Diet HELP-pellets and seeds

[RochelleY]

Hi
When we got our bird last week and asked about food, they told us they feed Birdeez (seeds mostly) and pellets on occasion. I may have this confused, but I don't think so.
I've got Nupreem for him, but he's only 3 months old and seems to have a hard time with the size of the food he should be eating. I went to a different Bird Store this week and they said to feed him much smaller food because he is young-so we got the little food for parakeet/cockatiel.
I'm really confused on what to do. We've been letting him eat the seed and adding more and more pellet, tonight he only has pellet and he is pissed. Sounds like a groaning baby bird and sloshing his food all around in the bowl digging for seed.
Do I give him both, do I wean him off seed, do I give him seed on occasion...

HELP PLEASE!

 

[Doublete]

http://www.parrotforums.com/parrot-...7-converting-parrots-healthier-diet-tips.html

This may help..

 

[riddick07]

If he isn't eating the pellets don't starve him. Seed is better than no food at all...

He might just not like the pellets you chose for him try a different brand. Cockatiel size is probably too small. Roudybush is a good brand and so is Harrison and a couple others. There is also golden obles from goldenfeast. You could also start feeding him some different bird mixes to get him off the seed only even if he is being a pain about the pellets.

Some of these are good...
GOLDEN GOURMET FOODS

Goldenfeast....
Our Complete Line | Goldenfeast Direct

Birds Paradise
BIRD PARADISE BLENDS

Try making birdie bread and some fresh foods too. The link provided by the first person should help quite a lot!

 

[RochelleY]

I don't know what I'm supposed to feed though...
Pellet or seed or 50/50? If I give any seed, he's not eating pellet at all. Keep in mind, he's only 3 months old and was weaned from mommy 3 weeks ago.

 

[riddick07]

Unless he wasn't weaned fully his age doesn't matter and honestly the breeder wasn't a great one if they weaned him on to a seed only diet.

Ideally fresh foods make up the majority of a diet. I never follow the divide thing since I have a lot of different mixes and just throw some of this and that into the bowl. Pellets should make up a good portion of the diet but there should be a large variety of other mixes and fresh foods. Seed should be kept fairly low in the overall percentage of the diet 50 would be way too high.

Sprouts are also a good one to feed.

 

[RochelleY]

Around 6pm, he literally sounds like an unweaned bird-he's dino crying. If we are holding him, he's biting. He's hungry. We only have pellets in his cage and if I put any seed in, he will only eat the seed.
I don't want to starve him, but I don't want to improperly feed him. I'm ordering the other foods now, from Amazon.
Do I just let him eat as he pleases for now? He won't touch any fruits or veggies at all-we've tried.

 

[riddick07]

Does he bob his head like a baby bird? Or grab your finger and bob his head? The crying you describe sounds like baby bird cries which means he wasn't weaned fully or he regressed when you tried to switch food on him too fast. You may want to take him back to the breeder and ask them to finish hand feeding him or go to the vet and have them finish it. The vet could show you how to hand feed too if you wanted though hand feeding isn't all that easy. You can also try some warm mussy foods that may make him feel better since it'll more closely resemble his hand feeding.

If he isn't touching the pellets than yes seed what he was eating is what you should give him. Though he might not even eat that anymore if he's gone back to full on baby bird mode. Switching foods is a slow process sometimes and parrots can be very stubborn about making a switch. I have an Amazon who lived an seed for over 20 years and he's a fairly healthy guy considering. While you don't want that to be the diet in the end you can take it slow without any worry of doing long term damage to your little guy. It takes much longer than a couple months of seed to do permanent damage.

 

[gracebowen]

I'm still trying to get mine on a better diet too. I have noticed that my fids prefer cooked food. I read honey is ok so I coated some pellets with honey and they ate a few.