by Pajarita » Mon Aug 26, 2019 10:33 am
Welcome back!
Gloop or chop are still in but, for most companion species, gloop is better than chop. I don't believe that one can overfeed fruits to birds... I've never limited their fruit intake and they have all been super healthy for years and years. I think the 'don't feed too much fruit' was one of those things put out by pellet manufacturers (I could be wrong on this and my opinion could be colored by the fact that I had an argument with Dr. Harrison -the one that makes the pellets- on this) without any real basis on anything because, going by my observations of wild parrots, they all eat as much fruit as they can (well, except for tiels and budgies).
As to which are good and which are bad... the bad ones are still the same (avocado and spinach, never), collard greens, beet greens or any other one that is high in oxalic acid seldom, lots of blues, purples, yellows and oranges... that kind of thing. Personally, I like to give them as much variety as I can and a different 'good' one each day of the week while others are always seasonal (like pommegranates, for example).
Supplements and how often they are given depend on the species and the diet. Because, if you feed pellets for dinner, you should not give them an extra multivitamin/mineral supplement unless we are talking laying hens during breeding season which should get extra calcium and vit D3. Also, if you have an ekkie (which should never be fed pellets), you have to be careful about the amount and frequency you feed the multivitamin/mineral because ekkies do better on a poor diet. I don't have ekkies and I don't feed pellets so I give my birds a daily dose (as per the instructions) twice a week during the cold weather months and three times during the warm weather months (I will switch to twice a week after the equinox in September as well as the 'winter diet').
Let me know if there is anything I might have missed.