Does my parrot is well fed ?

[Unexpect]

Hi evryone.
I got Ozzy since now almost 3 weeks and the parrot raiser told me to feed him with his personal mix.
So he gave us for free almost 6 month of food and after seeing all his parrot in perfect health I though that his mix should be far away better than other food I could buy on internet or in pet shop.

His mixed is composed by many thing and there is a lot of sunflower seeds. He said that since Ozzy is still young the first part of his mix got many sunflower seeds but then the second part got less sunflower (but still many for me, maybe I'm wrong). What do you think about that ?

Its my first parrot so I have to admit even all thing I read I'm still a bit worry about many thing.
So Ozzy, as the parrot he is, love sunflower seeds. At least I know what to use as threat. But I'm afraid he is eating too much of this. First I use it for train, and then he can eat it as meal aswell. Today I provided his "plat" (dunno the word) and he rushed on it during more than 30 min eating only sun flower seeds. It is fine cause he is still young ? Should I change now his mix ? How many sunflower seeds should he eat/day around ? Can i use it without any risk for train ?

I saw that Michael recomanded pellet food and that he gave only two meal/day. Should I do the same right now or wait until he is older ? How long should I wait so ?

Thx for your help.

[pennyandrocky]

change his diet now. sunflower seeds would be like feeding your human child potato chips as a main part of his diet. seeds and nuts are high fat and should be for treats/training. you're lucky he's still a baby it will make it easier to switch. he should get pellets and fresh fruit/vegtables. for mine they get pellets first thing in the morning then they might get breakfast alternating between oatmeal(not instant the kind you cook on the stove) with fruit, scrambled egg with the shell finely ground so it doesn't cut their crop, or plain yogurt with fruit. i make bird chop, you can easily find recipes online, i start with a mix of beans soaked overnight boil for an hour. after 15 mins add brown rice. when it's cooked mix vegtables, small uncooked whole grain pasta, and fruits. i make a big pot then put it in freezer bags once a month birds love it and it's healthy for them too.

[GlassOnion]

Please stop with the sunflower seeds. They are very high in fat and your bird will get liver problems eventually. Get him on a pelleted diet with lots of vegetables, grains, sprouts, etc.

[Unexpect]

Yeah I know it, I mean I read it everywhere.
But I saw all his birds and they were truely in perfect health, that's why I'm asking here. Cause this guy keep using his mix and it seems to be fine for his parrot.

Still when I saw Ozzy chossing ONLY sunflower seeds I remebered sometthig that Michael said : "You see, parrots are picky eaters and tend to eat the most caloric foods while leaving behind the more nutritious ones." I read that Michael uses actually Roudybush Maintenance Pellet. If i check the link thay said that "maintenance" is used to do transition.
So then I should buy Roudybush Pellet ? (my bad english makes me sometime missunderstand that's why I'm asking.)

Also I shouldnt even use sunflowers seed as threat ? That's mean also that I have to change his diet, and then check what he ll prefer and keep it only for train ?

Before I got Ozzy I spent a lots of time by reading any informations about Parrot, but almost no one talks about Diet seriously. And this is something really hard to get for a beginer, I mean, how to know exactly what to give, how % /day, how to do transition, what food for what "age", what use as threat ? Someone knows a link where I could fine someting as a Guide for Meyer diet ?

[pennyandrocky]

you can give him sunflower seeds for treats. his main diet should be pellets, fresh fruit, vegtables and some grains- oatmeal,brown rice and whole grain pastas. beans are good for protien and you can soak them til they sprout a healthy treat for him. my first bird lived on a seed diet for over 10 years he looked perfectly healthy too but he died in his 30's i had changed his diet for the 17 years i had him but his previous diet could have been one ofthe reasons he died so young. breeders unfortunately are in for profit so an unhealthy seed diet is cheaper than a proper healthy one. his birds may have looked healthy but he only wants them to breed enough to fill his pockets. your english is fine by the way.

[marie83]

Animals can look healthy but who knows whats going on inside their bodies.
Sunflowers are fine but use them as treats only. You can also sprout them along with other seeds/beans every now and again and offer a small amount as this changes the nutritional values and makes them a bit healthier.

[Unexpect]

All right guyzs thx for all those explanations !

So I'll buy pellets transition mix and then Roudybush Pellet.
Ill keep sunflowers seeds as threat since he really loves it, so that's easy to motivate him and only as threat I think that it ll be fine.

But he is still young, so should I right now give him only two meal/day ? How do you know % of food you have to give ? If I decided to start to control his food aprovisonment, that's mean that I'm also able to know what he needs to eat/day. Food shop on net maybe give aswell dosing bowl depending from species ?

That's pretty funny cause personaly I eat a ton of sun flowers seed /day, and it's worth cause those are salted. I'll care more about my parrot health than mine..Hum like usual right ? At least since he is here I cant smoke anymore ^^

[marie83]

Let him eat as much as he wants until he is about a year old then you can start feeding him meals.

[Unexpect]

After one years so.
Let's do that : )

[spiral71]

i've read online that unsprouted sunfloer seeds are 37 percent fat please consider this before giving your parrot too many.