What is your feeding strategy

[Michael]

I'm just trying to get a better picture of what kind of feeding strategy folks are using with their parrots and why. Please vote in the poll and explain why you do it that way.

Just to clarify the options. If you leave pellets, seeds, or any kind of food at all in the cage all day long, that counts for option 1. I don't know why some people say they pull their birds food but then it turns out they leave pellets all day long. Option 2 is if you have 2-3 scheduled feedings that are limited by time not by quantity. Option 3 is the same as option 2 but you intentionally feed less filling foods and more watery foods like vegetables to let the parrot get full but without the maximum calories. Option 4 is weight management. Option 5 is if you don't feed the bird anything at all as a meal and they get food exclusively that they work for. I'll accept difficult foraging for option 5 but not if it's sitting in a toy instead of a bowl. So what kind of food management do you employ and why?

[marie83]

Option four fed in 2 meals because that way I can see their weight in relation to the amount of food consumed to keep an eye for signs they may be sick.
It also aids training but also means the birds have a reason to go back in their cages at my request.
Another thing is it reduces waste food/crumbled up pellets.
It also means I can monitor how much fresh foods they are taking in as they get fresh every day alongside the pellets.
Basicly a little extra work doing this each day actually makes my life easier, my birds less stressed and also helps me monitor their health- there wasn't a cat in hells chance I would have noticed Harlie had gone off her food so quickly if i just chucked a load in her bowl each day, it may have been days before I noticed as with feeding pellets there is no empty hulls to see. I could also tell the vet precisely how little she was eating and how long for which helped him decide what meds to give her.

The only benefit to free feeding I can see is if you get caught up at work/some emergancy you dont need to worry about getting home as quickly.

[Baylee4ever]

Food is always available but only during the day! and i usually have to replace food twice a day

[Grey_Moon]

Picked option two but didn't really see an option that fit Jacko's feeding habits accurately.

Due to the low-calorie form of foods she's currently getting I can no longer feed her enough calories relative to the volume she's able to eat in a sitting. If I fed her only two timed meals a day she'd starve as a good bulk of her food now is fruit, with some lean insect protein and a little bit of herbs, seeds and grasses.

I'm gone during the day and leaving out a fresh fruit-bug puree that long would cause major issues. So yes, she does have a dried fruit and herb mix during the day to eat as much as she'd like, in addition to the two daily fresh meals I offer her.

BUT she doesn't have food 24/7. She gets food in the morning and after dinner she gets no more food till breakfast the next day.

[GreenWing]

Well, her pellets were always available and I'd feed her fresh foods twice daily, but the last two days I've since removed the pellets from always being available and am trying to get her on a schedule: she eats twice a day (pellets included with her fresh food but after fresh food is given). I don't yet control food amounts; she is a baby, not overweight, and needs her calories.

We've already noticed a slight improvement since having her on a schedule. But she, clever girl that she is, flew over to where her bowl of pellets was sitting not five minutes ago, and omnomnom-ed a few morsels before I whisked her away. She isn't liking the change, but it's better for her.

[cml]

Option 1:

This is the best strategy for us, as the parrots wake up long after we've gone to work. Our parrots are asleep between 10pm-11am (which means they are only alone for 6hours a day tops, and we get more time to hang out with them ). As we are not at home when they wake up, we prepare their breakfast just before they go to bed, and they have enough food there for the day.
The thing is though, they generally dont eat much at all anyway during the day, that is until we get home.

In the evenings they sometimes get veggies or fruit to complement their pellet diet.

I find that freefeeding is great. I know there can be benefits with mealtimes, but it hasnt been necessary to implement here. They are always VERY motivated to train without us withholding food from them, as training is the only way they will get seeds. As they are out of the cage and fly about everyday, they stay fit and their weight has been stable since we got them.

[Pricey_boy]

7 30am small amount of seeds without the Sf seed or nectar powder for the lorys
10 am mixed fruit and veg which i leav in till its all gone which is about 20 mins
12 mixed nuts or a snack
4:00 corn cobs and the rest of the day snacks or lory powder

all this isnt exact times just estimates of the times.i havnt started pellets yet but i am mid next week

[friend2parrots]

i'm not sure where i fit in with the voting options listed above. (i voted 1 but there are some differences in what i do)

my birds get fresh fruits for breakfast, when they are the hungriest. for each bird (separately caged) i leave a large dish of fruits on top of a large towel in the cage to minimize wastage, because both birds throw food all over the place. when they have eaten their fill, and after two hours (whichever comes first) i remove the fruit dish and the towel. i place a dish of a pre-rationed amount of pellets in the cage - only the amount the bird is supposed to eat for the rest of the day - and i leave it in there all day, so they can eat at their leisure. both birds are very active and fly around both inside and outside their cages all day, so i figure they will know when they need more calories (i.e. when they have just flown around), or when they dont (i.e. when there taking afternoon nap). both birds have been the same stable weight deemed healthy by the vet for the past four years (since they reached adulthood) so i've never tried to manage their weight, but i do weigh them about once every two weeks to make sure theyre ok.

i currently use seeds and fresh fruit throughout the day whenever for training, and both birds love seeds and fresh fruit so much that they train quite well with these two treat items, even if theyre full from eating pellets just two seconds prior.

i am currently learning more about the whole idea of "food management" as it is described in Michael's blog and in a couple of other posts by forum members, and i might implement some of these insights into the diet/schedule for my birds.

i am also learning a lot from the blog and website of Machelle Pacion (sp?) - this is the parrot nutritionist that Grey moon introduced to us in her post "Nutritional Update" a couple of weeks back. i find both Grey moon's and Pacion's suggestions very sound scientifically and would like to incorporate them as much as possible into my birds' diets.

[terri]

Im always trying to learn to better their diet.Im about variety.They are fed different seed mixes ,different pellets fresh fruits and vegs 2 times a day plus I sometimes add or replace with birdy bread,eggs, cooked meals ,dried fruits and nuts for snack.But some are pickier than others and I worry that they dont get in them everything they should.As I said Im always trying to improve this.

[Pralina]

I voted option 1 because pellets are always available in their cages, day and night.
In the morning they get a bowl of fresh foods. At night for bedtime they get some dried seed (about 1 tbsp each) or a Nutriberry or Avicake as a treat for bedtime. If they don't get that seed treat at bedtime, then they get their daily seed portion in the fresh foods bowl in the morning....

Also in the evenings when we are home we like sharing our meal with them... same with breakfast if it't the case that we are both home...

I would like to adopt a strategy of removing their food at night all together, and give them only fresh foods in the mornings, no pellets.... but our work schedule varies from week to week so that would be very hard to keep... Our priority is to let them free out of cage time all day if possible so feeding mostly happens out of the cage at that point.