Eating Behavior

[ADEMIKS]

Hello everyone!
My yellow-sided conure is just 10 weeks old. He has just been put into a new cage yesterday after I brought him home. I am mixing about 75% cockatiel sized pellets to 25% seeds in his feeding bowl. He seems to be throwing a lot of the seeds and pellets to the bottom of the cage while he eats. He's also been spending a lot of time going to the bottom of the cage eating mostly all of the seeds/pellets that went to the floor. There is a lot of pellet dust everywhere so its hard to tell how much of it he is actually eating.

Just wondering if this is normal behavior, and if he should be prevented from eating off the cage bottom.

 

[Kantia]

I personally think eating at the bottom of the cage is fine, I sometimes hide bits of fruit at the bottom for enrichment.
He's basically throwing the bits out that he doesn't want. A bit like a kid, if you give them the choice of chocolate or broccoli which one are they going to choose?
Babies need to be on seed at first, so stick with this and try to get rid of the dust as much as you can, but it'll be best to move him onto pellets later on.

 

[Akraya]

My experience with conures is they little to play with their food and throw it around, I had to invest in heavier bowls because Misha loves tipping them over (and he loves his food). It could also be because he doesn't like the food and is throwing a tantrum!
Best way to make sure he's eating enough is to watch his weight, weigh him everyday in the morning, if it stays the same/goes up its all good, goes down - vet time!
Hope this helps you, but I say its most likely him playing =D

 

[ADEMIKS]

Thanks for he responses!

I think it may be a mixture of picking and playing. I was told by the person who hand raised it that it should be eating more pellets than seeds. Should I follow this? After closely watching him, he seems to love the pellets just as much as the seeds. I guess there will always be dust since they crack apart while chewing.

 

[MollyGreenCheeks]

It is 100% normal for birds to throw food on the floor. They are wired to reseed the ground when they eat.

 

[Akraya]

My guys eat pellets all day with veggies in the morning and just a little bit of seed at night.

 

[OtterKin]

My GCC is actually a fairly neat eater, lucky me. My tiel on the other hand...wow. She can waste an entire food bowl on bad days. My fiance tells her there are starving birds in Africa, she doesn't care. I would stick with the mix you have, 75% pellets and 25% seed.

 

[Riio]

My fiance tells her there are starving birds in Africa, she doesn't care.

Hahha thanks this made me giggle!