or almond usually but any will do – or I will often substitute with yogurt, applesauce, hemp oil, mashed banana, mashed potato/squash/sweet potato/yam or sometimes just Canola oil. Baby food (preferably organic) is great too and it comes in all kinds of nummy flavors.

  Liquids can be water, juice, coconut milk, rice milk or lactose-free plain milk – since our birds are lactose intolerant.

  I sometimes use brown sugar but usually, if I need to sweeten, I use honey. Most breads do not need to be sweetened or if you’re using fruits, that’s good enough. Being Canadian, I’ve been known to add a bit of maple syrup at times.

  I usually add spices to the breads and you can use anything – just be careful about using too much if you are unsure of the spices your bird likes. If you add too much of a spice that they don’t like, it might turn them off the entire bread. Sometimes I add whole cardamoms, chopped up fennel, cloves etc. but you can use either dry or fresh spices and herbs. Pickles also likes hot peppers in his breads.

  If you are using something like papaya, peppers, pumpkin that contain seeds, add the seeds into the mix too. Just make sure you don’t add things like cherry pits or apple seeds which are toxic.

  Sometimes I add vanilla. Don’t worry about the alcohol as it dissipates when cooked.

  Your bird may like big chunks of veggies or fruit but Pickles prefers everything chopped fine. The foods he doesn’t like at all, I practically puree.

  I like to add chopped up nuts to each bread and usually try to get something like grapenuts, oatmeal, beans, rice or some sort of grains into them. I always pick up bags of 12-grain mixes from the health store. Anything you think is healthy for them – add it. Some people like to add the shell when adding eggs – I just do it some of the time.

  Your cooking times may vary as we live in high altitude country so check the breads at some point before the listed time of baking. You may also want to half the recipes until you know if your bird likes it or not.

  When the breads are cooked, I let them cool right down and then I cut them in rows and cut the rows into squares. I then wrap each row in Saran Wrap and throw them in a large plastic baggie and put them in the deep freezer, keeping one row for the fridge freezer. Each night, I snap off one square for Pickles’ supper. I k
eep about 7 breads going at once so he gets a different one each night of the week.

  Don’t be afraid to experiment. As long as there’s good, tasty ingredients in there, the breads should get eaten.

  Carrot/Pineapple Bread

  2 cups whole wheat flour

  1/2 cup brown sugar

  ½ tsp baking powder

  ½ tsp cinnamon

  2 eggs (with or without shell)

  1 cup grated carrots

  ½ cup applesauce

  1 cup crushed pineapple, drained

  (or fresh pineapple)

  ½ cup chopped pecans or walnuts

  1 tsp. Vanilla extract

  Mix dry ingredients. Mix the rest of the ingredients in separate bowl then add them to the dry ingredients.

  Pour into lightly greased & floured loaf pan – I use a little Canola – and bake at 350 degrees for 50 to 60 minutes, or until edges start to brown.

  Cranberry/Raspberry Bread

  1 cup raspberries (fresh or frozen)

  1 cup frozen cranberries

  1/3 cup mashed ripe banana

  1/3 cup plain yogurt

  ¼ cup shredded coconut

  1 egg

  ¼ tsp salt

  ¼ cup dry tapioca

  ¼ c orange juice

  1 cup chopped walnuts

  1 cup cheerios

  1 tsp vanilla

  1 ½ cups potato flour