Parrotlet Feeding

duckduckmoose

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Jun 10, 2012
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1 Pacific Parrotlet "Birdie"
Well, I just got my new 7 week old parrotlet. We're settled into a nice 18x18x36L cage with room to fly, a few toys, some millet, perches, and a cuttlebone. Fully weaned and hand raised. Very talkative for a female.

One thing I'm never sure of is feeding. What's the best food out there? What can I get at my pet store at a reasonable cost that will be healthy for my bird?

Being such a small bird, I was told and have researched keeping Birdie on a cockatiel diet. It's easy enough to find a seed mix. Make sure it has sunflower and safflower, hulled oats, millet. Is this enough?

Another food I was looking at is ZuPreem FruitBlend for small birds. Is this a good addition? Is this fine as a full diet?

Do I offer a seed mix, the fruit blend, and fresh fruits and veggies?
Do I offer just a seed mix and fresh foods?
Just the fruit blend and fresh foods?

Thanks for your help!
Duck and Birdie :blue2:
 

beck

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Do you know what food she was weaned onto? If she was weaned onto seed mix, you will want to continue to offer seeds at first. You can mix the seeds in with the pellets, and then slowly start offering less seeds and more pellets, because sunflower seeds are very high in fat. You might have to try a couple different kinds of pellets before you find which kind she likes. I feed my birds a mix of ZuPreem FruitBlend and Roudybush California Blend in different sizes for variety. I also offer fresh foods (apple, grapes, cucumber, broccoli, kale, etc.) every day.

Congrats on your new feathered friend!
 

henpecked

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Dec 12, 2010
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Hey Duck, welcome to the forum. At 7 wks most have fledged but not weaned , so your bird might be a bit older than 7 wks if it's feeding it's self. One of the daily maintenance pellets is assumed to be the best diet of parrots nowdays. This includes a diet of about 70%pellets with fresh/dehydrated fruits and veggies . Nuts and seeds should be given in limited quanties, depends on how active (flighted or clipped) your pets is. I don't like the colored/favored pellets as most are too sweet (high sugars) and birds tend to eat only their favorite colors.Natural pellets ,such as the Zupreem naturals are the same shape and color and seem to work fine for most brids.Their are some higher end (price wise) that are organic or vet "approved" such as TOPS or Harisson's . Get the ones that are the right size for your bird. Keep fresh in an airtight container and store excess in the freezer. Always check the expiration date . Never leave wet pellets in the dish as they spoil much quicker than dry pellets. I'd keep your bird on what every food the person you bought him from has him on.Buy a digital kitchen scale and weigh your bird often as you switch him over to what ever diet you decide to use.Lots of good threads here about this sort of things. Read around the forum and ask questions , we'll be glad to help.
 
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duckduckmoose

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1 Pacific Parrotlet "Birdie"
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Thanks guys! Glad I got some replies so fast. I knew this looked like a nice forum!

She was weaned onto a seed mix that I wouldn't necessarily use myself. It looks like some sort of colorful fiesta mix that's packed with millet. There are no sunflower/safflower seeds in it. really just looks like millet and food colored oats.

I was planning on buying both seeds and pellets and offering them both just to see what she goes for. Probably a basic cockatiel seed mix with some variety to it.

She is fully feeding herself. She had some hard boiled egg that she happily chomped on out of my hand this morning. She's finished half a spray of millet and she's only been here 24 hours. :p She gets water on her own and flies around. Her wings are clipped, but seeing as she weighs nothing she can still fly. She's entirely feathered out.

I see the ZuPreem fruit blend everywhere. Maybe I notice it everywhere because it's so colorful. :p I'll definitely keep an eye out for more natural looking pellets and seed mixes. I'm pretty sure I've seen the Natural one around.
 

cdog

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Feb 20, 2012
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Newbury Park, CA
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breeding pair of gcc, Scooter & BeeBee-Sully and Bella's normal son's, Rosey- Bella and Sully's cinnamon daughter, Ella & Sunny-American budgies
Welcome to the forum. Once your fid settles in you really need to change the diet to pellets and fresh foods and only offer seeds once a month, that means no hanging millet in the cage every week. You cant offer pellets and seeds at the same time because the bird will just pick out what they want which in your case will be seeds. My favorite pellet brands are Harrisons, Hagen tropican, and Zupreem natural.
Just a side note how long will your bird be in the cage each day?
 
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duckduckmoose

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1 Pacific Parrotlet "Birdie"
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I'm a full time student. Summer, Fall, and Spring semesters. She'll be in the cage the majority of the day.

While she was hand fed, she's not all that tame. If taken out she will fly off. She does bite and requires gloves to work with still. As she gets more tame she will have more time out daily. For now it's about 15 minutes a few times per day.

While she won't be sitting out all day she does have a large cage (for her size) that she can easily fly around in. 18"Hx18"Dx36"L. It's a long flight cage. So she does get exercise.

A question on the millet sprays. It's hung in her cage. My own research has led me to believe that keeping it in at all times for babies is best. At what age are they no longer considered a baby? At that point do I offer one spray monthly?
 

cdog

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breeding pair of gcc, Scooter & BeeBee-Sully and Bella's normal son's, Rosey- Bella and Sully's cinnamon daughter, Ella & Sunny-American budgies
If she is eating by herself she is no longer a baby. They say put it in the cages of babies that are just getting used to foods and are trying to eat some but still require formula. Millet is a good weaning food but seeing as though your bird is weaned ther is no need to keep it in the cage but once a month. Make sure your bird has plenty of toys to keep her occupied and make sure you have natural perches, a sand or concrete one and a rope perch. Dont use more than one dowel in the cage and dont make it a main perch.
 

god61021

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red rumped parakeet
In my research on pellets one thing that popped up on several different sites was that parrotlets as a species dont do well on a pellet diet.
unfortunately each time the author of the article assumed the reader already new this and didnt bother to explain, so I have no idea if they dont do well because they dont normally except pellets or if pellets arent as good for them as a seed diet for some reason.

if you do go with pellets Ive found kaytee to be the worst brand out there nutrition wise with zupreem and lefebere tied for second. (according to the ingredient label there pretty much the same) those are the only 3 stores in my area sell.

oh and cdog didnt mention it but you dont want your bird eating sunflowers accept maybe as treats during training. they are like twinkies to birds.
 
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duckduckmoose

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Alrighty. I ended up getting a simple Hartz cockatiel blend. I also got Roudybush maintenance mini pellets. They only had the fruit blend zupreem so I decided against it.

As for perches-- I still need to get a natural and a rope. They're so expensive for what they are. :p I'll get those fairly soon. She's got a sand perch in there that she's actually favoring. There's the two dowel perches that came with the cage as well. Those will be removed as I get the other perches.

I'm going to take out what's left of the millet so that she'll explore her dishes and offer another spray in a few weeks.

Little edit: that Hartz cockatiel blend is what she was weaned onto.
Edit 2: Did some perch searching and found a new seller on Amazon with multi-branch manzanita perches. 10-12" for like $2. I got a couple of those as well as a rope perch. So, dowel perches will be replaced soon!
 
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cdog

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Sully-2 year old cinnamon and Bella-3 year old normal
breeding pair of gcc, Scooter & BeeBee-Sully and Bella's normal son's, Rosey- Bella and Sully's cinnamon daughter, Ella & Sunny-American budgies
If you must get seeds dont get hartz just because they are cheap. Get something like browns carnival mix. Don't get mansinita ecause it is too slippery, get cholla cactus and grapevine.
 
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duckduckmoose

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I'll look into the grapevine on Tuesday. I know they sell it at our local pet shop. :) Thanks for the info!

I got Hartz mainly because it was what she was on already. Cheap is good, but wasn't my primary focus. I don't intend to give it too often, and she hasn't even checked it out yet. She ate some of the Roudybush pellets, though.
 

cdog

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Sully-2 year old cinnamon and Bella-3 year old normal
breeding pair of gcc, Scooter & BeeBee-Sully and Bella's normal son's, Rosey- Bella and Sully's cinnamon daughter, Ella & Sunny-American budgies
Cheap is not good because you get what you pay for. Hartz is not a good brand and you shouldn't feed it at all. If she eats the pellets just give her that and stop the seeds. You can't go with cheap with birds you have to get the good quality stuff like Harrison's for example.
 
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duckduckmoose

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1 Pacific Parrotlet "Birdie"
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Cheap doesn't always mean different. If I were to go to Petco and pay 2-3 times the amount I'd still have the same food. The only way to get a good diet is to create the mix yourself-- and that's not a cost effective way of doing things. Nor do I have access to the things I'd need in quality bulk.

Considering it's not the majority of her diet, I'm not all that worried. She's got a large variety of food in her cage. She's enjoying the Roudybush. As I type she's munching down strawberries and mangos.

I went by the majority of the advice here and in other places and called the breeder to find the food she weans them onto. This happens to be what she uses because it's no different than any other basic seed mix you'd buy at Petco. I mean.. That's like saying store-brand food is the most un-nutritional scum just because it's priced lower.

So, thank you for your advice but I'm going to go ahead and do as advised by the majority and the breeder. It's an easier transition for Birdie.

Also... kind of the same way I bought by perches and toys for half the price via Amazon. Same exact toys, perhaps under a different name or a different color. Oh-- and she has a toy made from construction paper and paper towel tubes. I must be screwed if I'm getting by without spending $300 on a new pet. x.x
 

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