Chewing corn for gummy parrots? (Meaning? Origin? )

What does this saying mean and it's origin?

I heard it on Coronation Street a few years back - spoken by the late Blanche at Peter's Aa meeting.

Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e54gzq5Xr0Y

She says it around 1.10

Solution 1:

In the Coronation Street AA-meeting sequence, Blanche speaks rather critically to Ross; then Melanie (an alcoholic) commends Ross; then Blanche criticizes Melanie ( “You don't get out much...”), which prompts Peter (Blanche's grandson) to comment, “What we normally do at this point in the meeting is let all the people in the group reflect on what the speaker has just said”. Blanche replies, “And what am I doing – chewing corn for gummy parrots?”

We see that Blanche is sarcastically saying that she has indeed been commenting on what Ross said, and not merely “chewing corn for gummy parrots”. A “gummy parrot” is an old, toothless parrot, and “chewing corn” means chewing up kernels of corn so the parrot can eat them. Blanche also is suggesting that Melanie's mild praise of what Ross said is like chewing corn for gummy parrots.