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Just want to make sure I am not creating a problem

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.

Just want to make sure I am not creating a problem

Postby libbysdad » Sat Feb 03, 2018 12:28 pm

Quick question: When we got Libby we found out that the breeder had weened her onto seeds (arghhhh). She has been transitioning slowly to pellet based diet with fresh foods to augment. It has been a slow slow transition but we are excited to note that two days ago she decided that they are in fact food! We are so happy but she really doesn't like to eat them in her cage. She happily devours them on her play tree. My inclination is to give no seed since she is happily eating the pellet (even as I type). The question is should I let her just eat them where she is willing and keep offering in her cage too since she is so young? I just don't want to do a different bad thing to offset a bad thing (seed diet). Hope that makes sense. I weigh her daily to make sure she is getting enough intake. We got her at 352g. She is now 344g but when we took her to the avian vet, she was given a body score of 6/10 due to the high fat seed diet so they said she would be fine even down as low as 335g. Apparently she is a small CAG.
libbysdad
Parakeet
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is male
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Re: Just want to make sure I am not creating a problem

Postby Pajarita » Sun Feb 04, 2018 10:50 am

Well, given that she is still a baby, I would be feeding her soft foods and not adult food [same as you don't feed a toddler adult food, you don't feed baby birds the same stuff you give to an adult - don't forget that, at her age, she would still be getting fed in her beak by her parents]. Personally, after many years of research into parrots natural diets, I have reached the conclusion that pellets are not and never will be the best dietary option for them [I can elaborate on the reasons why, if you wish]. I feed gloop and raw produce for breakfast and all day picking and a mix of nuts and seeds for dinner [the large species get mostly nuts and it's always a mix, like one almond, half a walnut, half a macadamia, etc] supplemented with a multivitamin/mineral powder put into their gloop twice a week. People think that seeds are bad for them but they are part of their natural diet and they are only bad when people free-feed them -same as pellets, which is almost as bad as free-feeding seeds!

But, in terms of where they should eat -if it should be in the cage or outside the cage- I put their breakfast in their cage and put them in for half an hour to eat it BUT I also give them their produce outside the cage as I am cleaning them and putting fresh water and food in them. I have found that some of them [like Isis Redbelly, for example] would NOT touch produce inside her cage but will gladly eat it outside so I put a piece in the cage but always have extras so I can give them some when they ask.
Pajarita
Norwegian Blue
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
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Flight: Yes


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