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Is This A Good Diet Plan?

Talk about bird illnesses and other bird health related issues. Seeds, pellets, fruits, vegetables and more. Discuss what to feed your birds and in what quantity. Share your recipe ideas.

Is This A Good Diet Plan?

Postby Georginia » Sun Apr 30, 2017 1:09 am

Based off information given to me by numerous people here on this forum, I have come up with a diet plan! Of course, I've got to actually get my birds eating all of this stuff before starting them on this diet, but I thought I'd go ahead and ask about this.


So in the morning I'm thinking of serving them a nice, fresh salad, which will contain a variety of different fruit and veggie food items, and I will rotate between the food items each day. For example, on one day I might include spinach, carrots, broccoli, and small bits of apple, and on another day I will include different foods. However, in each salad I will also include a bit of crushed up hard boiled egg (shell included) for extra calcium.

For lunch, a grain mix will be served! (Please give my grain mix recipes! I have no idea what to include in it!)

And for dinner, I was thinking their pellets, as well as a tiny bit of seed at nighttime right before bed as a night snack. The pellets would be removed right before bedtime.

So, does this sound like a good plan? If not, what could be improved to make it healthier? Also, please include any homemade recipes for any type of food for them that you may have! Thanks!
I currently have two male Budgies, whom I love very much! I hope to soon expand my bird family and adopt more loving feathered friends into my home!
Georginia
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Re: Is This A Good Diet Plan?

Postby liz » Sun Apr 30, 2017 6:02 am

Spinach seems like it would be good for them because it is so green. It is not. Spinach is too high in iron and can cause liver damage. We forgot to tell you that you need to know the nutrition on fruits and veggies too. No spinach.

I have a bad memory and you did not put your location in the info box. I think rice is a basic you your country. It would be like potatoes in Ireland or pasta in Italy. These white foods are fillers and really have no nutrition. They must be limited as they take up room in the belly for nutritious foods.

You can serve the softened grain or a gloop with breakfast. Serve enough so it can be picked at all day. I don't serve a middle of the day meal. I do give them some of the healthy part of what I eat. If their is nothing from my plate that I can give them, the Amazons get a cheese "Fish" each. That is not good for them but it is small and they loose a lot in crubs but they feel like they got something special. I don't give them lunch because I am not always home at that time and they have to stay on schedule.
At dusk while it is still light enough for them to see outside, I serve seed and 1 almond in the shell. A whole almond may be too much for your bird. They love their seed mix and will go to sleep with a full belly. (I don't serve them pellets anymore since it dawned on me that the shells of seeds are also ground up in it.)
I know I am suppose to pick up their breakfast when I feed supper. I forgot one time and after eating as much seed as they wanted they went back and ate some of the leftover breakfast. I pick up the breakfast plate but leave the seed. Rainbow gets hungry at night. I can hear him in the middle of the night in the dark munching on his leftovers.

I am not telling you to do it this way. I am just telling you how I feed mine.
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liz
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Re: Is This A Good Diet Plan?

Postby Pajarita » Sun Apr 30, 2017 10:19 am

You can't not feed protein in the morning for a budgie. These birds are natural granivores and cannot eat just salad early in the morning, they need grains. A conure, an ekkie and even a macaw would be fine with just produce for the morning meal as long as they still get protein later on but not budgies, they are too little and their metabolism is too fast for it.
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Re: Is This A Good Diet Plan?

Postby Trick or 'Tiel » Sun Apr 30, 2017 12:49 pm

Pajarita is right. You need to keep the pellets and/or grains in the cage all the time, because small birds have a very fast metabolism. It's fine to feed them their salad in the morning, but make sure they have access to grains and pellets too.
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Re: Is This A Good Diet Plan?

Postby Trick or 'Tiel » Sun Apr 30, 2017 12:50 pm

Trick or 'Tiel wrote:Pajarita is right. You need to keep the pellets and/or grains in the cage all the time, because small birds have a very fast metabolism. It's fine to feed them their salad in the morning, but make sure they have access to grains and pellets too.
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Re: Is This A Good Diet Plan?

Postby Pajarita » Sun Apr 30, 2017 1:06 pm

Actually, I do not recommend free-feeding high protein food (pellets or seeds), I recommend free-feeding (put it in the cage early in the morning and leave it there all day) gloop and giving a measured amount of high protein food for dinner (I use seeds). The thing is that all birds are 'programmed' to gorge on high protein (it's needed for life and breeding but not found in abundant sources in nature so nature gave them a craving for it) so a bird that is offered high protein food all day long will never, ever, ever eat enough produce and will end up with fatty liver and high uric acid. That's why this type of food should be measured and given only at night while the gloop being low protein, having no fat and being high in moisture and fiber can be eaten all day long and as much as they want without it having any bad consequences.
Pajarita
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Gender: This parrot forum member is female
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Flight: Yes

Re: Is This A Good Diet Plan?

Postby Pajarita » Sun Apr 30, 2017 1:06 pm

Actually, I do not recommend free-feeding high protein food (pellets or seeds), I recommend free-feeding (put it in the cage early in the morning and leave it there all day) gloop and giving a measured amount of high protein food for dinner (I use seeds). The thing is that all birds are 'programmed' to gorge on high protein (it's needed for life and breeding but not found in abundant sources in nature so nature gave them a craving for it) so a bird that is offered high protein food all day long will never, ever, ever eat enough produce and will end up with fatty liver and high uric acid. That's why this type of food should be measured and given only at night while the gloop being low protein, having no fat and being high in moisture and fiber can be eaten all day long and as much as they want without it having any bad consequences.
Pajarita
Norwegian Blue
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 18701
Location: NW Pa
Number of Birds Owned: 30
Types of Birds Owned: RoseBreasted too, CAG, DoubleYellowHead Amazon, BlueFront Amazon, YellowNape Amazon, Senegal, African Redbelly, Quaker, Sun Conure, Nanday, BlackCap Caique, WhiteBelly Caique, PeachFace lovebird, budgies,
Flight: Yes


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