Food for Conure?

[Aphios]

I am running out of conure food and was unable to find a healthy conure food at the store, actually, not really any food specifically for conures. I found a relatively healthy cockatiel food and was wondering will it meet all of my conure's needs?

Thanks form both me and my darling little friends

Sophia

[Pajarita]

Yes, but conures require more fruits, veggies and greens than tiels so take that into consideration.

[Aphios]

I bought some veggie toppings specifically for conures. We also give them some fresh fruit almost every day. If I add the veggie topping, mix the cockatiel food with what is left of their previous feed and supply them with fresh fruits do you think that will work?

Thanks so much!!!

[Pajarita]

No. For one thing, because conures eat a lot of fruits, they need a diet with high water content so unless the veggie toppings you mention are raw, fresh, chopped veggies, it won't do at all, especially if you are not feeding fruits and leafy greens daily. For another, no parrot should be free-fed their protein food (seeds, pellets, nuts).

I feed mine cooked whole grains and pulses (wheat, oats, barley, brown basmati rice from India, wild rice, lentils, small white beans) mixed with cooked and chopped or diced vegetables (broccoli, kale, corn, peas, carrots, green beans, mote -giant white hominy corn from South America- and sweet potatoes with the daily flavorings which also included more veggies and fruits as well as seasonings) accompanied by raw produce (one fruit, one veggie and one leafy green or cruciform, a different one every day, repeating every ten days to two weeks) for breakfast and all day picking -once a week or so, they get birdy bread instead of the cooked grain dish and this bread is made with whole wheat flour, coarse corn meal, irish oatmeal and one other flour which varies (could be potato, could be buckwheat, could be rice, could be barley), it also has all kinds of naturally dry fruits (dates, figs, currants, raisins, pineapple, cranberries, pomegranate, etc) as well as some fresh ones (like apples and mashed bananas) and veggies (cooked and mashed sweet potatoes, pumpkin puree, grated carrots/beets/zucchini), flax/sesame/chia seeds, a couple of nuts (could be almonds, could be walnuts, could be filberts, etc), honey, olive oil and yeast. Then, at sunset, they get a small, measured (about a tablespoon for a conure the size of an arantinga) portion of two seed mixes for cockatiels I combine together (one with safflowers, wasabi peas and other goodies and the other a 'regular' one with a bit of striped sunflowers). They also get one single nut which varies, could be an almond, half a walnut, a pecan, a cashew, a pistachio, like that. And, as a very special thing, they get one peanut. As you can see, lots and lots of whole grains, veggies and fruits, a bit of greens, and very little 'regular' seed mix.

[Munchy]

I believe that it was on this forum that I heard conures cannot have honey as it will kill them. So many people feed so many different things. I have read that a pellet and seed mix was good for conures, as conures need more fat which they get from a seed mix. I also heard that apples etc... have to much sugar. I'd like to give my conure more fruit but I am afraid he will have to much sugar. I also heard birds cannot have root vegetables. Except carrots. My bird does not like green peppers, kale, or any other kind of green. But sometimes I take out all food and give him just that so he'll eat it since it's good for him. Plus being as small as he is, I do not believe he can be without food for a long time, so I leave food in his cage all day while we work. Corn I heard he can have but a very limited amount.