All Seed Diet Problem for a Senegal Parrot

Last Updated on October 3, 2023 by Mitch Rezman

A woman just called and asked if we had any Beta Carotene. We asked why she was looking for that particular product. She replied her 6 year old Senegal was not looking well.

Next question – what’s his regular diet? Answer – “a bag of seed”

This is where we now had to have to have the “talk” A bird can not live a long a healthy life (I recent posted about a 26 year old budgie on Facebook) strictly on a bird food seed diet.

The woman explained she had tried to introduce human food but to no avail. Lettuce. Not a nutritional food – but its a start. We ask that you introduce some sort human food every day. By not doing so you’re setting a routine for your bird that is hard to break. Your bird becomes scared of change.

We fed Sunshine our Indian Ringneck parrot something fresh (or thawed from frozen) every day for 20 years. Sure it can be a pain when you’re trying to get out the door when your running late – but it’s your responsibility.

The woman is coming in to discuss nutrition and vitamin use. One of the things we talked about was, if you’re going to us a bird food supplement like Hagen Prime don’t sprinkle it over the seeds – it will fall to the bottom of the dish. Put it in the water and it gets tossed daily. Your best bet when putting bird vitamins on bird food is to use a salt shaker and lightly sprinkle over an apple slice or piece of banana