How many times a day should I feed my IRN?

[purple-blizzard]

Hey guys, after months of research, I am finally getting a pet parrot. Specifically an Indian Ringneck. One question of mine that couldn't be answered was how many times a day should I feed him? (By the way this is my first parrot, of course). Some important information is that it was a DNA Sexed male, and he is just weaned. I will be picking him up July 2nd so any information you have to share, please do so as of now. Thanks very much!

[Grey_Moon]

Personally I feed Jay breakfast and dinner.

When that is usually depends on when we get up and if I'm going out that night.
If we've had a lazy morning and slept in till 9 then she doesn't usually eat breakfast till 9:30 or so. If she has a late breakfast then usually to build up an appetite she eats the same time 12 hours later. It's a long time, but thats usually when she starts getting really interested in food again.

If you can swing a lunchtime feeding in you can do that too, but I find with most birds that lunchtime is naptime so they're unlikely to have much of an appetite. So I'd stick with two feedings--maybe leaving a tiny treat in between then for foraging fun.

To figure out how much your bird needs I guess see how much they can eat in a day--then split it between two meals. I leave it down for about an hour or so at a time. The whole point is so that they understand its mealtime and that its not a graze all day buffet. It helps make sure they're eating enough and getting good nutrition---they'll be less fussy if they know that that veggie is the last food they can have till breakfast.

The other thing I like about not free-feeding is it gives an accurate weight. Jacko gets weighed in the morning before breakfast and her weight never fluctuates more than a gram or so. Free-feeding makes it tricky to discern weight because a good breakfast can put 10 grams or so or more onto a bird's weight.

[purple-blizzard]

Ok thanks! That really helps me out. And throughout the "lunch" time period I will probably be trick training him so he will be occupied. Once again, thanks for the response!

[laducockatiel]

Also remember to feed plenty of fruit and veggies through out the day or in the lunchtime period

[Grey_Moon]

Ladu I'm going to disagree with you---letting them graze throughout the day promotes picky eating and being fussy.

It is much better to serve veggies (not going to disagree with that one! Lots of veggies indeed! ) at the twice daily meals in order to promote curiousity and a good appetite. IF they know for example they can have a certain food snack a few hours from breakfast they don't want they will hold out for it.

[naomi]

hi grey moon,
is it correct they can hold themself to not eat if they know they will get a snack after breakfast??
i just know that and i think thats happen to me and my grey.before he always eat his veggies in morning but now he never and i guess its because i give him snacks after breakfast!!

[marie83]

I don't think it matters whether you feed once a day, twice or three times a day as long as they aren't getting more food than they should. Obviously they will still pick their favorites first but as long as your not overfeeding then they should still eat all of it. The only time I've had problems with finicky eating is when I used to literally let them free feed instead of giving measured amounts. Mine are on a variable feeding routine, depending on what I am doing sometimes they will get one large feed and other times they get 2 or 3 smaller feeds but they never go without. In the wild they would just eat according to what they found and when they find it in order to survive food shortages.

However many times a day you decide to feed, try to give a measured amount and monitor your birds weight as it can give early warning if somethings wrong. Weight your bird a minimum of once a week, but every morning before feeding or every other morning is preferable.

[Grey_Moon]

Yup, I've definetly noticed that if a bird knows/expects that there'll be snacks it likes better it'll go hungry for a bit. Like when you first try to convert a bird off of a seed-only diet for example.

To illustrate, I know that if Jacko isn't accustomed to eating a veggie or its a new food I'll serve it first thing in the morning because I know she's hungry. Even then, if she doesn't eat it, by dinnertime the veggie looks even better to her because she ate less (didn't try the new food) at breakfast.

If however she knew there'd be walnuts or eggs at lunch or some pellets you can forget about her trying it since she wouldn't build up enough of an appetite and would know to wait it out for the treats.

[MikeLK]

I love all of the advice that is given from everyone here. Everyone has a little different advice which all leads to the same result in the end. I think it's great that we can give our own experiences with our different bird species so that we have a number of choices to use and more options if one in particular doesn't work. Your bird will love his veggies if made fun and interesting when introduced to him. I use the twice a day feeding that was recommended too. You will need to decide on a pellet food for him. A seed diet does not give him full nutrition like the different varieties of pellet food. I do use seed/nut also but only as a treat/reward. If you have any questions about the different foods available to you, I have some listed and available on my website. Feel free to read up on them there. I look foward to hearing all about the little guy after you get him. Let us hear about all the fun..
Mike

[purple-blizzard]

I agree! and yes I have already decided what type of pellets to feed him, and i will check out your website for information on seeds/nuts. And I will definitly share all about the little guy when I get him! -Thanks!