Conure No pellet diet

[Keeko128]

Hi, Does anyone feed a no pellet/processed food diet to their conure? Only seeds/grains/veggies/fruits? I'm looking for more in depth info. Thanks in advance!

 

[Rico_Tiel]

Hi, Does anyone feed a no pellet/processed food diet to their conure? Only seeds/grains/veggies/fruits? I'm looking for more in depth info. Thanks in advance!

Honestly, I would advise having at least some pellets to save you some money. If you want a 100% All natural diet, you could look up the specific conure species’ wild diet and buying all the foods in the diet. Pellets can offer the proper nutrition that can balance the diet out when paired with seeds, fruits, and vegetables. The pellets often have the added vitamins, minerals, and acids needed. It will save you some money for sure!

 

[zERo]

I have recently adopted this approach, especially over the 2 months.

I have a mixed flock, 4 budgies, 3 tiels, 1 Quaker and 1 green cheek.
They all eat virtually pellet free diets. Sometimes I sprinkle Caitec over fresh bites because they think they’re treats 🤭
The important thing is having the diet consist of 50% of veg or more. I would say have at least 10 different ranging in color veggies. I aim for 2 dark greens, 2-3 orange veg and then as many other as I can get ahold of.
I think sprouts are also crucial, I do a ratio of 1 part chop to 2 parts chop.
I give them each a portioned amount of high quality dry seed, given in between their breakfast if chop and dinner of half chop/Birdie bread.

I also feed Birdie bread, made with bird safe flour like coconut or almond and then loaded with veggies and herbs.
Herbal teas or dried flowers are beneficial too, if your bird won’t drink the tea, just sprinkle the flowers/herbs on top.

I think pellets are for people with simply don’t have enough time to make chop and feed it daily.
I just think even the best pellets are lacking in quality.
Unfortunately you aren’t going to find many, if any articles or research papers on pellet-less diets for parrots.

Just my experience and opinion 😊

 

[Keeko128]

Honestly, I would advise having at least some pellets to save you some money. If you want a 100% All natural diet, you could look up the specific conure species’ wild diet and buying all the foods in the diet. Pellets can offer the proper nutrition that can balance the diet out when paired with seeds, fruits, and vegetables. The pellets often have the added vitamins, minerals, and acids needed. It will save you some money for sure!

Thanks for your thoughts I've definitely already done a ton of research lol just trying to get some additional input from others especially since there's not much out there in terms of specifics for no pellet diets.

 

[Keeko128]

I have recently adopted this approach, especially over the 2 months.

I have a mixed flock, 4 budgies, 3 tiels, 1 Quaker and 1 green cheek.
They all eat virtually pellet free diets. Sometimes I sprinkle Caitec over fresh bites because they think they’re treats 🤭
The important thing is having the diet consist of 50% of veg or more. I would say have at least 10 different ranging in color veggies. I aim for 2 dark greens, 2-3 orange veg and then as many other as I can get ahold of.
I think sprouts are also crucial, I do a ratio of 1 part chop to 2 parts chop.
I give them each a portioned amount of high quality dry seed, given in between their breakfast if chop and dinner of half chop/Birdie bread.

I also feed Birdie bread, made with bird safe flour like coconut or almond and then loaded with veggies and herbs.
Herbal teas or dried flowers are beneficial too, if your bird won’t drink the tea, just sprinkle the flowers/herbs on top.

I think pellets are for people with simply don’t have enough time to make chop and feed it daily.
I just think even the best pellets are lacking in quality.
Unfortunately you aren’t going to find many, if any articles or research papers on pellet-less diets for parrots.

Just my experience and opinion 😊

Wow what a beautiful flock you have.
Thank you so much for all the details!! I agree that pellets are lacking in quality and have done a ton of research on each grain, seed, veggie and fruit individually because there has been nothing coming up in my research that gives specifics on pellet-less diets. Every website I've checked out pushes pellets as a very high percentage of their daily intake.
I'm definitely going to be doing chop. How do you store yours? and how much for each serving?
How long do you leave the chop in their cage for?
Do you have a specific Birdie bread recipe that's a favorite for your conure?

Thank you again for all the info, I really appreciate it!

 

[zERo]

Wow what a beautiful flock you have.
Thank you so much for all the details!! I agree that pellets are lacking in quality and have done a ton of research on each grain, seed, veggie and fruit individually because there has been nothing coming up in my research that gives specifics on pellet-less diets. Every website I've checked out pushes pellets as a very high percentage of their daily intake.
I'm definitely going to be doing chop. How do you store yours? and how much for each serving?
How long do you leave the chop in their cage for?
Do you have a specific Birdie bread recipe that's a favorite for your conure?

Thank you again for all the info, I really appreciate it!

Of course ☺️
I store mine in the freezer. I scoop some into freezer bags then press them out flat for easier thawing. Then I set out a bag to thaw and fill and ice tray with it and refreeze.
I don’t let the chop thaw out all the way when putting it in the ice tray, just enough to work it into the cubes.
Each bird gets around a 1-2 teaspoons, it just depends on how much they want. If you give them too much they can just eat what they want.
I leave it in the cage for about 2 hours then remove.
Here’s my recipe, you don’t have to use pellet powder as the flour, I’m just using coconut and almond flour now.

Everyday Birdie Bread!

Thought I’d share my recipe, my birds get this a part of their dinner 3-4 days a week. Other days they get other breads. Recipe: Dry ingredients: 1/3 cup pellet powder (I used TOPs) 1/3 cup almond flour 1/3 coconut flour 1 tbsp. Ground flax 1 tbsp. Coconut flakes 1 tbsp. Rolled oats 1 tbsp...

www.parrotforums.com

I also make a few other breads I’ll eventually post one here too.

 

[Keeko128]

Of course ☺️
I store mine in the freezer. I scoop some into freezer bags then press them out flat for easier thawing. Then I set out a bag to thaw and fill and ice tray with it and refreeze.
I don’t let the chop thaw out all the way when putting it in the ice tray, just enough to work it into the cubes.
Each bird gets around a 1-2 teaspoons, it just depends on how much they want. If you give them too much they can just eat what they want.
I leave it in the cage for about 2 hours then remove.
Here’s my recipe, you don’t have to use pellet powder as the flour, I’m just using coconut and almond flour now.

Everyday Birdie Bread!

Thought I’d share my recipe, my birds get this a part of their dinner 3-4 days a week. Other days they get other breads. Recipe: Dry ingredients: 1/3 cup pellet powder (I used TOPs) 1/3 cup almond flour 1/3 coconut flour 1 tbsp. Ground flax 1 tbsp. Coconut flakes 1 tbsp. Rolled oats 1 tbsp...

www.parrotforums.com

I also make a few other breads I’ll eventually post one here too.

Thank you!!!
Trial and error I guess when it comes to the amount lol.
I've read so many responses to how long people leave chop in ranging from 2 hours like you said all the way to 8 hours. Definitely don't want any bacteria to form.

Thank you for the link...can't wait to try it..both coconut and almond flour sound delicious.

 

[zERo]

Thank you!!!
Trial and error I guess when it comes to the amount lol.
I've read so many responses to how long people leave chop in ranging from 2 hours like you said all the way to 8 hours. Definitely don't want any bacteria to form.

Thank you for the link...can't wait to try it..both coconut and almond flour sound delicious.

I think the amount of time you can leave chop in the cage varies by the environment. Some days I leave it 3-4 hours.
The coconut flour smells divine! 😁

 

[Keeko128]

I think the amount of time you can leave chop in the cage varies by the environment. Some days I leave it 3-4 hours.
The coconut flour smells divine! 😁

Makes sense

I bet it does! Can't wait to make it.

Thank you again for all the info

 

[Keet_Krazy]

I am surprised you haven't been able to find much info. I've seen this group recommended to people who want to try no pellet diets.

https://m.facebook.com/groups/836421919753098/

Have you also tried reading a bit about Eclectus diet? Of course they're a different species, but I am sure you could learn some things that you can implement for your conure.

 

[Keeko128]

I am surprised you haven't been able to find much info. I've seen this group recommended to people who want to try no pellet diets.

https://m.facebook.com/groups/836421919753098/

Have you also tried reading a bit about Eclectus diet? Of course they're a different species, but I am sure you could learn some things that you can implement for your conure.

I'm new to this site and have been using the search feature but still reading through a lot of it.
I haven't come across the FB group so thank you for giving me that link. I already put in my request to join.
I've read A LOT but I was looking for specific info from others here that have the experience/first hand knowledge already to hopefully learn more and incorporate some of that.

Thank you again for the link and your input.