Last Updated on by Mitch Rezman
[videopress FAu95SeO]
There are no wrong or right procedures or specific foods for any given bird.
It’s always good to start with a manufacturers well rounded parrot food blend like Hagan Tropimix which has seeds, nuts, fruit and Hagen Tropimix pellets.
Some birds are extraordinarily picky eaters and will only eat seed.
A straight bird food pellet diet is not necessarily the answer.
We tell people “there are no pellet trees in the rain forest”
and
“they don’t send out groups of children with bowls filled with the perfect parrot food, then lay it on the ground so the parrots can eat all they want”
The delivery of nutritious bird food to a bird’s mouth can be a tactical problem.
Purists argue that, and I quote here from Quora, “a seed diet will kill your bird”
Yet for millions of years and still today, grass (seed) eating parakeets have survived across parts of Australia
There are two ways of delivering food that is readily accepted by birds.
Make food more difficult for the bird to get which is actually how parrots are hardwired.
Your bird wants to to work for food and does not expect a free lunch.
“But my bird ONLY likes the seeds and picks everything else out”.
Thank you for acknowledging that while identifying a simple to fix avian nutritional problem.
A straight seed diet in captivity will usually require vitamin and mineral supplementation to extend a bird’s life span.
One easy way to accomplish this is by dipping “wet” food(s) into the supplement itself.
We love Prime by HARI (the Hagen Avicultural Research Institute)
Our budgies like cucumber slices.
You can use oranges, grapes, apples (no appleseed), rinsed vegetables, bananas..
Make sure the the fuit is sliced somewhere exposing juices to absorb the powder.
In the video (above) I only dipped the edges of the cucumber into the container which is usually eaten first.
This ensures your bird is getting the right balance of proteins, aminos, vitamins and minerals.
I hope this Tailfeathers Tip makes caring for your bird a little easier.
written and directed by mitch rezman
produced by catherine tobsing
Author Profile
audrey
9 Sep 2018Love “Birdie Brunches” Can you address feeding and care for larger M2s? And how to minimize biting as well as picky eaters that refuse to eat chop?
Just a few suggestions would help! I feed Roudybush pellets and currently supplement with vegetable puree at night, which he only eats with brown rice and extra smoothie(all natural) juices of different flavors. If I don’t change it up, he won’t eat it. Then he eats nothing and is a beast in the morning. 🙂 He also gets some soy yogurt with mango or banana in the morning to calm him down.
audrey
9 Sep 2018He is 13 and has been with us for 3 years, I had a f M2 previously for 33 years and never a bite or a problem. He’s a handful.
WindyCityParrot
20 Sep 2018Hi Audrey,
Here’s my first response -> https://goo.gl/j7ydUy
best
mitchr
mati_gumm
23 Dec 2018disqus_e3nJKIVD01 already