This is Auggie,
my African Grey parrot. He is 4 weeks old in this picture and I
was just learning how to hand feed him. Fortunately, I got the
hang of it pretty quick. The breeder used "gavage"
feeding which is using a syringe with a tube attached to it. The
tube is inserted into the bird's beak and down his throat into
his crop. This method does not allow the bird to taste the food
or give him the opportunity to learn to manipulate food in his
mouth. I didn't like doing that, so I removed the tube and me and
Auggie learned a new way to handfeed.
The
handfeeding worked out pretty well as you can see.
He is almost a year old now and spoiled rotten.
He does like to ham for the camera like most kids.
We recently got two new baby Amazon parrots and Auggie was so mad he wouldn't come out of his cage for days. He clucked disapprovingly at the newcomers until we moved him into the bedroom with us, which is where he thought he should be in the first place and peace has once again been restored.
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