Photo by Dave Location: Orlando, FL Eating pasta: Hyacinth "Hymie"

I had company for 10 days this month and it was sort of... crazy. Fitting in time for Hymie was harder in those ten days but I did have some great progress. I got him to eat three new foods! They are:

1. Plain penne pasta
2. Oatmeal
3. Creamed corn

I was eating oatmeal one morning and I decided to have Hymie try it. He was not interested and turned away from me, so since he can't entirely close his mouth, I stuck some in his mouth gently with my spoon, tee-hee... And he LOVED it! He hogged the rest of my oatmeal and let the rest of the flock know I had it so it was all done after that. Good thing I was pretty much full. Hymie alone had 3 spoon fulls himself. He was so crazy about it and took every little piece off his beak to make sure he got it all. I was very proud of him for trying something new and liking it!

Photo by Dave Location: Orlando, FL Eating oatmeal: Hyacinth Macaw "Hymie"

Creamed corn is a food I always recommend people use to get their birds to get a taste for veggies. Because of its texture, it seems to win bird's hearts fairly easily. Including Hymie's. No photo of the creamed corn since I was the one spoon feeding it to him and everything, but I did get some video!

I think he will be more excited to try more stuff since he has liked 3 out of 5 things I've given him. Pretty good odds if you ask me! My next attempts will be with green veggies, boiled sweet potato and kernel corn.

Article by Jamieleigh Womach. She has been working with parrots and toucans since the age of 17. She isn’t homeless but is home less than she prefers to be. She travels the world with her husband, daughter, and a flockful of parrots whom she shares the stage with.