Feeding

[Percival]

Percy (black-capped conure, approx 3 months old) has now been with me for several weeks and I am wondering about feeding regiment. Should pellets be available all the time? If so, how much? If they shouldn't be given all day, how much should I give at a time? Can I mix in a bit of seed mix to add variety to the pellets? If so, how much per day?

I give Percy breakfast every morning, this usually consists of mostly veggies and some fruit, but I've also baked him some birdie-bread so on occasion he gets a little cube of this. I offer this in the morning before I head off to work/school. He then has access to it until I get home at which point I take it out and he comes out to play/train. For training I use sunflower seeds or apple (these two things are given to him at no other time.)

For dinner, which he usually eats with me while I have dinner, he gets things like brown rice, corn, peas, sprouts. He has access to this with me for about an hour. If he doesn't finish it all, should he get it with him in his cage, or should that be the only time?

In short, is this regiment acceptable? One of my biggest birdy fears is having a chubby bird.

Sorry for so many questions all in one, I just want to do things right from the get-go so I don't struggle later on with things I could have avoided.

[marie83]

I prefer to feed meals over free feeding as it makes monitoring the birds intake much easier, plus there are many other benefits. The only benefits of free feeding is if you get held up somewhere really.

Weigh out everything you usually feed your bird and write it down so you don't forget. Feed exactly the same quantities as usual for a while and get in the habit of weighing your bird every day, again write it somewhere so you can see what his usual weight is.
If you find you need to adjust what your feeding to get him to a good weight (I dont know what your species should weight but it should be fairly easy to find out, use it as a guideline only as every bird differs) then slowly increase/decrease the amount you are feeding every few days until he starts losing or gaining weight. At which point you can go back to the amount you were feeding that was a good weight for him.

That said it is up to you if you choose to free feed or just give him meals but whichever you choose it is a really really good idea to give measured amounts so you can see if there is a change in eating habits. Its also best to weigh your bird frequently, every day is best but I think once a week is the rock bottom minimum amount to do this. My GCC never goes more than 2 days in a row without being weighed and thats only if I'm really struggling to get it done. Harlie is still in training to be weighed atm, shes scared of everything