Feeding schedule?

[mls475]

People tell me that my bird should always have pellets/seed etc availabe to eat in their cage, other people say that should only feed 2 times a day..which is it? I dont want my Ogi to starve and i dont want to make him overweight either! He is a 3 month old sun conure. Thanks

[Pajarita]

At three months, he is still a baby (doesn't even rate a juvenile yet) so I would offer two different kinds of soft food fresh twice a day (once in the morning and again mid-afternoon) with dinner at sunset. Soft foods are just that, food that is soft - things like gloop (which you can continue to feed him for the rest of his life), polenta, couscous or pastina mixed with pureed veggies (baby food jars), birdy bread or muffin, etc.

Free-feeding seeds and/or pellets is the easy way of doing things but it's not really healthy for the bird regardless of what anybody else says. Parrots are hardwired to eat as much protein as they can (because, in nature, protein is not found in abundance or all the time and, as it is needed for life and, most especially, for breeding, nature gave them a 'protein tooth' so, when they find a source, they eat and eat and eat until they can't eat no more) and, when you free-feed them a high protein food, you will not only end up with a bird that will have kidney (high uric acid) and/or liver (fatty liver or hepatic lipidosis) problems but you will also end up with a bird that is not eating enough produce because, given the choice, they will ALWAYS eat more protein than produce.

[mls475]

Thank you! That is helpful..he nibbles at broccoli and carrots,but loves the cheap bird seed and it drives me nuts because i know it's not great for him..so at this young age he really shouldn't be eating pretty much any kind of seed/pellet..just soft foods like the gloop and soft veggies/fruit? At what point do i give him pellets? and are scrambled eggs good for him and how often? thanks for the help, im trying really hard to take care of him the right way so he's healthy and happy. I appreciate the help.

[Pajarita]

Seeds are not bad for birds, they are part of their natural diet... in small portions. It's the free-feeding of them that is bad. And, yes, he can eat seeds, a small measured portion for dinner, say, 1/8 of a cup of a half budgie/half cockatiel mix (that's what I feed mine only I just alternate, one day budgie, one day cockatiel/small psittacine mix because that's what I use for the other birds and I already have 5 different kinds of mixes and did not want a sixth for just three birds).