Withholding seed

[flannel]

Hey team!

I just had a thought. I’m in the process of weaning my Moss-man off seed and onto pellets. At the moment, the only seed he gets is soaked or sprouted which is more nutritious than dry.

I’m trying to tame the cheeky little bugger and thought maybe I could withhold his seed for use only when doing daily training sessions? He’s not super keen on millet just yet but he recognises seed as food obviously.

So what if he just gets his morning chop, then I only offer seed during training on an open palm to entice him? He always has ground and full pellets available in his cage.

 

[GreenThing]

I did something like this successfully! It helps to be able to weigh your birds on a food scale, so you are confident they are eating enough. If they are eating veg eagerly and eventually eat pellets, I personally think that only getting seed from foraging or during training is a great way to limit it, provided they DO eat pellets and have 24/7 access to pellets in their cage, as you said (obviously you don't want to leave veg out for more than two hours). They have fast metabolisms and need to be able to eat when they choose (although WHAT they eat you can control).

Just watch very carefully to make sure he knows what is food. Can't stress that enough. Highly recommend weighing and conferring with a vet who can tell you his body condition.

I personally give pellets with a probiotic 24/7 and sprinkle in a literal pinch of oat groats (like, a fingernail's worth) with a few other non-spray millet seeds (canary grass, aniseed, red millet) once in the morning and once at night. Any spray millet they get comes directly from me. This has kept them in excellent body condition (according to three vets lol) and helped them stay hand-tame through lots of traumatic anti-fungal medication, so I think it can be a great meal plan.