Help!?

[JaJerzak]

I feel completly lost, everywhere I turn I have someone telling me something different when it comes to feeding a parrot. When I bought him, the breeder was feeding him a seed diet and fruit and veggies. I have always thought pellets were better, but which one? I looked up the ingredients and im noticing wheat being the 1st ingredient. Right now im trying Birds Paridise's Benji Blend. It has pellets and friend fruits, veggies, nuts, and herbs. The only thing is i don't know if there is enough pellets in this mix. There is alot of stuff in it. Anyone else use this food? Or have an opinion on it? I also feed him the cooked diets (Higgins Worldly Cuisines) and fresh fruit and veggies. Any advice will be greatly appreciated.

 

[Mizzely]

What species is your bird?

 

[JaJerzak]

A fiery shoulder conure... And he is only 10 weeks old.

 

[heirofslytherin123]

Now is the time to get different varieties of fruits and veggies that are healthy and introduce them into his diet. It is also the time to introduce different pellets. That way when he is older he will eat anything! Congratulations on your new baby! there are many threads on the forum dedicated to Pellets.

 

[roxynoodle]

Everyone is going to have a different opinion on feeding parrots and it can be one of those things people argue about

This is what I feed my conure: Zupreem Fruitblend pellets (but probably any pelleted diet is fine; she eats that one because it was the only one I could get my other conure to try), and Nutriberries as her base. Every day she also gets veggies and a piece of apple and a bit of walnut. She gets beans about 3x a week because she won't eat chicken or turkey, for extra protein. And then depending on what I'm eating she might get pasta with tomato sauce, brown rice, egg or other healthy foods. She is a good eater in general except for not eating meat.

Unless it's a species that is supposed to have seed, I don't feed it. On it's own it has a lot of fat and very little nutrients. At least the pellets and Nutriberries are nutritionally balanced. I also feed more veggies than fruit because they are lower in sugar and have more nutrition.

 

[Laurul Feather Cat]

I feed a basic diet of Harrison's pellets, fresh veggies and fruits, dried fruits, seeds and nuts, cooked pasta, beans and veggies and a few treats of things like Nutriberries or AviCakes. Depends of what kind of parrot it is exactly what kind of mix of the aforementioned foods I give each bird. Cockatiels are basic seed eaters in their native Australia; so my tiels get fifty percent Harrison's Lifetime Fine Pellets, twenty five percent seed/dried fruit/nuts, ten percent fresh veggies and five percent cooked pasta, beans and veggies. Most my other birds get less in the way of seeds and dry fruit and more in the fresh veggies and fruits.

Everyone has their own belief about what is healthy for a parrot to eat and it is noted in the last thirty years that the quality of the diet is crucial to the lifespan of a bird. The better the diet, the longer they live and the healthier their life. I feed Harrison pellets, Roudybush pellets and a small amount of Zupreem Fruit Blend. I have cut back on the Fruit Blend because of the amount of sugar in it. But most pellets are healthy formulations for parrots, you just have to decide what level of fats, sugars and proteins you want in your pellets and what your own bird finds as an attractive and tasty diet. Ninety percent of my parrots prefer Harrisons pellets, but the other ten percent prefer Roudybush; I try and make sure what they prefer to eat is what I provide. It is funny to watch the individual parrots shop the foraging stations in the birdroom picking out what they want to eat that day. The only thing I leave in their cage overnight for snacks and first thing in the morning eating is pellets; that way I know they are getting complete nutrition in each bite for at least part of the day. For the rest of the day they are loose in the birdroom and able to pick and choose from the foraging stations and please themselves.

It seems to work because my birds are healthy and maintain good weight on their own.

 

[Buckbeak]

Hi Jackie! I actually work down 130 at the other bird store.
Bird Paradise does offer quality mixes, but mixes aren't everything! Get as much fresh veggies and fruits into your babys diet as you can.

 

[Mizzely]

It is a fact that the most common reason birds get sick is due to poor nutrition. In my opinion, unless your bird eats all of the fresh foods, grains and healthy nuts and seeds (ie, things like chia, hemp, etc, not your standard bird mix) you give him, and you are confident that they are getting all the nutrients they need, pellets are necessary. Since I'm not a nutritionist, I defer to diets created with vet and nutritionist support. Seeds are not necessary for most parrots.

What does your avian vet say about the diet you have him on?

 

[JaJerzak]

Hi Jackie! I actually work down 130 at the other bird store.
Bird Paradise does offer quality mixes, but mixes aren't everything! Get as much fresh veggies and fruits into your babys diet as you can.

What bird store? I live about an hour and half away, so Im not fimilar to the area.

 

[JaJerzak]

Thanks everyone for the advice! He does get fresh fruit and veggies every day.. I have been doing about the same amount of fruit and veggies, which i think im going to cut a little of fruit and more veggies. He LOVES cheese and egg but i have only given them once to him, since i thought fruit, veggies, and grains were better. I also do think im going to mix pellets, so he does get a well rounded diet.

 

[Tangle Elf]

I'm slowly weaning my birdies off pellets. I was buying supposedly high quality pellets, but I wasn't impressed with the ingredients either. I think golden obles II have the best ingredients. I might keep buying them. I really just wanted more control over the ingredients. We're transitioning to whole foods. Their dry mix is fruits, veggies, nuts, seeds and herbs. The ABV positive birds get their nuts and seeds ground in mash. I just started drying foods for the mix because I wanted bigger pieces than what I was buying. The first, very small, batch went well.

 

[Buckbeak]

What bird store? I live about an hour and half away, so Im not fimilar to the area.

We are south on Route 130, about 20 mins or so, in Delran. We are right over the Tacony Bridge, if that makes sense to you! We are the closest competitor to Birds Paradise. I won't bad mouth them because that just isn't friendly, and I don't have any comments to make But we are called Todd Marcus Birds Exotic. We also make our own custom food mixes and we ship online (which might be good for you since you live so far!)

 

[waterfaller1]

we are called Todd Marcus Birds Exotic.

 

[Tangle Elf]

We are south on Route 130, about 20 mins or so, in Delran. We are right over the Tacony Bridge, if that makes sense to you! We are the closest competitor to Birds Paradise. I won't bad mouth them because that just isn't friendly, and I don't have any comments to make But we are called Todd Marcus Birds Exotic. We also make our own custom food mixes and we ship online (which might be good for you since you live so far!)

I was going to ask which store, but I figured you'd say if you wanted to. I'm in there pretty frequently. Have you been there long? That's where I got my RB2.

 

[JaJerzak]

We are south on Route 130, about 20 mins or so, in Delran. We are right over the Tacony Bridge, if that makes sense to you! We are the closest competitor to Birds Paradise. I won't bad mouth them because that just isn't friendly, and I don't have any comments to make But we are called Todd Marcus Birds Exotic. We also make our own custom food mixes and we ship online (which might be good for you since you live so far!)

Oh! Thanks! I heard of Todds, just never been there before! Il have to make a special trip ( I like going to specialty stores, even ones far away)

 

[Veggieburger]

I feed roudy bush pellets, lots of fresh fruits and veggies, some seed, Higgins cooking diets, roudy bush soak and feed. That way they get a good variety

 

[Buckbeak]

Oh! Thanks! I heard of Todds, just never been there before! Il have to make a special trip ( I like going to specialty stores, even ones far away)

Although I am biased of course, the store is really great and we put a lot of care into the customs. I actually mix them by hand and it is back breaking work I think next month is "we pay your sales tax" month so if you need any large, expensive items... that's what I'm waiting for!!!!