New diet for Senegal

[Rujvir_G]

Guys, my parrot doesn't quite eat the zuupreem pellets, I got these TROPICAN LIFETIME GRANULES for cockatiles ones for my Senegal, he likes them! Should I feed these to him with a seed mix?

[Wolf]

the seed mix, the Zupreem Pellets and the Tropicana Lifetime Granules all are formulated to fill the same spot in the parrots diet. It is probable that if you offer the seed mix with either of the other feeds they will eat the seed mix before either of the other feeds.

[Rujvir_G]

Thanks Wolf, so you want me to feed the granuels alone? And which one do you prefer? Are the granuels healthy, cuz I heard thats its an pellet diet too. ?

[Wolf]

Here is the thing, I don't feed my birds either the granules or pellets, although I do use a seed mix. I feed Gloop for breakfast along with an extra fresh veggie and fruit for all day nibbling and then a small amount of seed mix for dinner.
I do know that most of the time when parrots are offered the choice of all of these feeds that they will normally go after the seed mix first. I would think that between the pellets and the granules that your bird would probably choose the granules. You would probably do better with mixing the seed mix and the granules together for your birds dinner, but you need to feed something other than any of these for breakfast. Something like gloop, or cooked whole grains and chopped up veggies and fruit.

[Rujvir_G]

Okay Wolf thanks, je doesn't quite eat the gloops! Yeah but he loves fruits, but ill try feeding him that, or is it something I could get from the store to feed him in morning?

[Wolf]

It is always a process when you need to get a bird to eat new foods and it will take some time, but if you feed him his seed mix or crumbles in the evening for dinner and then remove the left overs from his cage after he goes to sleep, he will eat the gloop sooner. Also if when you give it to him, you taste it, and make a big to do about how good it is, that will also encourage him to eat it.
The parent birds use a similar method to teach their babies what to eat in the wild, so their brain is hardwired to accept this teaching method. I use it for every food that I offer my birds until they start eating it.

[Pajarita]

I don't think there is nothing already prepared that you can buy commercially to feed a parrot for breakfast so you will need to cook/prepare it for him. Start by cooking the whole grains (wheat, hulled barely, oats, brown and/or black and/or red rice, etc) just slightly so they are still hard and crunchy in the center and offering them to him without any veggies in the morning and with a small sprinkle of seeds mixed in. It might take a day or two but I can assure you he will eat it and, when he does it every day for a few days, you can start adding veggies (start with corn, then peas, then carrots, etc) and cooking the grains a bit more so they are still hard but no longer crunchy in the middle. But, like Wolf said, for any good diet to work, you can't free-feed protein food, it needs to be measured (for a Senegal, it would be a heaping tablespoon of a cockatiel seed mix and a small nut like an almond) and served for dinner, only.