Feeding Routine for Tiel & Incoming Too

[Elizebird]

UPDATE:::
So I'm on the routine I outline below, a big thank you to Marie, Polarn, and of course, Grey_Feather for really helping me. My birds are very happy eaters (thank god my cockies aren't picky!) and I'm a very happy mom. The only thing my 'too refuses to eat are carrots, which isn't great, but he eats everything else, so I can't complain.

*I'd like to reccomend broccoli for your picky birds. My birds go insane for it, steamed or raw, though the 'tiel likes it better steamed and soft.
*For some reason my 'too is now obsessed with the Zupreem extra-nutrient conure size, which is 2 sizes too small for him, so I'm thinking about getting Harrison's spicy in that size.
*My birds went literally nuts for Polly Pasta (I personally tried Corn Crazy.)

Thank you all! -Elise

So I currently have a tiel, and a 'too on it's way. :3 (in a few days, yikes! cage ect. all set up.)

While I feel I'm pretty caught up on a lot of birdy things, food, nutrition, and diet is not one. I can admit this and I really want to improve. I've been doing a bunch of research, ect. My birthday is coming up and I'm basically just getting gifts for my bird. XD So here's what I think I'm going to need:

* A scale. I don't think either specie is prone to obesity, but it's probably good to have a chart / weigh in my birds. ((Where should I get a scale that can weigh both birds easily, and is not too expensive? Brands, other recommendations? What is a healthy weight for a young female cockatiel?))

* NEW FOODS. My cockatiel is free fed, she has a cup of Zupreem Fruity Blend in her cage at all times. It's not her favorite food, but I think it's better than the pure-seed blend the bird store recommended, and she isn't that picky. I also refill another cup of "Bird Salad" everyday. It's basically what I find in the house that's healthy. It always has lettuce, and usually two other veggies or fruits. The latest was spinach, apple, and lettuce. Whatever I'm eating that's good, I usually pass on as well. Today was baby carrots and my breakfast oatmeal (it did have sugar.)
I now know Zupreem is not the best brand, and after my bag is finished I'll switch it up. This is my ideal feeding schedule, please tell me what you think!

1. Breakfast: 'salad' and refrigerated cut fruit. basically fruits and veggies! (I'm rushing in the mornings, so it needs to be quick.)
2. Midday: pellet brand offered mixed with dried fruits, veggies, and little treats (such as small curls of cinnamon bark). (which type of pellet?)
3. Dinner: I can invest time now, so the grains will probably show up. I'm interested in the soak and simmer brand, which sounds yummy and healthy! I'd probably mix in some other stuff too, like whole grain pasta (which i can also refrigerate and microwave in the morning), and offer more fruits and vegs.

I pretty much have access to any pellet brand, but I would really appreciate a less expensive one ^^;

Also, with my 'too, he'll be eating some seed-dried fruit nut mix when he first arrives, because that's what the store has him on. :/ I will slowly convert him, but not immediately, since I don't want him to go through a thousand changes when he arrives home.

Thank you!

[Polarn]

As for your feeding schedule, I would feed the least favotite things in the morning since their the most hungry by then, and eager to eat whatever is given. As for the pellet brand well I can't get all of the highly recomended around here, but I can get the Harrisons, so that's what I use. And from what I've heard it isn't nearly as expensive in the states as it is here.

The scale, even if their not prone to overweight, weighting your bird daily and keeping a chart is an excellent way to spot illness early on, and in that case it is usually a drop in weight rather than the other way around.
I use a kitchen scale that originally came with a bowl, wich was excellent couse it has a cavity in it to secure the bowl dead center, wich means I could easily make a table stand with a round bottom same size as the bottom of the bowl and it sit tight there, and I had no mods I had todo to the scale in order to get it sit securely so I can still use the bowl on it to weight food for them, think I payed about 8usd for the scale and the table stand prolly did cost less than a buck to make, had the materials laying around anyways. There are scales ready made with perches but their usually quite expensive, and I think if you can't make the perch yourself it would prolly still be cheaper to go to a school who has a good crafting program and change them making it for you for some cinnamon rolls and lemonade for the kids or whatever just make sure the scale has a button making it set to 0 when you have the perch on it and that it handles the weight of the bird. Atleast here the more the scale can handle the less accurate they seem to be (atleast the cheaper ones) a 1kg scale seems to be more accurate than a 5 or 10kg food/letterscale.

Good luck with your new 2 and hope your tiel won't be too upset with the addition.

[marie83]

your right keeping a weight record is a really good idea, the best scales to use are ones designed to weigh birds as they come with a perch attatched however these are hugely expensive so what I did is purchased a set of scales that weigh to the nearest gram, and put a tub on top with a small weight in it to stop it capsizing. Set the scales to zero and get my birds to perch on the side of the tub. Ollie didn't like it to start with but we trained him just fine, Harlie is still work in progress.
Get a scale that weighs to the nearest gram and has a large surface area so you can weigh the 'too.

Regarding the pellets, I would buy your new bag of food now so you can begin slowly mixing it in to the stuff you already feed. Get your scales first though becvause it is really important to monitor weight of both the food and the bird. I don't know every fresh food you feed but it sounds fairly good, I would avoid the lettuce though and try to provide stuff like broccoli and other veg in bigger quantities than the fruit. You can still feed seed a small amount a couple of times a week or save it for a training treat. Alternitively you can sprout it off as this increases the nutritional value, same with the soaking mix, you can sprout it rather than simmer it.

[cml]

your right keeping a weight record is a really good idea, the best scales to use are ones designed to weigh birds as they come with a perch attatched however these are hugely expensive so what I did is purchased a set of scales that weigh to the nearest gram, and put a tub on top with a small weight in it to stop it capsizing.

I bought a household scale as well, accurate to one gram and glued on a piece of a branch I had lying around, then screwed a dowelperch onto it. Cheap and easy =)!

[marie83]

your right keeping a weight record is a really good idea, the best scales to use are ones designed to weigh birds as they come with a perch attatched however these are hugely expensive so what I did is purchased a set of scales that weigh to the nearest gram, and put a tub on top with a small weight in it to stop it capsizing.

I bought a household scale as well, accurate to one gram and glued on a piece of a branch I had lying around, then screwed a dowelperch onto it. Cheap and easy =)!

Why oh why did I not think of that? Saying that probably because I use the same set of scales for everything... lol. I might get a second set now because that looks very good. What glue did you use? I don't suppose it matters really since the scales will be out of the birds way most of the time.

[cml]

Yeah, it doesnt matter which kind of glue you use from a safety point of view, the birds are only ever on the perch for weighing in. Besides, I put just the right ammount of glue there, so it didnt "squeeze out" on the sides, so there is nothing for them to be close to ^^.

The important thing is that you use a glue that is strong and that it adheres to both wood and plastics. I used a universal glue that can be used for pretty much anything, they can be bought in any hardware store.

Stay far away from "super glue" though (the kind that hardens in 10sek), its LETHAL even to humans. Its contains a form of cyanide that is very very harmful to our brains, its a joke that they are allowed to sell it.

[Polarn]

Nicely done cml, pretty much the same as I did except I attached the perch to a plate and then put it on the scale, pretty much the same as if you would do a movable table perch.

[Elizebird]

Thank you so much everyone! I was thinking just about getting a flat scale and plopping the bird on it, but the perch is obviously a more clever way.

We have a lot of harrison's at my bird store, all different sizes and types. The only reason I've stayed away is I've heard it's very pricey and the bag aren't see through, so I couldn't see the mix . With the Zupreem I buy a size down from the "recommended" since my tiel only really likes soft woods and easy to chew things, not really a shredder. I've heard a lot of good things about Goldenfeast..your thoughts?

One last thing...how do you sprout your seed? LOL, I've never even thought of that!

[Polarn]

I would consider Harrison a far better choice than supreme it looks kind of dull though single color all the way through. But save some of your supreme and ask if they have a sample of Harrison and just smell it, then smell the supreme mix. You'll think it's been dipped in a chemical waste plant, nutribird is a recomended brand around here, well wery used but not much good or bad said about it so I thought I'd buy a bag to try it out, well it smelled like bubblegum, I'm not feeding that to my birds! As for smaller sizes the Harrison small is really small so I think that would work with your tiel. But there is plenty of brands out there and research is never wrong, but I wouldn't be discouraged by the fact that their bag isn't see through. But it's all the same size/shape and color.

[marie83]

Heres what the harrisons fine looks like http://www.northernparrots.com/harrison ... prod5807a/ There is a super fine version, but the fine works for my two. The Harrisons is more expensive than others but I buy the bigger bags and freeze what I don't need immediately which works out cheaper. If you feed a higher proportion of fresh foods than the 10% the packet recommends that will lessen the cost further. Personally I feed 60-70% pellets and the rest is fresh foods or seeds/sprouts.

To sprout the seeds give them a good rinse in water, then soak them in a clean jam jar or something similar for 24 hours. After 24 hours empty the water out, rinse well (I use a sieve) and put back in the jam jar, keep them damp but not so they are still sitting in water until they sprout. You may need to rince them once or twice a day depending how warm it is but always rinse them before feeding. If they don't smell fresh then don't feed them.