Trained Parrot BlogParrot Wizard Online Parrot Toy StoreThe Parrot Forum

Diet — is there anything I should be doing differently?

Talk about bird illnesses and other bird health related issues. Seeds, pellets, fruits, vegetables and more. Discuss what to feed your birds and in what quantity. Share your recipe ideas.

Diet — is there anything I should be doing differently?

Postby Trick or 'Tiel » Sat May 13, 2017 10:33 am

Hello bird community, I need your help with something. I've been looking around, and it seems like a lot of people here are against feeding pellets. May I ask, why are people against pellets and should I also stop feeding them to my birds? Is there anything I should be doing differently with their diet? They get a mix of Harrison's, Roudybush, and TOP's. They also get a bowl of gloop daily and fresh produce such as arugula, chard, tat soi, wheatgrass, romaine, broccoli, and carrots. The gloop contains grains such as barley, quinoa, red rice, buckwheat, lentils, and a bunch of other stuff, and frozen veggies such as corn, peas, and carrots. Sometimes I add finely chopped fresh carrots and broccoli florets into the gloop, and I recently started adding flax and sesame seeds. They also get seed rewards for doing tricks and recalling, but they never get the seed mix in their bowls. I would also like some suggestions as to what else to include in their gloop, and what other veggies I should feed them.
Trick or 'Tiel
Conure
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 124
Number of Birds Owned: 2
Types of Birds Owned: Cockatiel, Budgie
Flight: Yes

Re: Diet — is there anything I should be doing differently?

Postby Pajarita » Sat May 13, 2017 10:46 am

It sounds like a good diet to me! I feed a very similar diet only I give them a budgie seed mix for dinner during the winter and, in the warm weather months (breeding through molting season), I add more protein in the form of sprouts or freeze dried mealworms to the gloop and hemp, quinoa and safflower seeds to their seed mix.

I don't feed pellets because I don't think they are the best dietary option for parrots (or any other bird, actually).
Pajarita
Norwegian Blue
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 18701
Location: NW Pa
Number of Birds Owned: 30
Types of Birds Owned: RoseBreasted too, CAG, DoubleYellowHead Amazon, BlueFront Amazon, YellowNape Amazon, Senegal, African Redbelly, Quaker, Sun Conure, Nanday, BlackCap Caique, WhiteBelly Caique, PeachFace lovebird, budgies,
Flight: Yes

Re: Diet — is there anything I should be doing differently?

Postby Trick or 'Tiel » Sat May 13, 2017 11:00 am

If pellets aren't the best dietary option for parrots, then what is? I use pellets as a supplement to their diet, just in case the gloop and produce isn't giving them everything they need. As I said before, I am cautious about feeding too many seeds because I don't want them to become overweight. Also, my vet says that pellets are healthier than seeds for the same reason. You said before that millet is very high in fat, but grass seeds are not. Where can I get pure grass seeds for birds? Or do you think the pellets are okay in this situation?
Trick or 'Tiel
Conure
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 124
Number of Birds Owned: 2
Types of Birds Owned: Cockatiel, Budgie
Flight: Yes

Re: Diet — is there anything I should be doing differently?

Postby ParrotsForLife » Sat May 13, 2017 11:49 am

Trick or 'Tiel wrote:If pellets aren't the best dietary option for parrots, then what is? I use pellets as a supplement to their diet, just in case the gloop and produce isn't giving them everything they need. As I said before, I am cautious about feeding too many seeds because I don't want them to become overweight. Also, my vet says that pellets are healthier than seeds for the same reason. You said before that millet is very high in fat, but grass seeds are not. Where can I get pure grass seeds for birds? Or do you think the pellets are okay in this situation?

Fresh foods is always best if you can give that to your birds in the right amounts exactly, Just like how you prepare your gloop I actually know of a scientific calculator you could use I will find it now.

Edit: Found it http://flightedbirds.org/birdnutrit/sel_two_diets.php
User avatar
ParrotsForLife
African Grey
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is male
Posts: 1725
Location: Ireland,Dublin
Number of Birds Owned: 5
Types of Birds Owned: Rocko and Loki, Cockatiels
Mango, Plum headed parakeet
Tiko, African grey, Oscar, BFA
Flight: Yes

Re: Diet — is there anything I should be doing differently?

Postby Pajarita » Sat May 13, 2017 12:35 pm

I don't think that I said that millet is high in fat... I doubt it because it's not. It's actually low in fat and protein but the problem with millet is that it's high in carbs and, because birds love it, they tend to eat too much of it given half a chance and get fat on it.

Most vets recommend pellets but the truth of the matter is that avian vets don't study parrot nutrition so, unless they have put the effort and time into doing research of their own on different species of parrots dietary ecologies, their opinion is as uninformed as anybody else's. I don't like pellets for many reasons: they are way too dry, too processed, too 'dead' (no phytonutrients), most of them have soy (I don't feed soy to any of my animals) and, if you think about it, they are nothing but grains and seeds of a lower quality (except for Tops) that have been dried, ground, mixed with lab-made vitamins and minerals and compressed together so I would much rather give them the grains and seeds in their natural form and infused with water (to resemble the amount of moisture they evolved to eat and fill them up without making them fat) and add real veggies for the vitamins and minerals instead of lab-made ones. The ONLY vitamin that you cannot feed in the gloop is vit D3 so I give them a supplement for that but not everyday the way that pellets do it as I was taught never to do this or you risk the bird losing the ability to move calcium in and out of their bones and could end up with an eggbound hen.

Grass seeds are simply the seeds of grasses and usually low in fat and protein. Canary seed, all the different types of millet, thistle, nyger, sorghum (aka milo and megamillet), spelt and even wheat are grass seeds (but wheat has been domesticated and genetically altered to be higher in protein than normal grass seeds would be) but there is no need for anybody to actually go out and put together a grass seed mix because any good budgie mix will do perfectly well for both budgies and cockatiels.
Pajarita
Norwegian Blue
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 18701
Location: NW Pa
Number of Birds Owned: 30
Types of Birds Owned: RoseBreasted too, CAG, DoubleYellowHead Amazon, BlueFront Amazon, YellowNape Amazon, Senegal, African Redbelly, Quaker, Sun Conure, Nanday, BlackCap Caique, WhiteBelly Caique, PeachFace lovebird, budgies,
Flight: Yes

Re: Diet — is there anything I should be doing differently?

Postby ParrotsForLife » Sat May 13, 2017 12:42 pm

The pellets I feed have been lab tested
User avatar
ParrotsForLife
African Grey
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is male
Posts: 1725
Location: Ireland,Dublin
Number of Birds Owned: 5
Types of Birds Owned: Rocko and Loki, Cockatiels
Mango, Plum headed parakeet
Tiko, African grey, Oscar, BFA
Flight: Yes

Re: Diet — is there anything I should be doing differently?

Postby Trick or 'Tiel » Sat May 13, 2017 2:00 pm

Pajarita, it sounds like pellets can be really bad. Do you think my birds would benefit from going off of pellets for good? I am interested in knowing whether you think pellets are downright unhealthy, or just aren't good as a complete diet. Are they okay if the birds are still eating a lot of gloop and fresh foods, like in my situation, or should they just be avoided? I think I will at least continue to feed TOP's even if I decide to quit feeding the Roudybush and Harrison's. Everyone says good things about TOP's, that they aren't processed as much as other pellets, and even you said that they were higher quality.
Trick or 'Tiel
Conure
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 124
Number of Birds Owned: 2
Types of Birds Owned: Cockatiel, Budgie
Flight: Yes

Re: Diet — is there anything I should be doing differently?

Postby Pajarita » Sun May 14, 2017 11:06 am

Yes, of all the pellets, Tops are the best. They are the only ones that have no soy, made with human grade ingredients (all the other ones use animal feed quality) and have no lab-made vitamins and minerals BUT they also don't have vit D3 so you will need to supplement it.
Pajarita
Norwegian Blue
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 18701
Location: NW Pa
Number of Birds Owned: 30
Types of Birds Owned: RoseBreasted too, CAG, DoubleYellowHead Amazon, BlueFront Amazon, YellowNape Amazon, Senegal, African Redbelly, Quaker, Sun Conure, Nanday, BlackCap Caique, WhiteBelly Caique, PeachFace lovebird, budgies,
Flight: Yes

Re: Diet — is there anything I should be doing differently?

Postby ParrotsForLife » Sun May 14, 2017 12:47 pm

Tops cant be the only ones :roll:
User avatar
ParrotsForLife
African Grey
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is male
Posts: 1725
Location: Ireland,Dublin
Number of Birds Owned: 5
Types of Birds Owned: Rocko and Loki, Cockatiels
Mango, Plum headed parakeet
Tiko, African grey, Oscar, BFA
Flight: Yes

Re: Diet — is there anything I should be doing differently?

Postby Pajarita » Mon May 15, 2017 10:22 am

Do you know of any other pellet that is made with organic, human grade ingredients, that contains no soy, preservatives or anything artificial? I admit that I don't really keep track of 'new' pellets that might have come out lately so it's possible that there is another one now - and, if you know it, please let me know.
Pajarita
Norwegian Blue
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 18701
Location: NW Pa
Number of Birds Owned: 30
Types of Birds Owned: RoseBreasted too, CAG, DoubleYellowHead Amazon, BlueFront Amazon, YellowNape Amazon, Senegal, African Redbelly, Quaker, Sun Conure, Nanday, BlackCap Caique, WhiteBelly Caique, PeachFace lovebird, budgies,
Flight: Yes

Next

Return to Health, Nutrition & Diet

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 16 guests

Parrot ForumArticles IndexTraining Step UpParrot Training BlogPoicephalus Parrot InformationParrot Wizard Store