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Eat,Eat,Eat..

Birdlovesme

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Our little parrotlet loves eating.
I mean LOVES seed.
Almost every time I'm by her, she's eating.
when she comes out, she wants to eat.
I mean I understand they need food for their activeness, but still.
I mean at least she's cute while eating right?
:fairy:
Also, I think this is a good time to introduce pellets, and other foods too :wacky:
 

Laurul Feather Cat

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Yep, seeds can be junk food, but in the wild they help tide the birds over from the dry season/winter till they can get fresh foods in spring. My lovies are the hardest to introduce new foods to, the budgies the easiest. Sunny will try anything I eat, so I have to actually put pellets in my mouth to encourage Sunny if I want her to try anything new...
 

Familyof12

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I've been lucky mine are great with the greens and sprouts. I can't get them to eat the roundybush crumble. I give mine very little seed. I would guess its about 15% or less of their diet. If and when I do give them seed, I've rolled the seed onto something that will force them to taste what the seed is on. Like if I cut a grape in half, I'll take the wet part and dip it in a little seed to have them try the greens. If I can get a good way to hide the roundybush, I've tried mash, decorating, all kings of ways for them to eat more of it. If I put seed with the pellets, they just eat the seeds and scream for more food.

My Chaba (caique) will eat everything. I adore him. Not picky but blackberries are his favorite. More than millet! My parrotlets are kind of picky but because of the rest of the flock, they end up trying everything.

I give just veggies and a tiny (I'm talking crumbs here) amount of seed in the morning, if any. Usually mornings are all delicious good organic veggies and roundybush crumbles mixed in. In the afternoon, I refresh with added seeds. I will cut a cooked sweet potato and cut it up in cube or whatever pieces, roll it in seed and serve. They end up eating a lot of sweet potato with the seeds. I do that with bananas, grapes, just about any veggie with any moisture, I will press roundybush and seed into it.

I hope it helps! I'm sure yours will go for the good stuff, greens too! Kale is one of their favorites!
 

Lady Jane

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I wish more breeders would start pellets and veggies before sale. Then the breeder would keep the bird an extra week or two to be sure the baby Is ready to transition to a new home.
 

GracefulWolf

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Parrotlets are very picky as babies. They go through phases of loving something and eating only that, eating everything, eating nothing, and then it cycles. Just try new things in different ways and see how it goes! Things she won't eat now she'll gobble up in a couple months and vice versa. The 4-5 month mark for my boys was really the sweet spot of getting them to try lots of different food.

So don't stress if she's being stubborn. Just be persistent and try whatever you feel like or what the rest of your birds are enjoying. It took me about 3 weeks to switch them from seed to pellets. Some of their favorites are zuchinni, carrots, broccoli, snap peas, cooked beans, butternut squash, and cooked sweet potato.
 

Birdlovesme

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Okay thank y'all so much!
I definitely agree on that , @Lady Jane !
I'll try introducing some pellets, she wouldn't eat sprouts but I'll keep trying :)
I'll also post updates on any progress :laugh:
 

Lady Jane

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Well she likes corn then. Look into birdie bread. Most birds love I. That way you have more control of the ingredients. I buy a mix on Amazon and add good things like coconut oil, pumpkin puree, applesauce, carrots, sweet potatoes, dandelion and what ever I have available such as ground almonds.
 

Sweet Louise

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Well she likes corn then. Look into birdie bread. Most birds love I. That way you have more control of the ingredients. I buy a mix on Amazon and add good things like coconut oil, pumpkin puree, applesauce, carrots, sweet potatoes, dandelion and what ever I have available such as ground almonds.
I either need to learn to cook or find it already made and made well on line. Sounds so healthy for them!
 

Familyof12

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I will use roundybush crumbles and cook it into their cookies, cakes, and mash. It hides the crumbles but gets them used to the taste of it. I will also roll their favorite fruit in seeds too. No free seeds, avicakes or nutriberries until noon. Then they get all the fruit they want plus a little more seed again rolled in fruit.

I too wish they used pellets without food coloring so they can pick out their favorite colors which I believe have different items within each colored pellet. I took Chaba in to his first appointment. I got grilled on his food. I didn't want to change his food out right away so I was weaning him away from that they were feeding him at the breeders. well my avian vet gave me a look and when I explained I was in the middle of changing his food, she seemed relieved.

I have the same experience with parotlets as far as being picky. Mine love love love sprouts. they get it every day and and they can't get enough. Carmen my female shows all the other birds how to eat them and they learn and love it too!
 

Gribouille

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Min is also eating quite much... He eats pellets for breakfast, then he'll eat our food at lunch if we are home, then he'll steal food from the budgies (now I've decided I'll remove it after breakfast, since one of the budgies is on a diet anyway), and go eat his own afternoon seeds after that. At dinner he'll eat with us. I feel like he is eating all the time, where does he put all that food?! Since one of the budgies is overweight I had to weight Twitter too, he is 30g, sounds reasonable? He is about 4 month-old and molting
 

GracefulWolf

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30 grams is a healthy weight. They’re usually 28-33 grams. The best way to see if their weight is good for their size is to feel their belly. The belly should be firm and the same height as the keel. 40EE1B26-4A93-4E81-908A-BEF0785DA35D.jpeg
 

Gribouille

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Thanks, I think he is OK then, but I'll keep an eye on him... Can't understand where all that food is going..
 
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