Discourage selective feeding
For about 7-10 days prior to conversion to Harrison’s, limit the volume
of ‘regular’ food that is provided at any one time to approximately one
third of the usual daily serving. Food is only replenished when all has
been eaten. This prevents the bird from buffet feeding and encourages
it to eat the food that is available. Also, if the ‘regular’ food is a
mix containing a high percentage of sunflower seeds then it is helpful
to remove the majority of these prior to conversion to Harrison’s.
Weaning the bird off its old diet
Offer
a small amount of their usual food in the morning for 1
hour and then remove this from the bowl. Replace with Harrison’s High
Potency, serving in their usual bowl, in the usual place in the cage - this confirms that it is 'food', rather than a toy. Give less than will cover the bottom of their bowl - to discourage them for foraging for their 'usual food' - and make
this the only food that is available to them during the main part of the
day. In the evening, serve some of their usual food again.
The next day, give your bird seeds for only 30 minutes in the
morning and evening. The third day, reduce the time to 15 minutes twice a
day. And finally, offer only High Potency on the fourth day. Monitor
the bird’s droppings.
Feed your bird at mealtime
Place
the food on a plate, move it around with your finger or a spoon and
eat it (or pretend to eat it) in front of your bird. This reinforces to the bird that it is food. Offer it to them, and hopefully they will mimic you by eating it too.
Whilst Harrison’s formulated
diets can be a little bland for the human palate (humans have about 30
times more taste buds than parrots), they are palatable, organic and
made from human quality food, and many birds are encouraged to try the
food if they see their owners eating and ‘enjoying’ it. This is
particularly successful if the birds are used to being fed at mealtimes.
Warm or moisten the food
Many birds can be encouraged to
taste the food, and will readily consume it, if a small amount of water
or fruit juice is added. Adding fruit juice may give a recognisable flavourOnly add enough to moisten it so it sticks to their beak if they pick it up - don't 'soak' it.
Alternatively try slightly warming the High
Potency formula.
Mix it with fruit or veg
Whilst it is usually advisable to not mix the Harrison's with dry foods, such as seeds - as they can pick around the new food and just select the items they know they like - crumbling the Harrison's onto damp fruit or vegetables can be successful. The Harrison's will stick to the fruit/veg and can't be avoided, so when the eat the fruit/veg they will consume some of the Harrison's and realise it is a tasty food. You can then change the ratio of Harrison's to fruit/veg over time until you are able to serve the Harrison's to them on its own.
