Chucking food

[siobha9]

I am not sure if I have posted this in the right place... should it be in feeding or in Training, but we have a problem.
Liath has 3 dishes, one for water, one for warm fresh food, and one for dry mix(can't get her to eat pellets). So my problem is the dry mix. She chucks it everywhere, on purpose. She actually gets into the bowl and uses her feet and her beak and sprays it. She seems to be doing it to get my attention, as I have a wood floor and it makes a satisfying sound. How do I stop her?

I have tried
Ignoring her... doesn't work, she just empties the bowl
Taking the dish... works till I give her back the dish.
Yelling at her... stops until I stop yelling and then goes at it again.
waiting till she stops and then fussing over her.. but by then there is hardly any food in the bowl, and loads on the floor. (this is the strategy I am using at the moment)


I know she is doing this to get my attention but it is so wasteful, and my house looks like I never sweep the floor. She only does this with the dry mix.

Any suggestions?
Siobhan

[judygram]

Guess what Siobhan, your yelling at her is attention and she will keep it up to get it. Just walk away and ignore it, when she realizes it gets her nothing she will quit. Birds are wasteful and there is nothing you can do about that, my Josey wastes a lot of food also but yelling at her will accomplish nothing but making her do it all the more.

You ignore the bad behavior and reward the good, so when she goes for a while not throwing out her food praise her and when she throws food out turn your back on her and ignore it, with no yelling.

[danmcq]

Dayo did the same thing for a while also.

He just stopped on his own with no input or reaction from me or Kim at all.

I guess we weren't any fun ;-)

[siobha9]

Yes, I said yelling WAS a strategy I had tried. Until I realised she was looking for attention, and of course until she starting yelling back!

At the moment I am doing the ignoring her until she is quiet and then fussing over her. But it is SO wasteful. I just hoped someone had a better idea, but if this is what I must do, then I will.

Do you think taking her dish away and only giving it back for say 20 minutes at a time would help? I am just afraid of her being hungry.

Siobhan

[radar]

Radar does the same thing. He reminds me of a chicken scratching in the food. I ignore him, but he still does it. I think, for us anyway, it is just one of those "grey" things that I just have to live with.

Debbie

[radar]

<br><br>Post edited by: radar, at: 2007/10/04 14:27

[judygram]

No I wouldn't take her dish away, just ignore the food throwing and she will give it up after a while.:P

[danmcq]

Well, after Radars post of a 30 year old still doing it, it sounds like it may come an go over and over and over :P

Ohwell, must be a "Grey Thing", I know they scratch around like that in the bottom of their cage and on the floor sometimes too.

[siobha9]

OH MY GOD 30 years of sweeping up uneaten food!!!! Aaaaggh.

OK best learn to live with it then. It just as well she's cute... My kids would be in major trouble for chucking their dinner on the floor. She gets away with so much as they keep reminding me!

Maybe I should teach her how to use a dustpan and brush....

Siobhan

[BMustee]

lol...if you teach him to use a dustpan you would have to post it on Utube! LoL, good mental image.
{Feel-good-0002006E}

I know that pretty much all young greys go through the "chicken scratch" phase, mine had his come and go already. It says on your profile that your grey is over a year old, so I'm not sure if maybe yours just didn't grow out of it or not. From some articles I have read greys do forage on the ground for food, so this could just be an instinctual thing. I would follow Judy's advice, ignoring it is the only way...everything else is attention.