Michael the conure's food

[MichaelTheBird]

Hi! Just your friendly needy, clueless, parrot parent here! I spoke to the vet about the food that Michael is eating, and he is worried that the amount of sunflower seeds in the food might be contributing to his anxiety and general screechy nature. OOPS! I'm looking for a food without sunflower seeds, but that is still a healthy and enriching choice. The vet suggested a decent amount of human grade fruits and veggies be added to his diet, but he seems to throw everything but bell peppers right back at me (I've tried cut up grapes and some plain boiled peas). What are some good foods to start out with trying? Should I mix his food myself, or is there a decent store bought seed mix that I can supplement with fruits and veggies? What are some "people food" options for him to snack on so that we can share and try bonding that way? Is there anything I should avoid entirely? Should I be blending up his people foods, or letting him go thru the larger pieces? Are the fruity pebble looking food options as healthy as they say? They just seem heavily processed. There seems to be so much conflicting information out there! I am open to prepping all his food myself, since I feed my dog raw, I already have time set aside for it, so adding his would not be a hassle. Any articles and such on where to start would be much appreciated. I posted this in a previous Conure thread, but thought this would be a more appropriate place.

 

[BeatriceC]

I start with home made birdie bread. This is basically just zucchini bread with some adjustments. I use nut butter and pureed fruits instead of oil and sugar, and add a million other finely chopped veggies. If I need a low fat version I just ditch the nut butter. I also add a bit of plain yogurt for calcium. I've only had one bird refuse the higher fat version of birdie bread, and I eventually won her over by twice baking it, biscotti style (she was an older bird who only ever ate pellets and nuts, so she needed something crunchy to start with). From there I add chop. My starter chop is really finely chopped, with the chopping blade of a food processor. I gradually make the chop more coarse until they're eating whole foods. But take it slow. I had one bird take a little over two years to make the full conversion, though most are much faster than that (up to a couple months).

 

[MichaelTheBird]

What do you recommend putting in your chop? To me, he looks a bit skinny, but I am going to wait for confirmation from a vet before going and trying to fatten him up.

 

[BeatriceC]

Honestly it's just whatever's on sale at the produce market. I make sure to get a range of colors for variety and avoid things that aren't bird safe.

 

[BeatriceC]

Last batch was (trying to remember here): Beets, turnips, butternut squash, broccoli, spinach, mexican squash, radish, carrots, ginger, rutabaga, and yams.

 

[Jen5200]

Pellets are a good staple diet - many of us try to stay away from the coloured varieties and opt for the more natural types. The advantage to providing pellets (in addition to fresh and seed) is that they provide a bit of all the nutrients to help provide a balance. Lots of good pellets out there, and its a bit of a contest to see what they like. I feed Zupreem natural, Lefaber, Roudybush (mine all like different pellets). There are several seed blends that don’t have sunflower seeds in them - they are pretty high fat so I tend to keep them as treats only. None of mine had eaten fruits and veggies when they came to me, so that was a gradual introduction. They liked apples, so I used that to start chopping smaller and smaller, then adding a new veg to the apples, then another and another. They now eat more veg than fruit (which is good - high sugar diets are not preferred). It took lots of time to transition to a healthier diet, so be patient and don’t be offended when many of your offerings get tossed or left untouched. Mine like their stuff chopped small, others like bigger pieces that they can hold (all personal preference). Mine also eat more variety if it’s chopped up small and mixed together, rather than allowing them to pick and choose what they eat. Some birds won’t touch fresh food if it’s not single items. I cook things like squash and sweet potato, and leave other veggies raw. This is a pretty good list of safe foods. http://www.parrotforums.com/parrot-...afe-fresh-foods-toxic-food-lists-sprouts.html. My chop usually consists of a combo of some of these things: a few cooked whole grains, broccoli, cauliflower, squash, sweet potato, peppers, corn, peas, carrots, kale, pomegranate seeds, berries, pineapple, apple, mango.

 

[Squeekmouse]

I recommend Harrison's Adult Lifetime Fine pellets . My boys love Harrison's. I order the big 5 pound bags and pour some into a plastic storage container. The big bag goes in the freezer to keep it fresh, the plastic container in the fridge and that's what I use to feed the boys daily, so I can avoid opening the big bag too much.

I recommend serving the pellets in a dish separate from the veggies. You should throw out the veggies after your fid has had a couple hours to eat them, any longer and they'll start to go bad and grow bacteria. If you've mixed the veggies with the pellets, that's usually a lot of wasted pellets. If the pellets are separate they can stay good and available much longer.

I recommend trying a variety of veggies, some will be more successful than others. Also, sometimes warm veggies are more successful. I like to get a big bag of frozen mixed veggies (peas, carrot, corn, green beans), and add in frozen lima beans and black eyed peas. This makes up the base of my daily chop. Every meal, I heat up a few spoonfuls of this, then add in whatever veggies I'm eating (broccoli, cauliflower, squash, zucchini, whatever) and heat this up. Then I add in some fresh veggies to their bowls.

Easy fresh veggies:
Raw carrots are a favorite here, as are snow peas and pea pods. Leafy greens are good; Kale, romaine, green leaf lettuce, chard. Any kind of peppers are very good for them, they're not bothered by the spiciness like humans. They love them!

My boys will happily eat ANYTHING if they see me eating it, so this is a trick you can try with yours. Eat (or pretend to eat) something you want him to eat and you may find your fid will want to try it also. Maybe even have his bowl of veggies in front of YOU and pretend it's yours.. then generously "share" it with him when he comes to see what you have that he wants to take.

You can try sprinkling his old seed mix over the veggies to encourage him to explore the veggie dish in order to get his seed. Fade out the seed mix over time as he gets used to pellets and veggies instead. Another option is to make some birdie bread with the seed mix so he gets other good nutrition in with his seed.

Good luck!

 

[Laurasea]

Looks like everyone has given you good advice.
Mine love red chilli peppers.
Remember some things may be rejected one day, and loved the next! Birds are weird! But the more he is exposed to and the more he tries, the more willing he will be to keep trying new stuff!
Scrambled eggs or boiled eggs , cooked oatmeal, half a teaspoon of yogurt once in awhile. And definitely
Making a plate of good veggies and allowing him to ( steal, wink) from your plate can work great. I shop on Amazon for healthy seed mix's and pellets. I have several dishes with different brands of pellets available all the time, don't want no picky esters here! Seed mix, and veggies offered twice a day , plus anything I eat that is parrot safe. I offer done things whole, some things chopped, done things warm. Mine only eat squash if it's been cooked, most everything else they eat raw, unless it's a veggie I cooked for myself and shared. Once in a great while I give a tiny portion of well cooked chicken...