How do I switch my conures diet

[mamolis]

Hi everyone, so I knew an all seed diet is bad but how should I switch my birds diet? Whats the process? Snd what should i buy him. Pellets?
I give him fruits and veg ofc but I want him to have a pellet diet instead of seed.
Any tips?

 

[wrench13]

Very very gradually change seed for pellets in his food bowl. Do this over the period of a few weeks/months, not all at once. Parrots are very capable of starving themselves to death if faced with a totally new food and nothing that is familiar.

You may want to try different brands of pellets, Parrots will sometimes reject most brands and then all of a sudden like a different one. Some parrot food companies offer trial size packs of pellets, so you dont waste a lot of $$. Aim for pellets that have the least amount of sugars, fillers and such, and no additional vitamin fortification. A balanced parrot diet of veggies/pellets/ and small amount of seed and nuts will provide all the nutrients he needs, no need to add more vitamins! But in a practical sense, the best pellet is the one that your parrot will eat - serving the best one is useless if he wont eat it it!

 

[onamom]

Switching from seed to pellets would be great. Generally the two most popular brands of pellets are Tops or Harrison's. I feed my GCC Harrison's Adult Lifetime Fine.

It is great that you are giving fruit and veggies too - still keep that up with the pellets. Many of us like to feed "chop", a mixture of different veggies, in addition to the pellets. Check out this thread for some chop ideas and tips:

Chop Recipes Resource Thread

Thanks to a wonderful suggestion by chris-md, we decided to create a resource thread for all the chop recipes posted by our members. Each link will take you to a chop recipe or to tips that can make your chop more interesting for your birds. We think they will be easier to find if they are all...

www.parrotforums.com

When you switch to pellets, you will want to do so gradually. I would start by continuing to feed the seed and mix in a small amount of the new pellets. Keep doing this for about a week or so and slowly and gradually over time increase the ratio of pellet to seed. Eventually the goal is you can remove the seed entirely but it will take time. You can still offer seed as a training or foraging treat.