Diet

[NeptuneGCC]

My baby is coming home in about two weeks, and I just now realized that I don't know the proportions for feeding him! I have a cookbook for him, but it doesn't list how much of what to feed.

How many veggies/fruits/nuts/seed do your birdies get in a day? I know to always have pellets available.

How many nutriberries?

The Golden Gourmet treats on MySafeBirdStore are dehydrated, are those okay to give?

What are some of your bird’s favorites from Avian Organics?

Would it be okay to sprinkle bee pollen on chop occasionally?

I've heard of birds not wanting to go back in their cages, especially at night time, so I was thinking of giving him a few bites of a treat when he has to go back in. Specifically a treat before bed every night. Would that be okay?

 

[Kodigirl210]

I feed our GCCs about a cup of mainly fresh veggies with some fruit. 1c of chop. They get 50% seed and 50% pellet amounting also to about a cup of food. 2-3 nutriberries pellet berries (tho a lot of members use them strictly as treats) per bird.

Treats are fine but should never be so much that they have to be measured against food.

And provided your bird has been socialized properly by the breeder it would be odd if he refused to go into his cage at will.

If he does that might be a more appropriate time to offer a couple of nutriberries or something like birdie bread.

So my measurements are by 2-GCCs so I would guess half of what I feed except for the fresh food - that should be refreshed at least once if not twice a day.

Yes, there will be a lot of waste but I look at it from this perspective. We never (at least I can’t) eat a full meal when we eat but we certainly plate one every time.

 

[NeptuneGCC]

That is so helpful thank you so much!!

I guess I have just seen many posts on various groups about birds refusing to go back in cages I just assumed that would be the norm! Thank goodness that isn’t the case!

I’m totally fine with the waste as well, I give my hedgie more than what he eats just incase he’s extra hungry one night. It’s always surprising to me to when he has eaten his whole bowl, and tipped it over while he was at it.

 

[EkkieLu]

My crew always has leftovers too! But I'd rather give them a little extra than chance them going hungry.

 

[Kodigirl210]

Yes, sometimes I just scratch my head and am pretty confused. We have 2-fully flighted rn and the 3rd is finally getting her wings back in.

We’ve never had issues putting them in their cages at any time or with stepping up. They are all pretty much recall trained (CAG is like velcro no recall necessary )

And we’ve definitely have never had a situation where we’ve had to chase someone down. Even my rescue, that I had prior to these gals, was amenable to going into her cage.

But I know a lot of people here have taken on some pretty challenging rescues or had not gotten true hand raised birds from the supposed breeder and this forum is designed for people to ask help. So you are going to see for the most part more people asking how versus not.

I also forgot to mention - most of us provide water via 2-ways. The traditional bowl or crock and then something like a Lixit. They make glass bottles for birds.

 

[Leih]

My BCC just grumbles when it's bed time. He goes in his cage just fine, but it's the only time he yells. He's getting better as we get more settled into our routine, though. I am not sure how much veggies I give, but I think he eats about 2 tablespoons of pellets a day. Maybe more... I also like to give them a little of the Daily Maintenance from Christine's Chop Shop with their morning pellets, and in the evening I give them fresh vegetables or a soak and serve chop. I do it in the evening because I work early and I can't be home to remove leftovers after a few hours. In addition to Nutriberries as a treat, my birds love the Birdie Munchies, they're like a cookie. I break them up though, because they are quite large for small birds.

 

[Lupen]

Zephyr get's about 2-3 tablespoons of chop a day, usually during the evening when I eat dinner because he always eats better when he sees I have food (and if he doesn't have something to munch on he'll be trying to steal pieces of my food). I usually give him a handful of seeds as well (NO sunflower seeds) but he normally just picks out the safflower seeds. Pellets always available, of course. I'll see him wander over to his bowl and eat them pretty regularly, he's on roudybush and loves them.

He's actually not a huge fan of nutriberries, but will munch on them a bit if I crush them up. I usually give him a cashew, snap pea or slice of apple instead as a treat in addition to the chop since he goes nuts over those.

Not sure about the other questions - bee pollen specifically... I just sprinkle some oregono flakes, parsley flakes and cinnamon into mine (he loves the taste of cinnamon + it's healthy). If I remember to I like to mix some coconut oil in as well, not too much. I've heard of others mixing fish oil in which I might have to do as well.

As for going into the cage... Like Leih's BCC, Zephyr will grumble and make kissy noises to try and stay out longer/get extra scritches, lol. But he's never difficult about it. I'm just met with a few screams when I leave the room and shut the door Thankfully only lasts a couple seconds.

 

[NeptuneGCC]

Thank you everyone!! This is so helpful, and I feel more prepared now for when he comes home!