Do you keep the excess feed or bin it?

[Pearly]

Hi all,

Are Cockatiels generally small eaters? I've the tendency to feed them more than they could consume, thinking they may go hungry.

But I dislike keeping the excess feed till the next day. I often discard them if they can't finish them at the end of the day.
Sometimes, I felt that its a waste but for hygiene and freshness reasons, I just have to bin them.

I'm just curious, do you do what I'm doing too?

Thank you.

Regards,

 

[Ember-Tiel]

I usually fill my cockatiels food bowl in the morning halfway and discard any leftovers after she goes to bed, just like you do.

Maybe try pouring a little less food in and see how much your bird finishes until you have only a small amount of food remaining, so you don't need to throw away as much.

 

[sunnysmom]

I feed my left over food to the outside wild birds.

 

[Mizzely]

I give just a little more than I know he will eat in a day, and dump whatever is leftover.

 

[Zara]

I feed my left over food to the outside wild birds.

I used to chuck leftovers in a big tub then empty it out the back for the pigeons and sparrows on the grass.
Recently i´ve been chucking them out on the floor of my balcony for the sparrows. Messy though, but I don´t mind. I sweep off the reamining hulls every other day to keep it somewhat clean.
(I will jiggle the food bowls first, if it sounds like htere´s no seeds left, I just bin the hulls)

 

[Tiel Feathers]

Definitely change your birds food every day so it stays fresh and clean.

 

[BirdWorld]

I keep pellets in all day, but I take them out at night then replace in the morning. I have been keeping watch on how much they usually eat so there is usually very little left over.

 

[Destiny]

I give excess seed from my aviary birds to my chickens. They love it.

For my two indoor parakeets, I put a small amount of seed mix in one dish and a small amount of pellets in another dish. Each morning, the seed dish gets dumped and cleaned. Fresh seed is added to the bowl of pellets in the cage. Then I put out a new bowl with more pellets. So the "seed bowl" and "pellet bowl" alternate from day to day.

I used to dump both dishes every morning, but I didn't like discarding so many good pellets every day. There needs to be some excess to avoid leaving the birds without any food in the early morning, yet not so much that it gets soiled while sitting out.

I like this system because the dishes are completely rotated every two days, the food stays clean, and there is hardly any waste. Just empty husks and pellet dust.

 

[Birdie Mama]

I used to give my tiels 2 tbsp of seeds each in the morning and dump whatever was left the next morning before adding fresh seeds again. Found that most of it was eaten with spurts now and again where they would eat more. Always cheques around supper time to see how much they had left over. they always had millet in the cage as well so would never go hungry... they also had fresh vegs to chomp on as well...

 

[Sparkles!]

My tiel always has a nice amount of dry pellets in a specific dish in his cage. We wash that dish twice a week, but we do not throw away what he nibbles each day. We provide two daily “meals” for him in a different dish. The meals consists of a seed portion and ground up pellets, plus a supplement recommended by our vet. He gets a tablespoon of that seed/pellet mix moistened with water for each breakfast and dinner and we do clean out those dishes after each meal, and toss any leftovers.

 

[Haroobom]

Hi all,

Are Cockatiels generally small eaters? I've the tendency to feed them more than they could consume, thinking they may go hungry.

But I dislike keeping the excess feed till the next day. I often discard them if they can't finish them at the end of the day.
Sometimes, I felt that its a waste but for hygiene and freshness reasons, I just have to bin them.

I'm just curious, do you do what I'm doing too?

Thank you.

Regards,

If you have a food scale weigh the food you serve in the morning, then weigh the excess and find out how much it's eating. Do that for a week so you can get an average of how much it eats.

 

[Destiny]

If you have a food scale weigh the food you serve in the morning, then weigh the excess and find out how much it's eating. Do that for a week so you can get an average of how much it eats.

This works if you feed only pellets, but keep in mind that if you offer seed mix, there will always be some waste left over. So if you determine that your bird eats 10 grams of seed mix each day, you need to offer more than ten grams to provide him with enough edible food to cover his needs. And also remember that nutritional needs can increase during times of stress, like if your bird is molting, laying eggs, or sick.

However, I agree that measuring or weighing is a good way to get a ballpark estimate of your bird's daily food consumption.

Food scales are also very handy for measuring out chop portions to minimize waste.

 

[emzymayzy]

Hi all,

Are Cockatiels generally small eaters? I've the tendency to feed them more than they could consume, thinking they may go hungry.

But I dislike keeping the excess feed till the next day. I often discard them if they can't finish them at the end of the day.
Sometimes, I felt that its a waste but for hygiene and freshness reasons, I just have to bin them.

I'm just curious, do you do what I'm doing too?

Thank you.

Regards,

In the mornings I shake their bowl and the empty seed come to the top i scrape that off as best as i can and top with fresh sunflower seeds then in the afternoon i give them a complete fresh and veggies

 

[Auntiebird]

In the mornings I shake their bowl and the empty seed come to the top i scrape that off as best as i can and top with fresh sunflower seeds then in the afternoon i give them a complete fresh and veggies

I put mine out for the wild birds.

 

[Auntiebird]

One thing that has me wondering about the bird seed companies is that some of the seed I throw out to the wild birds just sits there. Even the Crows and squirrels don’t eat it. Really makes me skeptical about food advertised as waste free!!!

 

[BirdWorld]

One thing that has me wondering about the bird seed companies is that some of the seed I throw out to the wild birds just sits there. Even the Crows and squirrels don’t eat it. Really makes me skeptical about food advertised as waste free!!!

The wild birds in my yard eat my budgies' left-over seed sometimes, they go crazy for millet

 

[Shezbug]

I throw it out for the wild birds.

 

[Mark & Da Boyz]

I use to fill the bowls about 1/2 way but that's a lot of waste. So now I use a 1 tablespoon measuring spoon. I mix two seed mixes so they get two tablespoons of a good seed mix, no sunflower seed and pellets. Plus fresh or cooked food daily. This cuts down on the waste and cost, the seed is Safflower Gold and Garden Feast, both on the pricey side and the pellets the Pellets are Roudybush minis or crumbles. I toss it daily.

Now water I fill about 2-3 times a day...unless they decided its "Bath Day" then it'll be 3-5 times.

 

[Tangoares]

I feed it to the wild birds
I go out in the morning and sprinkle it around the trees in the backyard

 

[Pearly]

If you have a food scale weigh the food you serve in the morning, then weigh the excess and find out how much it's eating. Do that for a week so you can get an average of how much it eats.

Good excuse to order a digital scale to get that precise calculation!
Thank you.

Regards,