Food Advice

[MattyKingz]

Hello everyone,
I just bought my first parrot, which is an fabulous Pionus Menstruus, 1 year old.
I started giving him the food the breeder gave me, and sometimes he eats it (is a kind of pellet with no brand).
I also give him fruit, usually 3 slices of apple.
He's not ready yet to eat seeds from my hand (he's still scared) but we are working on.

I just want to be clarified about the amount of fruit to give him (how many slices of fruit per day? And vegetables?) and also I would be more than happy to accept every suggestion about his diet, since I'm relatively a newcomer in the parrot world and I wish the best for my parrot.

 

[Mizzely]

Fruit I give infrequently, like maybe 1 to 2 pieces a day the size of a blueberry. Vegetables I do usually 2 tbsp.

Here's my recipe

My Chop "Recipe"

I see a lot of requests in bird groups and forums all over the web asking for a good recipe for chop. It's hard to give a definite or correct answer to that question because there simply isn't any right way to do it. (Chop, for those who don't know, is simply a name for "salad" or "mash" as some...

www.lilmonstersbirdtoys.com

 

[MattyKingz]

Fruit I give infrequently, like maybe 1 to 2 pieces a day the size of a blueberry. Vegetables I do usually 2 tbsp.

Here's my recipe

My Chop "Recipe"

I see a lot of requests in bird groups and forums all over the web asking for a good recipe for chop. It's hard to give a definite or correct answer to that question because there simply isn't any right way to do it. (Chop, for those who don't know, is simply a name for "salad" or "mash" as some...

www.lilmonstersbirdtoys.com

Oh thanks! I will prepare your recipe for sure

 

[Zara]

Welcome to the Avenue Matteo

I would be more than happy to accept every suggestion about his diet, since I'm relatively a newcomer in the parrot world and I wish the best for my parrot.

@Fuzzy @zoo mom @finchly

 

[finchly]

You would offer more vegetables than fruits, a large variety since he is young. You can offer a nut every so often too. besides those foods, quinoa, rice, hard boiled egg are all favorites here. (I have 2 Pionus)

There are many good pellet foods on the market and the best one is "the one your bird will accept".

Very little seed for Pionus, as they gain weight very easily.

 

[MattyKingz]

Welcome to the Avenue Matteo


@Fuzzy @zoo mom @finchly

Thanks!!

You would offer more vegetables than fruits, a large variety since he is young. You can offer a nut every so often too. besides those foods, quinoa, rice, hard boiled egg are all favorites here. (I have 2 Pionus)

There are many good pellet foods on the market and the best one is "the one your bird will accept".

Very little seed for Pionus, as they gain weight very easily.

Oh thank you very much, I will buy more vegetables for him. Is it raw vegetables/rice ok, or they prefer it cooked? (eg: carrots, zucchini?)

 

[Mizzely]

Thanks!!



Oh thank you very much, I will buy more vegetables for him. Is it raw vegetables/rice ok, or they prefer it cooked? (eg: carrots, zucchini?)

Most are fine raw and better that way, however some like sweet potatoes need to be cooked to digest properly. Dark leafy greens should be steamed as that will make the calcium in them bioavailable.

I prefer to cook my grains

 

[finchly]

Oh thank you very much, I will buy more vegetables for him. Is it raw vegetables/rice ok, or they prefer it cooked? (eg: carrots, zucchini?)

Most are ok raw. Some veggies you might cook are sweet potato, butternut squash, and carrots.

Some experts say you can soak grains and not cook them, and they retain nutrition. I cook rice and quinoa-- probably because I like them cooked myself! I soak teff, an ancient grain. I have a mix made with wheat or kamut, just the dry grain, and most of my flock refuse to eat it.

 

[jh81]

These questions also depend on your bird. If he got only pellets and seed from the breeder, he might not like vegetables at first. You will have to “teach” him which food is safe to eat so prepare to be desperate at times, but remember to hold on ;-)

my 2 Pi’s got nothing more then soaked bread and seed they where ugly as what, their weight was wrong.. yada yadda.. everything was wrong!

Now they are on pellets, and in 2 months i saw the sparkle of their fethers return, their overall look improved.. and we’re not even on the veggies yet! They do love pasta though

 

[MattyKingz]

Thanks everyone!
Now I'm trying to teach him to step up and I usually do it with apples (which is the only thing he love besides his food, in english I think is called "fruit blend").
After the first days at home, now he happily eats all his food, so now I will try to introduce him the vegetables and maybe pasta (we are Italian so he will like it for sure! )

A curious thing is that he don't like seeds: I read everywhere that parrots freaking love seeds but he's totally uninterested to them ahah