Weight & Diet

Hello all,

I bought a lovely boy black headed caique named Charlie last Monday. So far he has been a delight. I took him to the vet a day after i brought him home and was deemed as a healthy little boy.

I weighed him for the first time today, 150g. I was wondering if that is an acceptable weight for his age (3.5months).

He eats a mixture of parrot seed, vita pellets and fruit (apple, pear) and vegetable (carrot, broccoli). For breakfast this morning he had a combination of beans and lentils. I am slowly easing him into trying new foods.
He is picky about pellets so I give him a boost of multi vitamin 2 times a week.

I would like some thoughts on the following diets of which both parties are trying to encourage me to convert Charlie.

My bird vet recommends: (basically what an eclectus eats)
- Two main meals a day with a combination of one or more: Beans, Lentils, Peas, Carrot, Sweet Potato, Cous Cous, Quinoa, White Rice, Apple and Passionfruit.
- No Pellets are to be eaten.
- A bowl of seed during the middle of the day between meals.
- A Series of 7 doses vitamins and minerals and boosters mixed in seed and water.

Pet Shop:
- Combination: Seed and Vita Pellets 50/50 Mix in bowl.
- Serving of Vegetables and Fruit.
- Vitamins not nessessary if eating enough pellets.

Looks like 150-175 is good!
I found this...

https://www.beautyofbirds.com/caiques.htm

Some good general info, too.

When it comes to diets, I tend to follow the recommendation of my Certified Avian Vet (CAV). The guide that I have used is to provide a diet closes to that found and eaten in their Natural Habitat (Range) and will switch 'like' veggies and fruits based on what is available and fresh in my area.

We adjust the diet based on the full spectrum blood testing, we complete once every 15 months for our Healthy Amazon!

I never follow the recommendation of a Pet Store staff person, especially, over an Avian Vet.


FYI: Always obtain you Parrots weight in the morning after the first and commonly large morning movement and before the first food of the day is offered. This is the only way to compare weight over time!

Thank you all for the advice and replies.
I think once I get through this batch of pellets I will reassess Charlie’s diet and change it up.

This is my little girl, Indianna (Indi for short) who will be 6 months in 5 days. I weigh her each morning and she has been consistent between 146-148.

She has a main pellet based diet of ( all vetafarm) :
-paradise pellets
-South American Mix
-Nurti blend

Of a day i will also add in different nuts, beans, legumes or seed

She gets two portions of veg/fruit a day, one in the morning and night
Morning: Fresh chop, made on the day
Night: Frozen chop with added beans

Ps, she had just had a bath in the pic soo... it was too cute to resist.

I will just say that advice about diets are wide and varied, so don't panic too much about the details.

For example, my bird freaking loves her pellets and when she was picky about vegies the pellets put my mind at ease about her nutrition. The vet told me the kind i"m using is OK and she hasn't had any allergic reaction so I am not afraid of using that for up to half of her food.

I actually found I've been feeding my bird far too much, and when I pulled back the portion sizes a bit I found she was more willing to suck it up when her favourite foods weren't provided. I've been finding lately, EVERYTHING has been eaten, as opposed to just the peas and corn.

You'll notice both options you've put have fruit and vegies, so concentrate on those primarily if your bird eats those. Personally, for my eclectus, I then have pellets (up to 30% depending on what I have fresh in the fridge) and then a small amount of seeds (the equivalent of a teaspoon of an electus mix every few days, or millet sprays in her forage toys). I think of seeds as parrot junk-food and feed accordingly.

Once you have enough weight data for your bird and their weight is steady you'll know you're on the right track depending on your choices.

I feed a mix of different store bought and fresh foods.

Pellets and dried mix:
TOP's pellets - https://topsparrotfood.com/
Harrison's pellets - http://www.harrisonsbirdfoods.com/
Goldenfeast pellets and dried mixes - https://goldenfeastdirect.com/
Nature's All Foods Freeze-Dried Organic Strawberries and blueberries (at Safeway or WalMart)

Fresh foods (I try to buy organic as much as possible):
sweet peppers, bell peppers, grapes, strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, apple, carrot, mango, watermelon...pretty much any fruit or veggies I have on hand other than garlic or onion.

Walnuts are a favorite treat, but I also give a little almond and pumpkin seeds.