Reddit mentions of Kaytee 2 Pack Of Natural Millet Spray For Birds

So a few thoughts about birds - they are highly hormonal. They can change their attitudes seasonally, yearly, as they mature in to adult-hood, and can even change their moods drastically when exposed to the sun rising/setting. A bird that was once standoffish can become inseparable from you suddenly for no obvious reason - and loving birds can suddenly become standoffish and solitary. Hormones! Think of a 2 year old with the hormones of a 16 year old and you're not far off.

They are also HIGHLY INTELLIGENT for an animal (just like a 2 year old!) - they remember things but do not forgive as readily as other pet types. They need stimulation and challenging activities to stimulate that brain of theirs or they can become depressed. Think puzzles - but for birds. A puzzle to a bird would be a bit of say apple inside a toilet paper tube with the ends just pushed shut. Its easily opened but he still has to work it out. Hide foods he enjoys in between parts of the toys he already plays with if you can. Try not to repeat puzzles two times in a row. You're trying to avoid repetition here.

As for encouraging affection food is ok, but attention is king. I have an IRN who was raised in a private at-home aviary - then his owner died of a heart attack. He didn't have a few birds, he had BIRDS. They all immediately went to animal rescue where they clipped their wings but did it poorly unfortunately, which is where we got our IRN. He's still after two years terrified of hands. He is VERY loud. He maintains enough distance to flee if needed. Only recently has he approached US for attention instead of the other way around.

The way we've socialized him initially was to use food, but this only got us so far. So what we did is talk to him. A lot. At least an hour a day. Also sing to him. Give him sun exposure through a window if you can. Watch TV with him. Talk to him about what is going on. Do not worry about him engaging you - you are teaching HIM how to engage. When you are doing this you should be focused on your bird. Engage him with passing eye contact. Do not stare in to his eyes too long - that can be mistaken for predatory behaviour and won't help you win him over. Make him the center of your universe when you interact with him.

And once you are done with attention time ignore him. Move on to something else. Let him make sense of the distinction between you showering him with affection and you going about your day. Give him time to do his bird things. He will eventually want more attention from you and that is great - but unless you give him a chance to miss you how can he miss you?

Be sure to announce yourself before entering 'his' area or approaching where he is resting/sleeping. "Hi birdie! I'm coming in, need to get something." - THEN you appear in the room. Birds when surprised out of a sound sleep FLEE from a suddenly approaching form. Its incredibly stressful on the bird. Easily solved though.

Try feeding him a little less directly. Invest in foraging toys. Toys that you put food IN and then he works out how to get at it. Every week change his toys. Remove toys he no longer plays with. Toys he does play with should be moved to a different location weekly. Make sure every week he gets variety.

It took us almost two years to try and get him to eat pellets and you know what? His diet sucked. Now we hand feed him Nutriberries in the morning, or if we don't have time we will put a handfull in a dish for him, and then for dinner he gets FOOD. Real food. Carrots (use a cheese grater), apples, peas, squash, corn. Watch him eat. What does he throw to the floor? Is there one food he especially likes? If he doesn't like a food try altering how you present it to him. Shred it. Cut it in to pieces. Give it to him in a large enough piece for him to hold. Use a food blender to mush it up a little. Try different foods and preparation methods to find what he eats. I assure you it won't be pellets.

For a real treat try getting some millet spray, but do not just give it to him. Peel just ONE bud off the stem and hand feed it to the little guy while speaking to him. Good boy! What a sweet bird! Love you *insert name here*! Millet spray is a real treat but will quickly ruin their diet if you feed them too much of it.