How MUCH and how OFTEN do I feed my 3 yr old GCC?

[arthursflock]

I hear conflicting theories all the time. Some say a few tablespoons of pellets a day and then chopped veggies high in vitamin A, some say keep the bowl filled always. How much am I supposed to be feeding my little guy?!?!

He eats a mixture of TOPS (Totally Organic Pellets), Roudybush mini pellets, Harrison's adult mini pellets, and a teeny bit of human consumption quality seed mixture. But HOW MUCH do I give him in a day is the question I cannot seem to find an answer for.

[liz]

You feed a little more than they consumed the day before.
The information in the forum says that you feed fruit and veggies with some gloop in the morning. Give him enough to eat then pick on for the rest of the day.
To make sure they don't go to sleep hungry you feed the seed and nuts in the evening. (mine are sometimes still eating the grain from breakfast and don't want much seed even though it is like candy to them. It does not matter if you give more than he should eat since it will be one feeding then remove the excess when he goes to sleep so he won't be able to go back to it in the morning when you want him to eat what you serve for breakfast.

[Wolf]

Most people have their own way of feeding their birds but this is mostly in the area of what to feed them and not so much of how much to feed. In the wild most parrots eat in the mornings and then again in the late afternoon or early evening, it is also when they drink most of their water for the day. The majority of us tend to give our birds fresh food at these times as well as it is when they are naturally looking to eat. Birds also have a much higher metabolic rate than most other animals and fr this reason it is always a good idea to provide enough food so that they can nibble on something if they need to during the remainder of the day, the only time that birds may not eat anything is at night when they should be sleeping. For that reason I give my birds enough food in the morning to last them until I feed them their dinner in the evening. There does not need to be much left when I feed them in the evening as long as there is some left in their food dish.

As to what to feed your bird, it is rarely recommended by the bird organizations or scientific sources, such as " The World Parrot Trust" to feed either pellets or seed mixes in a proportion exceeding 30% of the birds daily diet. It is still very controversial to feed parrot species as small as cockatiel, budgies or parrotlets any pellets at all as most of these are from arid and semi arid regions and have developed some internal means of conserving water, which the extreme dryness of the pellets may interfere with resulting in health issues.

The remaining 70% of their diets should be made up of whole grains, fruits, vegetables and in some cases tree nuts, but the proportions of these are very much dependent on the species of parrot.

I hope that as a general guideline that you and your bird will find this to be helpful.

[Pajarita]

Both Wolf and Liz are correct: it's not only what and how much is also when.

GCC are mostly fruit eaters in the wild and that means VERY high moisture and fiber so free feeding (when you just put a bowlful of the food in the morning and leave it there all day) pellets or seeds is not healthy for them because they have almost nothing of the two things they need the most: moisture and fibre. If you fed something like gloop and raw produce in the morning for all day eating it wouldn't matter at all how much you gave him because they do not gain weight on it because the proportions of the elements (protein, fat, fiber, moisture, vitamins, minerals, etc.) resembles what nature evolved them to eat (you can feed the pellets in the evening as its dinner).