Canaries should eat pellets? Yes no

[Phoe Phoe]

I was under the impression that the small birds (including canaries) do better w a seed diet and should not eat pellets. Something about pellets causing kidney disease. Is this what this forum would suggest also? My canary will eat both, and is currently on a fresh and seed diet. I am interested in a discussion on this topic.

 

[MR. Mango]

@finchly @Pippa!

 

[Pippa!]

Hmmmm. I’ve never heard of pellets causing kidney disease. I personally do not feed my cannery many pellets as he get a very well balanced diet of veggies and seeds.

 

[Shezbug]

My understanding is many of the smaller birds can have kidney issues if fed a lot of pellets. Pellets soak up an awful lot of water which little birds aren’t able to hold a lot of.

 

[finchly]

As far as I know, the study that came to this conclusion was conducted on parrotlets. And it was only found to affect the mutations I think. I could be wrong.

I don’t like to feed mine much pellets though. I would rather feed fresh whole food. If you can do that and be diligent about offering a variety, it’s a lot better for them.

 

[BirdG1rl]

I think seeds are better for canaries-but don't hold back on the fresh veg & fruit!

 

[.........]

I feed all my finches and canaries pellets
I have heard that too, as Shezbug said they soak up a lot of water I think is the problem
I give mine some pellets, I mix them in with chop, dry seed mix, and sprouted seed. That is their daily feed, I give them the choice to pick and choose to a point, when they get a little hungry they finished everything up. IMO, pellets alone is dangerous, so is seed alone, I think variety is key.

 

[finchly]

Canaries do require seeds. But an all seed diet is deficient in certain vitamins that they need (this is true for an all-anything diet, IMO).
If you’re feeding pellets, feed a high quality one.

I think variety is key

This.