Parrot Poopis different

[IagoTheIRN]

I just git My indian ringneck parrot, Iago. He's around 7 months old. The shopkeeper used to feed him sunflower seeds all the time, but I read online that they're not good if they form the main base of their diet because they are high in fat and stuff. So I've been trying to give him more healthy things such as:

Green chillis, apples, oranges, bananas, carrots. He loves oranges. I only give him the inside, not the peel. I gave him bananas and rice one day, separately obviously, and he started regurgitating a lot so then I didn't give him bananas or rice again. I give him a few sunflower seeds here n there. But his poop has become very liquidy and it is sometimes reddish and sometimes green. And sometimes it's the normal solid-ish black and white.

Is that normal or should I stick to seeds??

Also, he has started to scream a lot whenever he wants food..which is whenever I am eating! What to do???

[marie83]

Neither what you or the shopkeep are feeding is an appropriate diet from what your post says. It concerns me that you do not know what diet your bird should have prior to getting your bird but I do have to say that I'm glad you are trying to get fresh foods into your birds diet and are trying to learn now.

A good diet does consist of some seeds and some fruits but is not good alone.
Try to increase vegetables in your birds diet and decrease the fruit (too much sugar, unless you can source wild varieties that havent been altered by humans).
Rice and pasta is good occasionally, but make it brown rice not white.
Limit citrus fruits more than other fruits.
Try sprouting off the dry seed mix to make it more nutritious.
Use a pellet as a base diet. the best brands appear to be Totally organic pellets, harrisons and roudybush.

[IagoTheIRN]

Thanks for your help!

I don't think I can get the branded seeds you're talking about because I don't think they'll be available here in Pakistan. However, if you could please tell me the kind of individual seeds that they contain I'm sure ill be able to get those from somewhere.

[marie83]

They are not seeds they are formulated pellets.
I don't know if pakistan will cary any pellets for parrots but it would be worth contacting a few of your avian vets to see what they recommend doing or seeing how much shipping from another country will cost.
Definitely if you dont know much about parrot nutrition then pellets is the way to go. If not then it is possible to make a healthy diet yourself which will always be better than just feeding fruit or seeds but it will take alot of research to find an acceptable balance. You could try sending Grey_Moon a private message, she has done a hell of alot of research into parrot nutrition and may be able to offer you more advice than the majority of us on here.

[charlieandkiwi]

I agree with everything Maria has said.

In addition, the regurgitation thing could be that the parrot is being friendly, or it could be that it's throwing up because it's sick. Likewise, the different colored poo could be because the bird is eating a variety of foods, all of which will change the consistency and color of the poo, or it could be because the bird is sick.

So the only way to know for sure is to find a bird specialist vet in your area and have your bird tested (gram stains and cultures for the poo, throat swab cultures, and blood tests are some of the common things vets do to figure out if your bird is sick).

[GreenWing]

Kudos to you for feeding your bird fresh food but feed oranges sparingly.

Fruit is good but your bird should be getting vegetables and healthy proteins/carbs, in addition to a good pellet mix.

Check out this post post, and this one too for complete lists of healthy foods for your bird.