12 Week Baby Conure Diet Question.

lollipoppy

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Mama to Milo the Pineapple X Cinnamon GCC
Hey All!

I was wondering if I could get some feedback on what you fed your 12 week old conures (GCC.)

My little one's breeder is saying I should get 2 types of seed mix and mix them 2 parts to 1 part.

Everywhere I've looked says that too much seed is not a good idea, and one of the seed mixes he showed me has a lot of dried fruit in it, which I also thought wasn't a great idea. (I know some fruit is good, but it seems like there are a lot in these two.) The two mixes do look like higher quality brands, but still - they are seed & they do have dried fruit throughout. (ADDING: the breeder HAS been feeding the baby fresh veg, so he is used to parrot chop.)

I am new to this, so I am looking for additional opinions. Mostly just a "second opinion" because this seems to contradict what I have read and been told by other keepers.

Is this a recommendation because the bird is a baby and will need to be eating more seed, perhaps to keep weight up and such? Or do you have any additional recommendations?

As far as I currently stand, I plan on feeding the baby this way when it comes home, regardless. This is what he is used to and the last thing he needs is another big change when he gets here. But - how should I go after that?

One piece of advice was to keep this until 6 months and then start switching to fewer seeds and adding more fresh food. Another piece of advice said no seeds only pellets. One avid parrot keeper who has rescued dozens of birds says as soon as possible switch to a high quality pellet and then feed mostly fresh foods. Online I'm seeing that it is common for there to be a number of contradicting opinions LOL!

I just want to make sure I'm doing right by him! I'm so confused hahahaha.

Thanks in advance!
 

Laurasea

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You can and should offer what he was eating. But from the very first day I would offer veggies, and offer pellets.
Babies mature fast, and are best introducing lots if new foods. It's a time when they are willing to try stuff, and their parents would be introducing them to wide variety of new foods.

I git my baby GCC at around 8 weeks, many years ago. She had the same stuff in one dish, and then dishes with all the he other foods.
I once had a picky parrot and never wanted that again!
Six months is almost sexual maturity for a GCC, way to long to wait. ;)!
 
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lollipoppy

lollipoppy

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You can and should offer what he was eating. But from the very first day I would offer veggies, and offer pellets.
Babies mature fast, and are best introducing lots if new foods. It's a time when they are willing to try stuff, and their parents would be introducing them to wide variety of new foods.

I git my baby GCC at around 8 weeks, many years ago. She had the same stuff in one dish, and then dishes with all the he other foods.
I once had a picky parrot and never wanted that again!
Six months is almost sexual maturity for a GCC, way to long to wait. ;)!


Thank you! I’ll definitely add pellets right away then start working toward what I want to feed long term, slowly though. :D


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Laurasea

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I feed pellets, seeds, veggies, rare nuts, rare fruits, occasionally scrambled eggs, occasionally a thumbnail size piece if well cooked chicken, a little yogurt here and there. Oatmeal one in a while, some if those soak n smimmer foods, share my parrot safe foods I'm eating daily...;)
 
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lollipoppy

lollipoppy

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I feed pellets, seeds, veggies, rare nuts, rare fruits, occasionally scrambled eggs, occasionally a thumbnail size piece if well cooked chicken, a little yogurt here and there. Oatmeal one in a while, some if those soak n smimmer foods, share my parrot safe foods I'm eating daily...;)


Ok thank you! I’ll do this :)


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Jen5200

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You’ll never find agreement on what the “right diet” is for a parrot....there are a TON of opinions on the topic. I agree with Laurasea - sooner is better to introduce new foods and get them started on what you think is the best diet. I feed similarly to Laurasea - pellets, veggies, a bit of seed, a little fruit, a bit of nuts if they are interested. In my opinion, a variety early will help you later! All of my conures came to me on a seed diet - they did all convert to pellets and chop over time, but it probably would have been easier if they had been younger.
 
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lollipoppy

lollipoppy

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You’ll never find agreement on what the “right diet” is for a parrot....there are a TON of opinions on the topic. I agree with Laurasea - sooner is better to introduce new foods and get them started on what you think is the best diet. I feed similarly to Laurasea - pellets, veggies, a bit of seed, a little fruit, a bit of nuts if they are interested. In my opinion, a variety early will help you later! All of my conures came to me on a seed diet - they did all convert to pellets and chop over time, but it probably would have been easier if they had been younger.


Ok good to know! I’ll stock up on a good variety and offer a little of everything!

Long term I’d like pellets & fresh veg to be the daily go to with seed & fruit a couple times a week and nuts once a week or once every other week. From what I’m reading, this feels like something ideal.

So, I will introduce everything and work toward that! :)


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Stitchthestitch

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I was the same, Albie was on a mostly seed diet with a lot of fruit and a couple veggies.

I immediately swapped up his chop to be more veggie heavy and now he gets fruit in it 2x a, week as I noticed he would throw all his veggies out and only eat his fruit. He loves his chop now. But I think what helped with that is having him in the kitchen supervising what's going in his bowl and me munching on it as well. He loves chowing down on red bell pepper seed!! ¡!

I've added in pellets to his diet, the opposite to what my breeder to me as he is very opposed to them (he didn't elaborate why) but I've put them in a bowl on top of his cage where he plays when he out and he's been munching away at them (I know by the mess haha)

my breeder keeps saying to "super nanny" him and to treat him like a baby your weaning. If you limit the different food exposure to a human babythen he could well be a fussy eater but if you keep offering new and different things then the kid won't be fussy. And I'm finding it's true with Albie, he tries new things a couple times and he let's me know what he doesn't like. Pine nuts is an example if something he doesn't like, he's tried it 4x now on different days, he takes the nut from me, shakes his head and spits it out. I offer 1 new veggie mixed in with familiar favorites and I do that for about a week and by the end he's munching happily on it.
 
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lollipoppy

lollipoppy

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I was the same, Albie was on a mostly seed diet with a lot of fruit and a couple veggies.

I immediately swapped up his chop to be more veggie heavy and now he gets fruit in it 2x a, week as I noticed he would throw all his veggies out and only eat his fruit. He loves his chop now. But I think what helped with that is having him in the kitchen supervising what's going in his bowl and me munching on it as well. He loves chowing down on red bell pepper seed!! ¡!

I've added in pellets to his diet, the opposite to what my breeder to me as he is very opposed to them (he didn't elaborate why) but I've put them in a bowl on top of his cage where he plays when he out and he's been munching away at them (I know by the mess haha)

my breeder keeps saying to "super nanny" him and to treat him like a baby your weaning. If you limit the different food exposure to a human babythen he could well be a fussy eater but if you keep offering new and different things then the kid won't be fussy. And I'm finding it's true with Albie, he tries new things a couple times and he let's me know what he doesn't like. Pine nuts is an example if something he doesn't like, he's tried it 4x now on different days, he takes the nut from me, shakes his head and spits it out. I offer 1 new veggie mixed in with familiar favorites and I do that for about a week and by the end he's munching happily on it.


Thank you so much for all this info!! Super super helpful! :)


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Laurasea

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You can research, and make your own choices..
Most pellets are mostly made with seeds as base, then they add the proper ratio of nutrition.
I don't like pellets that have a lot of soy, soy is cheap crap ...
Also I have seeds in the cage every night, as they are locked out and out all day, I'd say seeds are 35% of my birds daily diet.
 
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lollipoppy

lollipoppy

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You can research, and make your own choices..
Most pellets are mostly made with seeds as base, then they add the proper ratio of nutrition.
I don't like pellets that have a lot of soy, soy is cheap crap ...
Also I have seeds in the cage every night, as they are locked out and out all day, I'd say seeds are 35% of my birds daily diet.


That’s a great idea! And yes, the rescuer I was talking to said to do Harrison’s pellets because they are the best quality.


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Laurasea

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Harrison is great, but I had to much crumbling,vdust waste, I like tops, but had somevwate to. I now like oven baked bites the best. My parrots love them and less waste.

Also talked to the breeder, make sure they don't clip wings. Learning to fly and fledge, has a huge impact on brain development, pectoral muscle development, and skeleton development. As well as eye sight , and rapid thinking on the wing. Learning to fly as a baby is linked with higher intelligence, greater confidence, less behavior issues later in life. Please let your baby learn to fly well , learn to fly down from high places, before ( if ever ) you clip wings. I have a bunch of science and other article on this in my Ornithology thread.
 

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