Amount of Pellets per Day?

[Nostromo]

Hi,

My BH Pionus Zephyr is a fiend for Roudybush pellets. She could easily put away 5 or 6 tablespoons (although much of it is being ground up into powder or breaking off when she munches). I'm super happy that she's eating well, but it seems that she loves her pellets so much she's neglecting her veggies! I know that low protein is better for Pionus so getting her to eat more veggies is important to me. I've been trying different types of veggies, different shapes and sizes etc but she'll ignore them if she has pellets in her bowl

This morning I took out her pellet bowl from last night and instead of re-filling right away I just sprinkled a couple pellets in her veggie bowl and waited her out. Sure enough, a couple hours later she got hungry enough to nosh some veggies - yay - with lots of annoyed squawks and dirty looks my way


Now I'm wondering how many pellets I should give her each day to keep her hungry enough to eat her veggies, without depriving her?

 

[painesgrey]

You could always set up a feeding schedule where she has access to pellets in the morning and evening, but only has veggies during the afternoon. That way you're certain she's not going hungry and she's getting balanced nutrition from the pellets when she's eating first thing in the morning and before bed, but she's eating her veggies during the day.

 

[Lady Jane]

I am not a fan of Roudybush pellets because there is so much corn in this. What other foods do you feed you bird in addition to pellets?

 

[Nostromo]

@Lady Jane I selected Roudybush because it is a high-quality pellet that is relatively low in protein, which is important for Pionus. She also eats a small amount of seed, sprouted lentils and mung beans (which she loves but I limit because they're high in protein) and, when she's in the mood, she'll eat carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, red peppers, squash and the occasional piece of kale or spinach.

 

[Mizzely]

Well, consider that a bird generally eats about 15-20% of their body weight in a day - if you wanted to REALLY nitpick, you could weigh I generally do about 1 to 1.5 tbsp of pellets per 100 grams of bird, then the rest veggies.

 

[Nostromo]

@Mizzely That is really helpful, thank you! She was 214 grams when we got her (she may have lost a little with the move but is quite healthy and eats voraciously so I doubt she lost much). So maybe I'll do three tablespoons and the rest veggies and see if her poops are still looking good after that!