Eating too much?

[charlotte&mango]

Hi. I got a new senegal yesterday, she's just almost 3 months old. I've never had a bird before and I feel like I'm failing her miserably already.
I have several worries but this one is about feeding. Firstly, I try to clean up every time she poops but if there's any on the bars she will turn round and start eating it! I try to distract her but she gets angry at me for doing this?
Secondly, I was given a bag of budgie seed and a bag of parrot feed and told to give a bowl of each for now. She eats like crazy - every time she's back in her cage she's constantly eating. And i keep topping them back up.
I've also given her so far: broccoli, carrot, parsnip, potato, apple, grape, elderberries and blackberries. She isnt fond the last two, But otherwise she's devoured these too.
Is this normal?? Seems a LOT for her size.
But she squeals when she has no food

[CSLFiero]

The scale cannot lie. Get one.

[Michael]

It's a baby bird that is growing. I wouldn't worry about it right now. BUT I would worry about feeding a terrible diet like that. You will definitely want to convert the bird to a proper pellet diet asap. I found Roudybush to be a great pellet and Senegals take to it very well.

[Pajarita]

If she is eating her poop, chances are she has a dietary imbalance. I don't like pellets, I think they are not the healthiest option when it comes to birds diets. Mine eat gloop with fresh, organic produce in the morning and a small amount (about two tablespoons) of a budgie mix in the winter and a cockatiel one in the spring and summer for dinner. The male is 16 and the female is 10 and they are both doing great on this.

[charlotte&mango]

She isnt on pellets - its a mix of a load of different type of seeds etc, but if theres any sunflower seeds in it she will just eat those and leave the rest. Otherwise she favours the budgie seed.
Fruit and veggies are without a doubt her favourite and gets two or three different sorts a day as her meals.
She only weighs 110g and i read she should be between 120-170g, though despite her constant eating - she gains no weight? (she is very active though - constantly climbing and flying around)

[janetafloat]

That's a terrible diet, as Michael said. Of course she'll eat sunflower seeds to the exclusion of all else given the option... it's like giving a small child access to junk food all the time, but it's not an appropriate diet and is very fatty which will cause her health problems in the long run. The budgie seed is probably full of millet which again is not what she needs. Please stop worrying about her weight, which is within the normal range for a baby Senegal and start worrying about giving her a better diet including a good quality pellet, whole grains and pulses as well as varied fruit and veg. If you must give her seed get a proper good quality parrot mix such as Tidymix and take out the sunflower seeds, keeping them for occasional treats and training rewards.

[Pajarita]

Don't free-feed seeds or pellets, parrots never eat protein all the time in the wild and free-feeding it to pet ones which don't exercise 1/100 of the wild ones is not good, give her cooked whole grains and beans mixed with diced veggies for breakfast and just a little bit of seeds for dinner. Get her probiotics (don't bother getting the 'avian' ones, get the human one that has the highest number of strains in it) and apple cider vinegar (organic, unfiltered, unpasteurized with the 'mother') and add them to her water. And a little birdy bread will be good too...

[charlotte&mango]

Getting a lot of varied advice over this feeding ..
I've taken the budgie food away. And the parrot mix I was given ( a mix of various looking things ) I've taken the sunflower seeds out of. She now refuses to eat anything but the fruit and veg that I give her. Is this what she's meant to be doing?
Is this apple cider vinegar meant to go in her water or should she have a separate just water bowl too? Surely just water is best .. its what she would get in the wild?
What are the probiotics?

[sushidog]

I just lost my 28 yr old sun conure, Sunny, last week due to a sudden illness. She had a varied diet, but I free fed her a safflower seed based diet (I started her on Topper Bird Ranch seed mix in 1985, but they went out of business in 2007) - no sunflower seeds were offered, as these are addictive. There were no bird pellet's available, to my knowledge, in 1985. Her favorite food was pecans (we had a pecan tree) and she probably ate more than was good for her. She was fully fledged and got plenty of exercise. She hated veggies (except corn), but liked fruit (particularly apples, raisins, grapes, cherries and very ripe bananas). She liked baked chicken, ground beef, pork fat (I know, but it was a very rare special treat. She would laugh when she got it!), and anything white - egg whites, milk, sour cream, sushi rice, bread, etc. Of course these indulgences were rare treats, not daily food choices. I must have been doing something right as she lived a long, healthy life, though we were heart broken to finally see our 28 yr old baby pass.

I just purchased a new baby sun which has not been weaned yet. I will pick it up on Oct. 23rd - I can't wait. I plan on offering my new sun, Skittles, a good pellet in addition to the diet that proved successful for Sunny. Any recommendations on a good, readily available pellet supplement, like Harrison's high potency?

Chip

[GreenWing]

LOL - I agree with the other posts, your Senegal is a baby and WILL eat like a pig! Mine did.

Senegals need fresh ORGANIC/garden grown fruit, vegetables, as well as some protein (like scrambled egg without milk) and carbs (like birdie bread or Dave's Killer Bread) in addition to a good pellet mix (my Sennie loved Roudybush - California mix) -- basically a varied diet similar to what we humans eat, with some exceptions (NEVER, EVER feed avocado or chocolate, for instance). Seeds, like millet sticks, should be reserved as a treat. Reserve sunflower seeds for trick trainings. Sunflower seeds are like crack to parrots and are so omnom-able that if they get enough of them they may not want to eat anything else.

As Pajarita said, probiotics are foods like yogurt. Give them to your sennie. It's good for them.

There's lots of good advice in what to feed your parrot on this site. Look up "Vitamin A foods" and "other foods for parrots" in the search bar. I'd do it for you but I am too lazy.

Don't lose hope, Senegals are great birds and your bird is a cute baby right now -- enjoy it and remember if you have questions you can always ask here at the forum.